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Researchers Find a 'Liberal Gene'

Posted by samzenpus on from the let-the-flame-war-begin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "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. The study's authors say this is the first research to identify a specific gene that predisposes people to certain political views."

16 of 841 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now "they" will be able to make a drug to counter-act the receptor and cure liberalness. Just what we need, a pharmacated electorate.

    1. Re:Oh, just great by vlnc · · Score: 4, Funny

      after reading the title, that is exactly what i was hoping for.

    2. Re:Oh, just great by tuxgeek · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't forget John McCain and his 'little blue pill'
      just what I needed, a visual of an old man with a boner

      --
      "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
    3. Re:Oh, just great by BlueScreenO'Life · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here we go again with that evolutionary thingy. Everyone knows the world is 6000 years old and all that evolution stuff is rubbish.

      Whoever disagrees must have something wrong, like, a genetic defect or something.

    4. Re:Oh, just great by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 4, Funny

      Glen Beck is going to be crying about this later today.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    5. Re:Oh, just great by ByOhTek · · Score: 2, Funny

      *ahem*

      Except my girlfriend... And that only helps strengthen my logic to be a pessimist.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    6. Re:Oh, just great by sempir · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wonder what Jesus was.

      --
      A closed mouth gathers no foot.
    7. Re:Oh, just great by jrumney · · Score: 2, Funny

      OK, so being liberal has roots in our evolutionary history, while conservatives were created out of thin air 6000 years ago (minus 5 days).

    8. Re:Oh, just great by slapout · · Score: 5, Funny

      When Jesus comes back he's not coming to take sides, he's coming to take over.

      --
      Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  2. Where's the gene that makes people believe by VShael · · Score: 2, Funny

    in the bat-sh*t crazy Glen Becks of the world?

    That's got to be deserving of enough research to find a cure. (As best we can tell, about 25% of American people are afflicted.)

    1. Re:Where's the gene that makes people believe by bsDaemon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Precisely. Thomas Jefferson was a liberal. Barbara Boxer is a hippie lesbian with an obnoxious voice.

    2. Re:Where's the gene that makes people believe by T.E.D. · · Score: 2, Funny
      IMHO the part you should have bolded was this:

      .. although even conservatives said liberal blogs were often better-written, Davis pointed out

      The issue isn't that the Conservatives are more open minded. It is that the two kinds are articles aren't equivalent. Or to put it uncharitably, even Conservatives don't want to read that crap.

  3. Re:Whew... So there is hope for a cure? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 2, Funny

    The "cure" for liberalism is exactly the same as the "cure" for conservatism: elect a lot of it and wait a few years for the electorate to "cure" themselves.

  4. Re:And an absence predisposes you to conservativis by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 4, Funny

    8 years.

    --
    <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
  5. I hope it's a recessive gene by OhHellWithIt · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it's not a recessive gene, then my conservative parents may have a difficult conversation ahead of them.

    --
    "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
  6. Chopstick gene by JohnFluxx · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did the researchers avoid making the mistake of the "chopstick gene"?

    There's a gene that determines how good you are with chopsticks. It's otherwise known as the blue-eye gene...