Xref: utzoo sci.bio:877 soc.men:2522 soc.women:9116
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watdcsu!dmcanzi
From: dmcanzi@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (David Canzi)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women
Subject: Re: Rape: a genetic catastrophe
Summary: A breaking of silence like the warm fragrant wind.
Message-ID: <4371@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
Date: 3 Feb 88 06:06:29 GMT
References: <517@gtx.com> <5129@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> <2201@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <1966@bsu-cs.UUCP> <373@rruxa.UUCP>
Reply-To: dmcanzi@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (David Canzi)
Organization: Operation Mindfuck
Lines: 52

In article <373@rruxa.UUCP> mjm@rruxa.UUCP (M Muller) writes:
>Okay, here are my reasons for being opposed to the hypothesis (and I
>feel that I'm being asked to repeat myself).  If you get bored, zoom
>ahead to reason number 8.

...ZOOM...

>8.  My main reason for arguing against the genetic-basis-of-rape
>    position is that it can be used to excuse the existing violence
>    against women in western culture...
>
>    If, on the other hand, we recognize rape for what I believe
>    it is -- a violent act based in social inequities and intended
>    to promote or maintain those inequities -- then we have rather
>    less sympathy for the rapist...

And buried in here is the reason why so many people are disturbed by
your arguments.  Your main reason for arguing against the hypothesis
(hereinafter called GBR for brevity) is that you believe that people
will act a certain way if they believe it, and you don't want them to
act that way.  So your arguments are, in effect, motivated by a desire
to control other people's actions by influencing their beliefs.  And,
if you are right about the way people will behave if they believe GBR,
then they will behave the same whether their belief is mistaken or
not.  So whether or not GBR is true is beside the point: the important
thing is to make sure that people don't believe it.

It sounds like I'm accusing you of dishonesty, but I'm not.  I believe
that you are 100% sincere in your belief that there is no genetic basis
for rape, and that one of your grounds for reaching this conclusion was
a consideration of how other people will behave if they believe it.
And it only seems natural that somebody who disagrees with a hypothesis
because a political purpose of his would be frustrated if many people
believed it would see those who advance or entertain that hypothesis as
motivated by an opposite purpose.  And lo and behold, this theme runs
through all your postings.  People who suggest that intelligence is
heritable *must* be motivated by a desire to oppress blacks, people who
suggest GBR *must* be motivated by a desire to excuse rape, or so you
seem to think.

As I said, I do not believe you are lying.  You are all the more
disturbing because you are honest.  You seem to form your beliefs about
the world by a process that is largely independent of the
characteristics of that world, and seem to be incapable of telling the
difference between truth and falsehood.

When *I'm* fabricating beliefs that I want others to believe, as an
instrument for influencing their behaviour towards the realization of
my purposes, I at least *know* I'm doing it.

-- 
David Canzi