Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
Thanks, everyone, for all the replies.
After giving it some thought, I think both genes and culture are important. And I think I can prove my point by mentioning all the many clubs in The Villages that depend on a combination of genes and culture: Irish, Italian, German, Mexican, Filipino, African and others. (Sorry if I left out any group.) Try telling all those people that genes and culture don't matter. ...
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People are often inclined to dismiss the role of genes in who we are, and this is just plain incorrect. One need only look at our original non-immigrants, the indigenous peoples of North America, for two stunning examples:
The rate of alcoholism on Native American nations is extraordinary, and why? Because Native Americans culture for eons of time did not include alcohol, and so genetically there is no tolerance for alcohol. This is how historically, Native American leaders were manipulated into giving up their lands--by bribing them with alcohol. (There were others where the land was simply stolen from them; visit the Dade Battlefield reenactment first weekend in January every year in Bushnell, right down the road from TV in Sumter County, but that's not what we're talking about.)
The rate of diabetes on Native American nations is also extraordinary; something like TWO-THIRDS are diabetic. Sugars--especially the awful and some say poisonous sweeteners that are now presented to us (high fructose corn syrup is THE notable example)--were not part of the Native diet, again for eons of time, so there is simply no tolerance for them. Of course, this doesn't stop people from eating foods containing these types of sweeteners, and if one genetically does not have the capability of producing insulin, the results are pretty obvious.
Genes can certainly play a major role in cultural or nationalistic issues as well, as can be seen in some genetic diseases being confined to virtually a single population. We have friends of Mediterranean background (they call themselves Italian-American...) three of whose children died the same year (two within 24 hours of each other!) of a genetic disease that their other two children are carriers of. Obviously this is not a cultural issue but rather solely a genetic one.
I'm not sure what bearing this has on the Pope....