"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." --Bishop Desmond Tutu

Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Politics of Slobs?

A new report in Scientific American has reached an interesting conclusion.
Researchers insist they can tell someone's politlcal affiliation by looking at the condition of their offices and bedrooms. Messy? You're a lefty. A neatnik? Welcome to the Right.
This explains a lot about the state of my office...
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles found that 72 percent of the variation in voter turnout is genetic, according to a study in July's American Political Science Review (APSR). Another study they published that month in the Journal of Politics showed that people with variants of the MAOA and 5HTT genes were 10 percent more likely to vote in the 2000 presidential election than people with less efficient versions of the genes. Those genes affect the neurotransmitter serotonin, which regulates social interaction as well as trust and fear.

A 2006 analysis of 4,500 pairs of twins in APSR found that as much as half of the variation in their beliefs about social organizing principles such as leadership, outsiders, defense spending and traditional values could be attributed to genetics.

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