Why my 12 months in Iraq were NOT wasted.

[Richard Tanner]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Lack of evidence?? We have plenty of history to go off of. It may not be millions of years, but there's certainly plenty of time for a behavioral study.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we did a study in Europe in 1550, would you conclude that Europeans were hardwired for religious intolerance and acceptance of the divine right of kings? There'd be plenty of history to base this upon, right? But such a conclusion has been proven totally wrong as history unfolds, showing that the beliefs of 1550 were conditioned, not hardwired. Would you not agree that a behavioral study of 2000 humankind taken 500 years in the future may show that our political attitudes regarding the role of the state were also conditioned rather than hardwired?

Also, if you did that 1550 study in North America, you'd find very different beliefs regarding political organization -- what happened to their hardwiring? So your conclusions regarding the state are not as widespread as you think.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would look at that study from Europe and conclude that it isn't religion that people are predisposed too, but rather that people were naturally sheepish and willing to go to great lengths just to avoid feeling excluded (my god is better then your god), etc. etc.

Don't focus on the specific outlet, look at what's driving them, and what their reasons are.

Cody