I have noted several threads posted here by some guy named Watertowers, who claims that intelligence, criminal behaviors, etc. are genetically inclined to certain people.

Is it really genetic, or is Watertowers just an idiot?

If you make it idiot proof, someone will make a better idiot.

We have Watertowers.

One should be careful how they approach discussions and really consider what they want to achieve in discussing things.

Watertowers has some obvious biases, and he definitely says some inflamatory things, but he is not an idiot.

As they say, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

I think that watertowers might even agree with me if I said that media sources don't prove anything one way or another if indeed they can only make observations and make predictions. The data is too complex in most situations to make absolute claims. The best one can hope for is to make a prediction that is likely to serve you well in your future dealing with other people.

I for example teach students in a school where the demographics are about half black and the other half are american indian. I'm white. I don't think I would do very well if I told my kids they were genetically predisposed to crime, violence and stupidity although it may actually be true for some of them.

I see a lot of kids who are as upstanding and honorable as anyone you would want to meet, but if you lead off by putting them down and spitting in their faces, you don't get far.

It depends on what you want to accomplish. Maybe watertowers busts a nut every time someone opens a thread to complain about him.

Watertowers owns you Cerberus.

Watertowers +1

The report on a genetic connection to intelligence is true, but Watertowers attempted to manipulate the facts of the report.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/.../2011/08/110811215420.htm

There is no factual basis for a genetic link to criminalty after accounting for economic circumstances. Meaning poor people are more likely to commit crimes than the rich. As the US has a high correlation between Latino and Black populations and poverty, there are linkages if left unexamined.

I believe Terror hit it on the head. When you treat someone consistantly like a criminal, at some point they'll stop fighting against it. When you treat everyone consistantly with respect, they'll respect you back until you fail them.

You can't make something idiot proof, but you can make it retard resistant.

I would argue that the wealthy commit just as many crimes as the impoverished.

Good point Legion, I would also argue that there is at least as much white collar crime as there is any other sort of crime, it's just not focused upon by the mainstream media.

For examples.

Bernie Madoff
Enron

Just to name two most visible instances. I'm sure there are a lot more that we haven't discovered yet, or have uncovered.

In a lot of cases, the people who commit white collar crimes are probably better at covering them up than other common criminals.

You might argue that, but where is your basis? By the mere fact that there are vastly more people earning under $100K a year than over $1M per year, it means that there will be significantly more volume of "poor crime" even if there is a higher percentage of "rich crime".

I'm not saying that poor people are more criminal than rich people, I'm saying more criminals are poor than rich. As you say, rich criminals have more resources to cover over their doings, and the statistics only count the ones who are caught.

Some references if you're interested: http://cjr.sagepub.com/...ort?rss=1&ssource=mfc

The thread's inception was based upon the idea of certain behaviors being genetic. My only point in this discussion has been that criminal behaviors are not entirely derivitive from economics.

Is there a correlation between criminality and race? It's not impossible, and watertowers will flame me for it, but my impression on looking at data I have not examined with a fine tooth comb is probably not.

Is there a correlation between criminality and economic affluence? Once again without examining the data and tracking sources, I'm inclined to say yes. However, the correlation is not 100% and it is worth noting that white collar crime tends to be massively more expensive per incident than blue collar crime.

It's really very hard to be certain though. White collar criminals tend to be more clever. Legion may well be right in that there is no correlation between being affluent and being ethical on a per capita basis.

In fact, Terror is quite balanced. I sometimes feel the need to overemphasize certain facts to balance out the extreme liberalism that is seen nowadays.

You'd be shocked to see some of the things they teach in Ethnic Studies class. Perhaps the holiest cow that has ever walked in Western Civilization are people of African descent, and to a lesser extent, other nonwhites. Pretty much everything bad which has happened to them is attributed with racism, when in fact, Italians and Irish were also discriminated against (biggest instance of mass lynching was actually against Italians) but they raised themselves to an equal level with other Americans quickly without complaining or governmental programs.

You named two examples. Watch the evening news and you'll see thousands of non white-collar crimes each day.

The evening news is ran by White Collar , so of course it fills the air with the 7-11 $20 hold up and not the SEC violations that led to 1 million people being swindled out of thousands.