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Down Under
Maori gene claim stirs NZ family violence debate
2006-08-09
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's indigenous Maori population reacted angrily on Wednesday to a researcher's findings that Maori have a high representation of a gene linked to aggression, as the nation faces a domestic violence crisis.
Sounds like evidence in support of the theory to me.
Rod Lea told a genetics conference in Australia that Maori men were twice as likely as European men to carry monoamine oxidase, describing it as a "striking over-representation" of what has been described as the warrior gene.
How do the Scots-Irish score, I wonder.
Media reports of Lea's findings outraged Maori leaders who said they only reinforced "Once Were Warriors" cultural stereotypes, a reference to a harrowing 1994 movie about domestic violence in poor Maori families.

"I've been asked by reporters whether this gene is the reason why we're a violent race, why we feature so highly in criminality rates, that we're predisposed toward aggression," Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said in a statement. "Once were gardeners, once were astronomers, once were philosophers, once were lovers," she said.

Lea, a genetic epidemiologist at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research in the New Zealand capital, Wellington, said the gene had also been linked to such risk-taking behavior as smoking and gambling.
Check the Vegas population
"I believe this gene has an influence on behavior of humans in general, but I also believe that the influence is rather small," Lea told New Zealand's National Radio on Wednesday.
If the influence is rather small, why are you yammering at a press conference?
"We have to be clear that behavioral traits such as susceptibility to addiction, aggressive behavior, risk taking, all those sort of things, are extremely complex and they are due to numerous factors including non-genetic environmental factors like upbringing and other lifestyle factors," he said.
Taking a knock at their culture, too? And on National Public Radio!
Maori lawmaker Hone Harawira said he had been hearing similar descriptions for decades about New Zealand's indigenous people, who make up about eight percent of the 4.1 million population. "I've stopped listening to all that sort of carry on," Harawira said.

New Zealand's domestic violence problem, described by a government report as endemic and shameful, was highlighted by the deaths of three-month old Maori twins in Auckland, the nation's largest city, in June.
End snark. They've got a real problem.
Chris and Cru Kahui had both suffered severe head injuries but their Maori family has refused to cooperate with police. Prime Minister Helen Clark described the Kahui twins' family as a "'Once Were Warriors' type family".
Helen is a dufus. Correction: she's a socialist dufus. This is a classic example of an 'N = 1' problem: you single out one particular instance of a problem and generalize from there. How about the Maori families on either side of this one that didn't beat their kids?
A UNICEF report last month found that between 18,000 and 35,000 children are exposed to domestic violence each year. The problem is so common that most New Zealanders know a child who has witnessed violence at home, it said.
Real Warriors don't take it out on the kids. Overgrown bullies do that.
Government figures show that Maori children under five years old are being admitted to hospital with "intentional injury" at twice the rate of other ethnic groups.
Maoris are also in the lowest socioeconomic group in NZ and have been discriminated against for decades. I have data that I obtained from the NZ government showing that the asthma death rate in Maoris in the early to mid 1980s was 6-fold higher than that of whites. When the NZ government finally extended their national health service to the Maori population, the disparity nearly completely disappeared. No doubt Helen the Socialist Dufus would have blamed Maori genetics for the higher death rate.
Posted by:Nimble Spemble

#3  Interesting. I had my unusual indigenous mix of DNA tested for the Genographic study and had few matches. One I did have was a Maori match, as well as a Siberian, among a few others such as in Mexico. We were trying to figure out how my ancestors migrated to North America. I am part Sioux, a known warrior Indian tribe!
Posted by: Danielle   2006-08-09 22:52  

#2  If the NZ government wasn't so 'soft' they'd be able to take advantage of that big pool of warrior-gened men and build an army of warriors, and put them to work in the war on Islamofacsism. If the Europeans who went to NZ 200 years ago were like those in power there today the Maori would still be running the place - without Eurocultural interference.
Posted by: Glenmore   2006-08-09 18:47  

#1  only reinforced "Once Were Warriors" cultural stereotypes

Cultural Stereotypes? More like a slice of life, I'm thinking. "Once Were Warriors" is a powerful, emotional film about a tragic side of modern Maori culture. Most of the actors are Maori, as was the director's father. Not exactly the people you would suspect for propagating cultural stereotypes.
Posted by: SteveS   2006-08-09 16:34  

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