This is a good point, and I thought that the conversation was moving in this direction, but didn’t want to jump the gun. It’s not necessarily moot, and I’ll tell you why. This is not how genetic traits necessarily manifest. While all humans have genetic code that gives us a liver, some genetic code can exist that is either turned on or turned off depending on its involvement with other genetic information.

As genetic study progresses, very soon we are going to be in the position to take a look at our own genetic information and see what it tells us about our own physiological and behavioral inclinations. Within a few decades, new parents may be presented with information about their newborn children that tells them something like, ‘your child has a 80% chance of contracting leukemia’ or ‘your child will probably have ADHD’ or even ‘your child might grow up to be a sociopath’. This is a really touchy slippery-slope subject, and many people advocate that we should ignore this kind of information completely.

But let’s say that you’re considering having a child with someone, and you have the possibility to get a genetic test that will tell you whether or not that union will result in a child that will probably turn into a violent criminal. Would you get the test done? And if you did, and it seemed likely that the child had tendencies towards violent behavior, would you modify your parenting techniques in any way to more vigorously dissuade that?

Pithy questions.

You’ve misinterpreted what I’m trying to convey. First of all, I wasn’t implying that any of the scenarios I proposed were definitely true. Secondly, I also strongly place the responsibility for an individual’s actions on the individual. Obviously, “not getting caught” is not the only incentive to not being a rapist.

Further, I was trying to point out that one’s belief in the sanctity of a human in those ethnic cleansing situations IS IRRELEVANT as the victims have already been stripped of their humanity, thus allowing the individual to behave in ways that are abhorrent and barbaric without reflecting on their views about the moral treatment of a human. Obviously, in actuality it does reflect on their moral treatment of humans, but in the perpetrator’s mind, the two are separate.

I was trying to point out that everyone has a capacity to behave in ways that deviates greatly from how they (or others) would characterize them and trying to put it in the context of the extreme circumstances Kevin was referring to, which were often references to areas of ethnic cleansing. In those areas, I feel that rape in those situations are often accepted and encouraged, either explicitly or subtly, by a governing body, which is in most cases considered to be a legitimate authority figure. Thus, in those instances, I don’t feel that those men are committing those acts just because they aren’t afraid of getting caught, but because they feel they are expected to by an authority figure. And, given the Milgram study, to say that one individual would or wouldn’t behave in a certain way under those circumstances is tricky, to say the least.
Further, I was trying to point out that one’s belief in the sanctity of a human in those ethnic cleansing situations as the victims have already been stripped of their humanity, thus allowing the individual to behave in ways that are abhorrent and barbaric without reflecting on their views about the moral treatment of a human. Obviously, in actuality it does reflect on their moral treatment of humans, but in the perpetrator’s mind, the two are separate.

I, too, would hope that knowing about the human capacity to harm under the pressure of authority would alleviate that effect to some degree or another.

Separately from my above points, the milgram study, while utterly unethical, helps people to be aware of what they are capable of committing, and I think having that knowledge makes it possible to resist falling into that trap. Knowing that I have the capacity to torture someone to death under those conditions helps me to resist slipping into that if and when those conditions occur. I’m not saying it’s a failsafe, but knowing the absolute darkest parts of the human condition can help prevent you from going there.

Additionally, the instances of Cambodia and Darfur, for example, there is a great deal of racism going on at the same time. Those who are victimized are seen to be part of a “subhuman” ethnicity so that individuals can justify their horrific treatment of others. People in those circumstances can often hold a rigid “morality” when dealing with the “humans” of their own ethnicity, while finding little problem harming the “subhumans” of another. Combining this with the information from the Milgram study and you have a recipe for pretty much anyone engaging in the horrific treatment of another under the right circumstances.