Researchers Find "Liberal" Gene

[HoosierGuy]

Scientists think genetic make-up helps determines if you are a "liberal" or not.

Researchers find a 'liberal gene'

Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. Ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4.

By matching genetic information with maps of the subjects' social networks, the researchers were able to show that people with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults, but only if they had an active social life in adolescence

So... Variant DRD4 + Lots of friends = Liberal!

[bytor2112]

Sweet....now for the cure :)

[john doe]

Rush always said Liberalism is a mental disease. Now they're going to go around saying they can't help it, they were born that way.

[Just_A_Guy]

JD, you sure you aren't thinking of Michael Savage?

(I'll forego the obvious pun about the connection between liberalism and dope . . . )

[john doe]

Coulda been, but it's been years since I listened to Savage for any measurable period of time.

[Elphaba]

A few other studies:

Study finds left-wing, right-wing Brain

Even in humdrum nonpolitical decisions, liberals and conservatives literally think differently, researchers show.

Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.

This is my favorite:

Political Science: What Being Neat or Messy Says about Political Leanings

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.

. . . .

"It's pleasurable for liberals to think more. They gravitate toward art, to things that are not as concrete," says Carney. "Conservatives have a need for order, for there not to be ambiguity. There you see that expressed by being more orderly, having more cleaning supplies, needing to have everything lined up and organized so that one feels one's environment is predictable and therefore safe."

Sounds about right to me.

Elphaba

[HoosierGuy]

I'm going to put my variant DRD4 genes in the water system in southern and

western states! As soon as you all get enlightened by my powerful liberal variant DRD4 genes you don't have to thank me. I'll be happy just to have all enlightened like me,

Keith Olbermann and Noam Chomsky.

[captmoroniRM]

Finding a Liberal gene is really another means to excuse bad behavior. Abortion may be wrong, but I can't help accepting it! It's genetic. It's the kind of thing Elder Packer was talking about. It gives them another reason to say "I'm programmed this way. I can't help it."

[MarginOfError]

Well here's a pile of garbage research. If liberalism were genetic, why does it correlate so highly with things like education? I suppose education is genetic too then?

99% of the time, if you read a study that links a single gene to a complex trait, the research isn't worth reading. And it rarely can be replicated.

[FunkyTown]

Well here's a pile of garbage research. If liberalism were genetic, why does it correlate so highly with things like education? I suppose education is genetic too then?

99% of the time, if you read a study that links a single gene to a complex trait, the research isn't worth reading. And it rarely can be replicated.

Education is genetic, MOE. There is a 100% correlation between the genes that make us human and higher university education. Very few people with genetic expressions of canine genes have degrees in astrophysics.

There's also a correlation between genetics and extinction. 100% of existent species do not have the full genetic template of the Dodo, for instance, or even the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.

In conclusion: Genetics! It's Science, MOE!

[Just_A_Guy]

I'm going to put my variant DRD4 genes in the water system in southern and

western states!

Funny. Glenn Beck was going on the other day about progressivism's historical embrace of eugenics, and I just figured he was being paranoid.

Of course, what you're talking about isn't really eugenics . . . "genes" in the water system, indeed.

[beefche]

Why does this thread remind me so much of X-men?

[bytor2112]

I'm going to put my variant DRD4 genes in the water system in southern and

western states! As soon as you all get enlightened by my powerful liberal variant DRD4 genes you don't have to thank me. I'll be happy just to have all enlightened like me,

Keith Olbermann and Noam Chomsky.

Cool.....then we call envy the rich and wait patiently at the mailbox for our government check :)

Edited November 9, 2010 by bytor2112

[Just_A_Guy]

Cool.....then we call envy the rich and wait patiently at the mailbox for our government check :)

Anyone who thinks people wait at the mailbox "patiently" for their government checks, has never done customer service for the USPS.

[bytor2112]

Cool.....then we call envy the rich and wait patiently at the mailbox for our government check :)

Actually I should have said ......"and wait patiently for some of their (rich people) money"...that is where most government goodies come from.....the very people the left envies and disdains.

[HoosierGuy]

Finding a Liberal gene is really another means to excuse bad behavior. Abortion may be wrong, but I can't help accepting it! It's genetic. It's the kind of thing Elder Packer was talking about. It gives them another reason to say "I'm programmed this way. I can't help it."

Yeah, that's what I say about conservatives - they are unfortunately programed that way.

Our only hope is try to rearrange the conservative gene with electric shock therapy. I'm not sure it would work but it would be fun administering it. :)

[Just_A_Guy]

My dear HoosierGuy, genes cannot be re-sequenced through shock therapy. Once the child is born, it's too late.

Now, as to controlling the genetics of future generations: you personally may find good old-fashioned Ius Primae Noctis even more enjoyable--and, in conjunction with selective mandatory abortions, far more effective.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Just_A_Guy

[Elphaba]

Wow, this thread has gotten ugly. I assumed hoosier was being facetious when he posted the link, as was I when I posted mine. Maybe I'm wrong about that with hoosier, but the hostility stuns me.

If I contributed to that hostility by posting my links then I apologize. I wasn't serious.

Elph

[MarginOfError]

Don't worry, Elphie. Most of us here recognize that he's one of those liberals that our kind of liberal doesn't like to be affiliated with. Someone seems to have forgotten that liberalism embraces a plurality of ideas.

[Just_A_Guy]

Wait--you mean not all liberals are the same?

[checks his copy of Glenn Beck's latest book]

Nope, not in there. Ergo, not true. MOE, you little devil--trying to pull the wool over my eyes with your highfalutin' talk of "plurality"!

[john doe]

Obviously you haven't been listening, JAG. Beck has been talking for months now about Progressives and Socialists and how while they may embrace portions of Liberalism, they ultimately want to take things much further than Libs are suggesting.

[pam]

Anyone who thinks people wait at the mailbox "patiently" for their government checks, has never done customer service for the USPS.

The job I currently work at deals with social security benefits going onto a prepaid debit card. Deposits can hit their account between midnight and 6 a.m. cst on the 1st of the month.

We start getting calls right at 10 pm as it's midnight on the east coast to find out why their deposits haven't hit yet as they are waiting in line with about 10 other people at an atm machine to withdraw them.

So I suppose their patience wore thin with the USPS and now is wearing thin with electronic transfers to their card.

[Just_A_Guy]

Yeah, for some reason most of our calls came from cranky New York snowbirds living in Florida, waiting for their Social Security checks.

They never quite could figure out that if you tell the SSA to mail the check to New York, even if you're in Florida--wonder of wonders--the check goes to New York.

[talisyn]

Reminds me of some of my college genetics classes, specifically dealing with attributes that make some (animals and people) more alturistic than others. I don't have my books anymore but I recall studies that show that some have a greater tendency to suppress their own instincts (like reproduction) in favor of other's wellbeing, specifically those within the same family. This seems like a variation to that idea.

[HoosierGuy]

I'm going to post this story here since it sort of deals with the same topic and it's not really

breaking news. It's a good article on TV programs Rep. and Dem. seem to watch.

The Reign of Right-Wing Primetime - Live Feed

According to months of data from leading media-research company Experian Simmons, viewers who vote Republican and identify themselves as conservative are more likely than Democrats to love the biggest hits on TV. Of the top 10 broadcast shows on TV in the spring, nine were ranked more favorably by viewers who identify themselves as Republican.