Frank Furedi From: The Australian
I AM a huge fan of Lady Gaga, which is why I was so disappointed by the release of what has been described as the "new gay anthem": Born This Way.
Sadly Lady Gaga, the manic new queen of reinvention, has fallen prey to the fatalistic doctrine of biological determinism. Earlier this month she boasted to Vogue: "I am the excuse to explore your identity." But now there are no excuses, the exploration is over. Her song informs us that "God makes no mistakes", we are simply "born this way".
In other words your identity is not so much a matter of individual choice but a result of your genetic make-up. Her disturbing avowal of biological determinism resonates with the present fatalistic zeitgeist that perceives human identity and behaviour as genetically driven.
Lady Gaga personifies the growing tendency towards fossilisation of identity. That her self-consciously outrageous cultivation of the unexpected has led to the traditionalist declaration that sexuality is natural is not surprising. Since the 1960s identity politics has fluctuated between the individualistic celebration of choice and self-invention and the conformist quest for legitimacy.
By the end of the 70s the politics of identity lost its liberal impulse and insisted that it be respected and recognised for itself.
It was at this point that identity came to be represented as a fact of life that one is born with rather than a subject of choice.
Increasingly the refrain "I was born this way" served as a demand for the celebration of identity.
The fossilisation of identity acquired its most dramatic dimension in the former gay liberation movement. In the early 70s the gay liberation movement insisted there was nothing natural about sexuality. It argued that sexual preference involved a matter of choice and that desire was not the product of biological programming. That was then.
Since the 90s there has been a growing tendency to represent homosexuality as not a choice influenced by sexual desire but the inexorable consequence of a so-called gay gene.
Researchers have been busy discovering genes that prove that homosexuals are born, not made.
In September 1991, Newsweek ran a front cover picture of a baby with the question "Is this child gay?" The idea that homosexuals are born this way has now become integral to gay identity. According to gay gene theory your sexuality is natural and immutable.
There are still a few gay activists such as Peter Tatchell who are prepared to argue against this dogma. But increasingly it is considered bad manners to question the doctrine that sexual orientation is immutable.
The main reason the naturalisation of sexual desire has been embraced by the gay and establishment is because they believe it encourages tolerance and respect for sexual minorities.
The "scientific discovery" that homosexuality is natural serves to counter critics who claim that it is abnormal or unnatural.
Unfortunately the doctrine of immutability serves to diminish the belief in free will and the capacity for moral independence.
This is not surprising since the active and experimenting dimension of the pursuit of self-determination is antithetical to the politics of identity.
When humanity is reduced to genes: Lady Gaga's fatalistic anthem speaks to everyone preoccupied with their identities. No matter whether "you're black, white, beige, chola descent", she sings "rejoice and love yourself".
What she really means is accept your immutable identity. This all-inclusive appeal to the fossilisation of identity enjoys formidable cultural affirmation in Western societies.
These days virtually every form of human behaviour is interpreted as the outcome of genetic programming. Brain research and evolutionary psychology is mobilised to prove that even people's beliefs and opinions are expressions of their genetic dispositions.
Apparently political debate is a waste of time since "political positions are substantially determined by biology and can be stubbornly resistant to reason".
So claims John Alford, an American political scientist who also notes that "trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes".
Apparently our political views are built into our brains.
Once biological determinism captures the cultural imagination, one discovery follows the next. So scientists from the University of California and Harvard have published research that claims to have discovered a "liberal gene" that disposes people to new ideas and alternative lifestyles.
From this perspective, liberalism, tolerance and a disposition to new ideas is not so much an acquisition acquired through the exercise of individual judgment than a consequence of a transmitter in the brain called DRD4.
Indeed, moral reasoning itself is depicted as a function that can be explained through the working of the brain.
So philosopher Paul Thagard has offered an explanation of the meaning of life through drawing on research from neuroscience rather than on moral and culturally informed beliefs.
These days the idea that we are born this way dominates popular culture. It is not simply our sexual desires that are pre-programmed. Serial killers are not so much evil people as damaged children who just cannot control their destructive urges. The television series Dexter features an almost lovable mass murderer who simply cannot refrain from killing -- in this case nasty -- people. You see, he was born this way.
Don Draper, the main protagonist of Mad Men, also was born this way. His brutal childhood dooms him to a life of inner turmoil and anxiety.
So when Gaga sings "in the religion of the insecure/I must be myself", the myself is not so much an accomplishment of self-determination but of a biological accident. There is more than hint that what she has in mind is not so much the affirmation of the self but a deference to fate.
Thankfully, the experience of human endeavour tells us that who we are need not be determined by a biological accident.
Yes, our genes influence our behaviour. But this does not determine who we are. We are not the slaves of our biology and possess a formidable capacity to make our own world and on a good day to even choose who we want to be.
And that's a far better message for a Lady Gaga anthem
Sadly Lady Gaga, the manic new queen of reinvention, has fallen prey to the fatalistic doctrine of biological determinism. Earlier this month she boasted to Vogue: "I am the excuse to explore your identity." But now there are no excuses, the exploration is over. Her song informs us that "God makes no mistakes", we are simply "born this way".
In other words your identity is not so much a matter of individual choice but a result of your genetic make-up. Her disturbing avowal of biological determinism resonates with the present fatalistic zeitgeist that perceives human identity and behaviour as genetically driven.
Lady Gaga personifies the growing tendency towards fossilisation of identity. That her self-consciously outrageous cultivation of the unexpected has led to the traditionalist declaration that sexuality is natural is not surprising. Since the 1960s identity politics has fluctuated between the individualistic celebration of choice and self-invention and the conformist quest for legitimacy.
By the end of the 70s the politics of identity lost its liberal impulse and insisted that it be respected and recognised for itself.
It was at this point that identity came to be represented as a fact of life that one is born with rather than a subject of choice.
Increasingly the refrain "I was born this way" served as a demand for the celebration of identity.
The fossilisation of identity acquired its most dramatic dimension in the former gay liberation movement. In the early 70s the gay liberation movement insisted there was nothing natural about sexuality. It argued that sexual preference involved a matter of choice and that desire was not the product of biological programming. That was then.
Since the 90s there has been a growing tendency to represent homosexuality as not a choice influenced by sexual desire but the inexorable consequence of a so-called gay gene.
Researchers have been busy discovering genes that prove that homosexuals are born, not made.
In September 1991, Newsweek ran a front cover picture of a baby with the question "Is this child gay?" The idea that homosexuals are born this way has now become integral to gay identity. According to gay gene theory your sexuality is natural and immutable.
There are still a few gay activists such as Peter Tatchell who are prepared to argue against this dogma. But increasingly it is considered bad manners to question the doctrine that sexual orientation is immutable.
The main reason the naturalisation of sexual desire has been embraced by the gay and establishment is because they believe it encourages tolerance and respect for sexual minorities.
The "scientific discovery" that homosexuality is natural serves to counter critics who claim that it is abnormal or unnatural.
Unfortunately the doctrine of immutability serves to diminish the belief in free will and the capacity for moral independence.
This is not surprising since the active and experimenting dimension of the pursuit of self-determination is antithetical to the politics of identity.
When humanity is reduced to genes: Lady Gaga's fatalistic anthem speaks to everyone preoccupied with their identities. No matter whether "you're black, white, beige, chola descent", she sings "rejoice and love yourself".
What she really means is accept your immutable identity. This all-inclusive appeal to the fossilisation of identity enjoys formidable cultural affirmation in Western societies.
These days virtually every form of human behaviour is interpreted as the outcome of genetic programming. Brain research and evolutionary psychology is mobilised to prove that even people's beliefs and opinions are expressions of their genetic dispositions.
Apparently political debate is a waste of time since "political positions are substantially determined by biology and can be stubbornly resistant to reason".
So claims John Alford, an American political scientist who also notes that "trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes".
Apparently our political views are built into our brains.
Once biological determinism captures the cultural imagination, one discovery follows the next. So scientists from the University of California and Harvard have published research that claims to have discovered a "liberal gene" that disposes people to new ideas and alternative lifestyles.
From this perspective, liberalism, tolerance and a disposition to new ideas is not so much an acquisition acquired through the exercise of individual judgment than a consequence of a transmitter in the brain called DRD4.
Indeed, moral reasoning itself is depicted as a function that can be explained through the working of the brain.
So philosopher Paul Thagard has offered an explanation of the meaning of life through drawing on research from neuroscience rather than on moral and culturally informed beliefs.
These days the idea that we are born this way dominates popular culture. It is not simply our sexual desires that are pre-programmed. Serial killers are not so much evil people as damaged children who just cannot control their destructive urges. The television series Dexter features an almost lovable mass murderer who simply cannot refrain from killing -- in this case nasty -- people. You see, he was born this way.
Don Draper, the main protagonist of Mad Men, also was born this way. His brutal childhood dooms him to a life of inner turmoil and anxiety.
So when Gaga sings "in the religion of the insecure/I must be myself", the myself is not so much an accomplishment of self-determination but of a biological accident. There is more than hint that what she has in mind is not so much the affirmation of the self but a deference to fate.
Thankfully, the experience of human endeavour tells us that who we are need not be determined by a biological accident.
Yes, our genes influence our behaviour. But this does not determine who we are. We are not the slaves of our biology and possess a formidable capacity to make our own world and on a good day to even choose who we want to be.
And that's a far better message for a Lady Gaga anthem
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