--- Ticia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snippage> > Exactly. The discussion arose over confusion over > the term "incest". In the > biological sense it simply means sex with a close > relation, to be avoided > due to hightened risk of genetic problems. When > breeding domesticated > animals (eg dogs or cows) we have no problem with > that, creating virtual > clones through inbreeding (probably what the pharaos > where aiming for as well ;)).
But even in animals, line-breeding (the term used to avoid the emotionally-charged "incest") often results in misfit, defective or just stupid beasts. <LOL> I love the line from a friend's book on dog breeds that states "[poor breeding means] the average Boston Terrier now has the mentality of a sea slug." Temple Grandin DVM has noted a recent increase in neurotic behavior in cutting horses, who are highly line-bred because "cow sense" is heritable [lecture, Denver Horse Expo '01 or '02]. [1] > But in the psychological sense incest is tantamount > to sexual/ emotional > abuse, if there's any sort of power issue involved. > And even a true love > story (without power issues) between brother and > sister, which does happen > as it happens between cousins, is fraught with > emotional distress if the > family ties are known and the culture condems the > interaction. Agreed. I think the 'taboo' is one of the reasons for seeking mates outside of the group one grew up in, for both humans and many (most higher?) animals; that is why the example of sibs adopted separately, who unknowingly meet and mate as adults, is technically but not emotionally incest. Erik earlier wrote: "Yes, that it is possible for man to suppress irrational instincts and discuss something rationally rather than behaving like animals who are subject only to their impulses." Gonna have to comment on that WRT animals: most higher animals who live in social groups *do* have at least partial ability to restrain/redirect their impulses; any dog or cat or horse owner can relate tales of their crittur's 'amazing insight.' (But I'll spare you mine - for the moment. ;} ) Field studies of various animals (elephants, dolphins, wolves, chimps among others) have clearly documented behavior which individual animals altered/supressed until the alpha/leader/mate was away (remember the one about the penquins?). <bounces off the "Our own behavior/morality is rooted in our animal ancestors'!" soapbox> Elbow S*x Maru ;) [1] Dr. Grandin, a livestock welfare consultant and a fascinating lecturer, has autism, and has written about her own experience in becoming 'connected' to the world and others: "...Autistics have problems learning things that cannot be thought about in pictures. The easiest words for an autistic child to learn are nouns, because they directly relate to pictures. Highly verbal autistic children like I was can sometimes learn how to read with phonics. Written words were too abstract for me to remember, but I could laboriously remember the approximately fifty phonetic sounds and a few rules. Lower-functioning children often learn better by association, with the aid of word labels attached to objects in their environment. Some very impaired autistic children learn more easily if words are spelled out with plastic letters they can feel..." http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html http://www.grandin.com/temple.html __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
