Posted on 06/27/2009 7:55:19 PM PDT by Fichori
June 26, 2009 Evolution of rape? No way. Sharon Begley wont let the evolutionary psychologists get away with their tales about how rapists, molesters, and cheaters cant help themselves because evolution made them that way. The Science Magazine blog Origins seems to be cheering her on.
Science writer Sharon Begley, who in 2007 returned to her old job at Newsweek after 5 years of writing the Science Journal column for The Wall Street Journal, has long reported skeptically about anything smacking of biological determinism. In the 29 June issue of Newsweek, she pens a 4300-word critique of evolutionary psychology, the theory that modern human behaviorincluding everything from mate choice to child abuse to warfareis the result of evolutionary adaptations that took place 100,000 or more years ago. Her piece, titled Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around? concludes, as the subtitle puts it, The fault, dear Darwin, lies not in our ancestors, but in ourselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at creationsafaris.com ...
“Note that evolution is only possible with HETEROSEXUAL relationships...
This is one scientific fact a lot of the so-called Darwinists want to run away from.”
Wrong, gene mutation happens in asexual reproduction.
That’s fine if you’re a bacterium, a yeast, or some kinds of plant.
Not in mammals... unless you go intercourse yourself...
Flatworms have both male and female characteristics. They do a competitive thing when they mate to decide which is the be the female. Earthworms are also both male and female.
Glad I could clear that up for you.
Yes, isn't that the same argument made for the grisly practice of abortion?
Abortion is a ritual murder performed upon an altar of conceit before an idol of vanity. Homosexuality likewise is another sacred cow of the Left... (Sacred cow - - think Exodus and the Golden Calf.)
Are they mammals?
NO.
Glad I could clear up elementary school biology for you...
“Funny how it is that no other animal on earth has ‘evolved’ into faggot pedophiles, rapists and murderers hell bent on destroying their own kind.”
Animals are, indeed, often rapists and murderers. Well, okay, I can’t know the inner mind of female animals. But the formal process you describe, presumably with each side knowing its role and doing its duty, is dubious. Certainly appears as if both parties aren’t always equally into it.
As for homosexual acts among animals, I don’t know enough about that, but I could certainly imagine it. I’ve personally witnessed several of my pets confusedly attempt sexual acts with members of their own sex.
Anyway, animals otherwise engage in a lot of activities that injure their own self-interest. Humans do more often, it would seem. But that’s because we have bigger brains, a larger scope for choice, and therefore are freer. There is a host of variance in the behavior of all species, humans more than most. However, there is enough consistency in our behavior, enough of the same choices are being made, that there pop up what can be termed universals.
Rape is one. It appears, I believe, in every recorded society, in much the same manner. And it makes sense when you think about it. Rape is a viable strategy for reproduction for some people. Not ones who can get women to sleep with them naturally. But some are left out. unlike women, one man can do the reproductive work of several men at once. The leftovers are the ones who rape. Except in times of strife (war, riots, etc.), wherein a wider variety are willing to risk it, since the threat of violent reprisal lessens.
But I digress. The truth is, amongst the variablity of human behavior, there are constants. And if you don’t explain them biologically, you have to say it’s all a coincidence, which isn’t very persuasive. Or you have recourse to metaphysics, but then you’re no longer dealing with science, and all new rules of debate apply.
Just trying to be a bit droll, pointing out that the applicability is rather limited. If the sages of biblical times knew about bacteria, we would probably know a proverb “acting like a bacterium” as an even bigger insult than “acting like an animal.”
You didn’t restrict yourself to mammals, so I didn’t.
Nothing confused when my two tomcats taunt each other that they're gay. Both know what that means. Better than some people, let alone bonobo apes.
“Not in mammals... unless you go intercourse yourself...”
Of course mammals reproduced bisexually. We all know that. I was responding to whether evolution was possible without heterosexuality, not whether the evolution of mammals is possible through asexual reproduction.
It isn’t as of now. Not on a large enough scale. But what with cloning and all it could be different in the future.
“Nothing confused when my two tomcats taunt each other that they’re gay. Both know what that means”
Not sure what you mean by taunting. Do they offer up themselves as a trap, then point and laugh? Or do their meows sound vaguely like “F*gg*t!”?
Meh, my question is — why is rape wrong? Let’s hope that the fittest male spreads his seed to the most desirable woman!
That’s sarcasm folks :)
“This is one scientific fact a lot of the so-called Darwinists want to run away from.”
I suppose your point is that scientists don’t often point out that homosexuals can’t reproduce. That may be because it’s so obvious that it goes without saying.
Or perhaps your point is that they fail to condemn homosexuality as perverse for not abiding the evolutionary imperitive. Again, it’s too obvious to mention. Everyone knows. And scientists aren’t in the business of condemning human behavior that isn’t conducive to evolution, outside of Nazi Germany and the early 20th century progressive eugenics movement.
It starts with lick, lick, lick behind the ears. If the object were a female (like my other two cats), the next step would be grab the nape of the neck and mount. It never gets that far before this “friendly” gesture is answered by feline fisticuffs. And both of them do it.
“Meh, my question is why is rape wrong? Lets hope that the fittest male spreads his seed to the most desirable woman!”
Why is anything wrong? Because our parents said so.
Seriosuly though, short answer, inviolable natural rights. Or because civilization operates best the less horrible violence there is. Morality is all about either how an individual treats himself, or about the interaction between people and what’s best for both of them. In either case, evolution has little to say, for evolution is all about the gene. Genes don’t care about what organism they’re in, or how the organisms get along, so long as they get to the next generation (actually, genes don’t care about anything, but for metaphor’s sake).
We, on the other hand, being complex organisms, care about ourselves.
So sin is now an evolutionary feature, huh?
I call this article based on dubious science.
In some old earth creationist worldviews, sin is an express part of evolution.
Evolution happens..
Evolution happens..
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