This intro never goes anywhere good.
You just saw a list of the countries with the highest murder rates. Please explain why the top 5 are all in south or Central America.
The easiest answer is “because there is not a genetic element,” and if you’re actually just asking questions and not trying to sell us something, you’ll accept that answer.
So you weren’t here just to ask a question, but to argue a point that you already feel strongly about? Have you spent any time contemplating the differences in various African countries and how they can be explained by the history of each country?
I’m posting this as a descendant of the most recent violent barbarians* in Europe. Why aren’t Scandinavians among the most murderous in Europe, if genetics is what decides violence?
*English imperialism and other modern violence doesn’t count, since it was done while wearing trousers.
Can we please lay to rest the ridiculous notion that the Vikings were somehow uniquely bloodthirsty?
Nowhere do I write that they were uniquely so. But I shan’t labor the point.
Fair enough, and anyway I guess it ain’t exactly the right thread for that discussion anyway. Have a good day. 
And could not the factor also explain black violence? After all considering the majority of the black American population are but a few generation removed from the South, they were influenced by this Scotch-Irish Southern culture which was far more prone to violence than other white cultures in America. Also I loved how you tried to excuse this aspect of Southern culture by saying it was part of being “more polite”. :dubious:
Oh. OK, then.
That’s a good point. If violence were solely genetic, then unless there was a genocide or something that we never found out about, Northern Europe would be a bloodbath of Vikings and Celts mauling each other (and themselves) over honor and treasure.
What happened to all the Scottish border wars, and Highland clan battles? Where did all of those people go? Surely some of them left children, no? And didn’t many of those children emigrate to the colonies? Scottish people in particular were drawn to Canada and moved there in mass numbers. So why haven’t I heard about this week’s Nova Scotia killings? When was the last time that there was a vicious Scottish gangland murder in Toronto, or in any other city anywhere in the world for that matter? Why don’t people worry when Scottish people start moving into their neighborhood? If you see a group of white boys wearing skirts who seem to think that playing a musical instrument made out of a sheep’s stomach is a good idea, are you afraid?
Because everybody knows being an asshole is hereditary! You can get it from your children! [rimshot]
There is no evidence to support that; there is no scientific reason it would be impossible; but, the genetic components of human behavior and psychological characteristics are still very poorly understood at this stage of the relevant sciences.
I don’t know the motivations of the OP, but the pile-on should at least be more objective, if only to demonstrate an alternative way of thinking and social discourse - or else we simply risk become a bunch of naysayers with almost as little to add as the OP.
To answer the OP, it is known that individuals suffering some head injuries can undergo a significant personality change, this seems to be better documented in more serious injuries, however it is not too much of a stretch to imagine that continued head impacts at lower levels are likely to have an effect, such as boxing.
Those personality effects could go in any direction, from aggression, to inability to control impulses, through to someone being on permanent sunshine pleasant mode - I personally know someone in the latter category.
From this it is reasonable to conclude that environmental effects will have a tendency to drive a personality in a certain direction. Lots of studies on human brain activity have been driven by curious behaviours caused by head injuries.
None of this is genetic, however there may well be a predisposition to certain behaviours that are not manifested until a particular physical event, or illness.
How much is nature and how much is nature is a complex and heavily researched subject, its clear that in each of us there is a mixture of both.
The genetic effect is becoming slightly more clear,
The OP needs to be aware of the following, that just because someone does carry all the genetic predispositions to violence, it is not a given that they will become violent - triggers might be single events or a history of adverse upbringing.
Perhaps if we did mass screening for these genetic markers we might find some interesting data that might explain why Vikings were so savage at times - a genetic mutation coupled with a certain upbringing perhaps. History and genetics might be a very fruitful avenue of research in terms of reasons why certain events took place , the danger being that some racists would almost certainly attempt to link this with national stereotypes, and concepts of civilisation.
In other words some idiots will try to Darwinise such studies without actually having any real understanding the concept of selection of species.
I’m getting some mixed signals here, so forgive me if this is something you already know about, but are you familiar with the Great Migration? Short version: for the better part of the twentieth century, millions of black people moved out of the South up North or out West to get away from plantation-style sharecropping and racism. Far from being run out of town, sometimes they literally had to sneak away under cover of darkness, for fear of Klan reprisals. Recruiters from Northern companies would come South disguised as insurance salesmen in order to avoid similar reprisals, would talk to Southern black folk and tell them about opportunities up north and how to get away. Interesting stuff.
The OP, of course, is racist gibberish. Contemplation, do you acknowledge that your stats are cherry-picked, and that I can easily show you that some of the greatest, bloodiest atrocities in history–Nazi Death camps, Stalin’s purges, Stalin’s deliberate genocide against the Ukraine, the European slave trade–were committed by white folks? I mean, I’m just asking a question here.
This one is significantly different, though. It usually goes: I am not a racist, but…
No, that’s no good. The Japanese are even more polite than the Southerners and their honor system is way more bloodthirsty - but their murder rate is in the toilet. I suppose you could allege that the Japanese are slacking - but everyone know that they are some HAM-assed mofos.
No, I think you’re explanation is just wrong. Why, it’s almost like you’re just pulling shit out of your butt.
“An armed society is a violent society.”
– The Heinlein Who Should Have Been
I’m not really seeing a debate, here.
Off to the Pit. Go wild.
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Yes, you are.