Are We Born Intolerent?

If your born wired to be attracted to the same sex, couldn't you be born wired to be disgusted by homosexuality???


Fist off this is not some conservative rant on why we should all hate gays. I'm pro gay marriage and anti discrimination.

That said, how can you have it both ways? How can you be born attracted to the same sex (which I don't doubt you are, I've seen 2 separate 5 year olds with Perfectly straight middle class families, that there is little doubt they will grow up gay.) yet it's impossible to be wired to be disgusted by it??? That must be learned!



I'll use myself as an example. I'm a pretty normal hetero who is as progressive as they come. What you do that doesn't harm others shouldn't matter to the world at large. That said, it turns my stomach to watch male homosexuality. Female homosexuality doesn't have the same effect, but I'm attracted to females. I'm not really attracted to the lesbian part, it's never been my thing, but I don't get the cringe from watching males engage in the same acts.

So couldn't an innate disgust for homosexuality be just as hard wired as sexual attraction?

Might that be the real reason conservatives are so hell bent on convincing people that gays are evil and must be rejected?



I'm not saying that our base instincts should be the guiding light for civilization. Most of being civilized is rejecting our animal instincts and doing what's best for the group.
Hell we are evolutionarily designed to club women and drag them back to our caves to rape them, but we reject those instincts as well.


But how can one be genetic and one be a choice, when both are prob from the same wiring issues?


Thoughts?

I personally don't care for any public displays of affection, by straight or gay people. And yes, I am bitter

a reply to: Entreri06

Are we born intolerant? LOL.

You hang around kids much? They don't have adult hang-ups before they are programmed with garbage by adults.

Kids are very logical and empathetic.

My personal opinion is that nobody is born homosexual, but it is environmental situations that lead you towards homosexuality that happens at such an early age that people grow up thinking they were born that way. I think people are naturally born heterosexual.

As we grow up we are taught a system of morality and ethics. Based off the environmental circumstances we are brought up in will determine how we deal with homosexuality – specifically how strongly we feel for or against it. Intolerance is a learned behavior.

Conservatives, for the most part that I’ve seen, don’t think gays should be rejected or consider them evil – they consider the act of homosexuality immoral and distasteful. But that is their opinion. I think that homosexuals or pro-homosexual individuals perceive peoples’ sexuality as such a strong part of their identity that they full ingrain their identity in their sexuality. Eg. They are gay. In reality their perception should be I am a person who engages in homosexual acts.

A person’s sexuality shouldn’t define them.

a reply to: Entreri06

No one is saying you have to enjoy watching it to be tolerant of it.
Well maybe some are but that isn't the talk track I see.

Might that be the real reason conservatives are so hell bent on convincing people that gays are evil and must be rejected?

I would say no, the religious aspect trumps it though I don't doubt it may be up there.

I guess the answer to your question is yes though, but I don't think it is intolerance just sexual attraction you are born with.

Actually there is science to show people are hard-wired to be attracted to people that are more like themselves. It was an evolutionary trait meant to keep our butts alive.

originally posted by: InverseLookingGlass
a reply to: Entreri06

Are we born intolerant? LOL.

You hang around kids much? They don't have adult hang-ups before they are programmed with garbage by adults.

Kids are very logical and empathetic.

Bzzzz. Kids also aren't attracted to the same/opposite sex either, so it stands to reason they wouldn't be intolerant. Yet.

If people are "born" gay, which I do not believe, they it stands to reason people could also be "born" with other lifestyle choices. Such as being pedophiles, racists, religious, lazy, etc. Why is it that being gay is the only thing that it's possible to be "born" into?

Sucking face in public turns my stomach, it doesn't matter which genders are doing it.
No, we aren't born intolerant, it's a learned trait.
Intolerant: adjective
not tolerant of views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own

of course homosexuality disgusts you, you're heterosexual and taught that homosexuality is wrong.
Disgust:verb
cause (someone) to feel revulsion or profound disapproval

Hell we are evolutionarily designed to club women and drag them back to our caves to rape them, but we reject those instincts as well

No. We are not and some of you monkeys don't reject it

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

"Kids are very logical and empathetic" Exactly, intolerance is learned.

originally posted by: InverseLookingGlass
a reply to: Entreri06

Are we born intolerant? LOL.

You hang around kids much? They don't have adult hang-ups before they are programmed with garbage by adults.

Kids are very logical and empathetic.

I have a kid and lots of friends with them. I don't think you can judge a prepubescent kid. The wiring probubally wouldn't kick in untile puberty, just like with sexual attraction. Teen age kids are no nearly as empathic lol. Teens can be evil to each other!

You can't use kids to young to be sexually attracted as the measuring stick on an issue involving sexual attraction.

a reply to: Entreri06

The short answer is yes. Much of the way the human brain is predisposed to work pushes us to accept the simplest explanation for an event because it requires the least amount of thinking. This allows us to build stereotypes about groups of people other than our own. Here is a recent Cracked article that went over all of this:

5 Brainwashing Tricks That Work No Matter How Smart You Are

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Entreri06

No one is saying you have to enjoy watching it to be tolerant of it.
Well maybe some are but that isn't the talk track I see.

Might that be the real reason conservatives are so hell bent on convincing people that gays are evil and must be rejected?

I would say no, the religious aspect trumps it though I don't doubt it may be up there.

I guess the answer to your question is yes though, but I don't think it is intolerance just sexual attraction you are born with.

That's kinda assuming religion came first. Which of course it didn't.... I could see wiring being the reason anti gay stuff was added to religion.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Entreri06

The short answer is yes. Much of the way the human brain is predisposed to work pushes us to accept the simplest explanation for an event because it requires the least amount of thinking. This allows us to build stereotypes about groups of people other than our own. Here is a recent Cracked article that went over all of this:

5 Brainwashing Tricks That Work No Matter How Smart You Are

I LOVE CRACKED!! Already read the article. I have the app on my phone!!

originally posted by: EyesOpenMouthShut
Sucking face in public turns my stomach, it doesn't matter which genders are doing it.
No, we aren't born intolerant, it's a learned trait.
Intolerant: adjective
not tolerant of views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own

of course homosexuality disgusts you, you're heterosexual and taught that homosexuality is wrong.
Disgust:verb
cause (someone) to feel revulsion or profound disapproval

Hell we are evolutionarily designed to club women and drag them back to our caves to rape them, but we reject those instincts as well

No. We are not and some of you monkeys don't reject it

So we are genetically geared since cave man times to be good all loving liberals?!?

Really? Lol

So we just created all the evil of man out of whole cloth? We aren't evolutionarily geared to be tribal and are definitely geared to ask permission before boning some one... Exactly like all the other great apes?!?

Lol... Just lol....

a reply to: Entreri06

I read it every day (I too have the app). Despite being a comedy website it can teach you much about the way the world works. Articles like the one I linked above can be very informative while at the same time being hilarious. Plus if you decide to call them on their claims, they link to all their sources.

These threads always brings out the worse of ATS. Just waiting for all the haters to come on in to spurt religious text.

I'll just have some popcorn and watch from the back!

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Entreri06

I read it every day (I too have the app). Despite being a comedy website it can teach you much about the way the world works. Articles like the one I linked above can be very informative while at the same time being hilarious. Plus if you decide to call them on their claims, they link to all their sources.

Yup it's by far the website I read the most!!

originally posted by: flammadraco
These threads always brings out the worse of ATS. Just waiting for all the haters to come on in to spurt religious text.

I'll just have some popcorn and watch from the back!

You noticed I did my best to seperate myself from such yahoos. :p


This is meant solely from a science and evolutionary direction. Not based on morality and definitely not based on the Bronze Age mythes of goat herders.

originally posted by: Entreri06

originally posted by: Entreri06
So we are genetically geared since cave man times to be good all loving liberals?!?

Really? Lol

Now your just being ridiculous and using logical fallacies.
i never implied man was always a "good all loving liberal"
Children are pretty tolerant of the differences in others. You would know this if you were more observant to the world around you.

So we just created all the evil of man out of whole cloth? We aren't evolutionarily geared to be tribal and are definitely geared to ask permission before boning some one... Exactly like all the other great apes?!?

Lol... Just lol....

you keep trying to make me sound stupid but its having an adverse reaction.
Yes, we are tribal creatures but that never stopped us from interacting in the distant past, look up ancient trade routes.
While im sure some of our human ancestors raped females, they eventually came to understand it was wrong,probably about the same time they started making laws against it

a reply to: Entreri06

What you wanted to achieve and what will be achieved are two different things