Suicide is in the Genes, Says Kunio Hatoyama

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Mainichi: Ex-minister Hatoyama sparks uproar by linking suicide to DNA
Former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Kunio Hatoyama has caused an uproar by controversially linking DNA to suicide. At a symposium on Sunday in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Hatoyama said that DNA influences our thoughts on suicide. Former House of Representatives member Yojiro Nakajima took his own life in January 2001. Referring to that case, Hatoyama said that Nakajima also had a family member who committed suicide. Hatoyama expressed his desire for Kurume University to conduct research on what makes people decide to take their own lives.

[Ketou]

Hatoyama expressed his desire for Kurume University to conduct research on what makes people decide to take their own lives.

Living in a shithole with fuckwits like him in charge. Moron.

[Neo-Rio]

And one has to wonder how the propensity to suicide gets lodged in one's DNA... might have something to do with the environment one is brought up in and then passed on to future generations? no?

[Mulboyne]

It's not controversial to wonder whether a tendency to suicide might be an inherited trait. It is already a subject for study. In Japan, however, a politician has to be careful about who is appearing to blame. If someone in your family has mental problems then it can be difficult to find a marriage partner. Suicide doesn't carry the same stigma as mental problems but it will if you emphasize that it may also have genetic roots.

[Mike Oxlong]

There has been some studies that suggest a that family histories of pychiatric illness and of suicide act independently in increasing risk of suicide...

[Yokohammer]

Whether there is any basis for his comments or not, this condescending git is constantly making statements that make his delusion of grandeur and contempt for the common man crystal clear. Shee-it, he even got to kill a bunch of people legally! Boy, I bet that didn't feed his delusion much.

I don't know why it is. I'm generally pretty sanguine about politics and the world in general, figuring that it'll all work out in the end, but this guy really, really gives me the creeps.

If it was someone who is generally known to be down to earth and, um, "stable," I'd probably be fine with the DNA/suicide hypothesis, but not when it's coming from someone who wields power erratically and with such an unreasoned hand. If anyone needs a mental health checkup ...

Sorry ... got off on a rant there, but ol' Kunio has a way of getting my Nauseometer going full tilt.

[kagemusha]

ol' Kunio has a way of getting my Nauseometer going full tilt.

Hear hear

[IkemenTommy]

Just imagine if some "owarai geinin" said the exact same quotes. It won't even make the front page of the peaceful Japanese newspaper.

[bolt_krank]

It'd be interesting if it's revealed someone along his family tree comitted suicide. I wonder what he'd do then...

[leitmotiv]

Is that a missing digit on his right hand?

[sublight]

Yeah, I'd noticed that, too. He certainly tries to act like a thug, but he's way too much of a pampered golden child (third-generation politician, grandson of a former LDP president) to ever be the real deal.

[Iraira]

Run with me on this. Let's assume that there is a suicide gene which is potentially linked to genes responsible for mental illness. Over time, genetic correlations often breakdown, but I can see this linkage being maintained by selection. For animal species which do not require extensive parental care, once a particular animal is done reproducing, it really is evolutionary dead meat, no longer able to contribute anything to the future generations of the species and more importantly, sucking up limited resources that might otherwise be used by younger, viable members of the species.

Entering into Logan's Run....the normal physical symptoms of aging take a long time to remove the ineffectual members of a population, which adversely affects the younger members. Hence, an allele that would speed up this removal would be favored by selection. As it is a late-acting allele, it would not be removed by selection, thereby conserving a suicide gene in a population.
Of course this only explains suicides at later ages.

For younger age suicides, I'll just invoke the positive correlation to genes for mental illness or linked to genes responsible for stress tolerance.

No data (much like Kunio), just hypothesizing this morning before I get on the train and sweat.

[Behan]

I want to hear the genetic rundown on your avatar, Iraira.

[Iraira]

I want to hear the genetic rundown on your avatar, Iraira.

I really want to sequence that ass, find a suitable vector and create a master race of super-assed females....this is my plan for world domination.