Originally posted by cybertroy
Twinkle,
You and I should just get out the boxing gloves and just fight it out.
Aw, you know, I'd be a lousy boxing partner. Personal beliefs ensure that I'd be the idiot in the ring standing there with a "Make Love Not War"
sign, waving a tie-dye flag and trying to find "a better way" of solving conflict

I'm such a wuss. But I'm proud of my wussiness! (which is
an active choice, and isn't genetic, I hasten to add...heh)
Onto genetics (what fun!).
I never implied (nor certainly meant to imply) that we're completely controlled by our genetics. It must be stated though that some aspects of our
genetic heritage can be hidden or disguised, just as some can be ignored completely - that doesn't negate that "the tendency" will always be
present.
Similarly, if I have a genetically carried disease, there's little I can do about it. I can change my lifestyle so that the disease never impacts
my life; I can hide or disguise the fact; but the disease remains. (Before anyone jumps - and I'm sad to think that I actually have to point this
out - NO, of course I'm not saying that homosexuality is a disease. I'm using this reference as a base for a discussion about genetics. Nothing
more).
I have brown eyes - this was decided by my genetic profile. I can wear coloured contact lenses, if I wish....but I can't change the basic fact that
I have brown eyes. The fact that we cannot prove either way whether there is or is not a gene responsible for homosexuality makes it impossible to
say whether or not homosexuality is instinctual/inborn versus learned behaviour.
I understand your "poor" analogy. But I can't see that as being quite the same thing; if only because we do not know for sure, as mentioned
earlier, whether there's a genetic factor involved with homosexuality.
With regards to mind/matter - yup, I think it's obvious we have differing opinions there, too

I keep thinking though about psychosomatic
illnesses. These manifest in real, physiological symptoms - often physically debillitating - perhaps good examples of how there
is a
definite mind/body link.
(btw- I wish, wish, wish I'd thought of Twinkle as a nickname. It is infinitely better than Tinkle...and it brings a much different connotation,
too

)