[ExI] Ashkenazi Longevity was Re: The Catholic Impact (was Re: Origin of ethics and morals)

[PJ Manney]

2011/12/15 Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>:
> The rest of your message  corresponds pretty much to what I know and think
> on the subject and develops it in interesting directions. I would also
> recommend here
> Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People by Jon
> Entine and the subject is also marginally touched in Before the Dawn:
> Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade.

Thanks for these.  I'm just starting some serious research into the subject.

> What makes the Jewish case interesting is that while I maintain that all
> societies and cultures can be seen (also) as eugenic experiments on a very
> large scale, the Jews' (relative) historical endogamy has very little to do
> with geographic segregation and even more than usually with a sense of
> collective identity. Moreover, I suspect that the social mechanisms involved
> in the occasional interbreeding with Gentiles in average actually brought in
> "good" genes (say, a rich merchant marrying a beautiful/smart/healthy
> Gentile girl), rather than diluting whatever might have been the group
> traits in the process of being selected by the factors you mention.

Absolutely!  I joke that I married my non-Jewish husband to add hybrid
vigor to my bloodline.  (Well that, and he's adorable!)  He's half
Norwegian, half German and has a very different 23 and Me profile and
haplogroup than me.  And so far, my children are proving I'm right!
:-)

PJ