Thursday, December 27, 2012

Looking for answers in all the wrong places


For those who hold modern science as the epitome of unimpeachable knowledge, this story will disabuse you of that unmerited high esteem. The Connecticut medical examiner has asked scientists at the University of Connecticut, Department of Genetics to analyze the DNA of Adam Lanza, the shooter at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. They’re looking for a genetic link between his genes & his murderous behavior. That’s the pernicious influence of sociobiology under its modern & more respectable incarnation in universities as evolutionary psychology--better known as evo psycho.

Evo psychos believe in original sin; they think our genes program all the worst human behaviors including war, rape, racism, murder. Stephen J. Gould & Richard Lewontin are among the leading opponents of this wretched & retrograde ideology--now dominating in the media & many academic institutions. Its leading advocates include Richard Dawkins & Steven Pinker whose always over-large books are masterpieces of justifying the status quo.

They won’t find anything mutant in that troubled young man’s genetic make-up. All they'll find is a string of genes that look just like the rest of ours. This is a classic case of looking for answers in all the wrong places. This is a culture based on violence--there’s no denying that. And it’s a reduction to the absurd & politically obtuse to be combing through the guy’s genes for clues when they only have to watch the nightly news.

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