"The duty that was before paid upon Tea, in Great-Britain, was one shilling a pound. This duty is now [reduced] . . . This it was thought must be popular . . . But [this action] will never amuse wise men. The same power that imposed [the reduced tax], will, when [it is] acknowledged and obeyed as authority . . . impose three shillings or three pounds." —from a letter published in the Boston gazette , August 15, 1768

The writer of this letter would most likely have agreed with which statement?

A.

Taxes in the colonies are too high.

B.

Parliament has no authority to tax the colonies.

C.

The colonies have not been asked to pay their fair share in taxes.

D.

Paying taxes is the responsibility of all British subjects in the colonies.

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.

,jbcdx

answeranglican church;