Mandy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:35 am
Note that the article that you've sited states that there's a positive correlation between incest and socioeconomic status in those communities. That indicates to me that richer, more influential people there want to keep their wealth and infuence in the family so they systematically have cousins coupled together generation after generation.
This is a cultural policy that depends on your
parent's wealth not yours, so there's no causal link. To the contrary, this diminishes the descendants' capabilities (although rich people don't need to be very smart to keep being rich).
A more extreme example: pharaohs in ancient Egypt practiced incest and clocked 31 dynasties within 2800 years, emperors of Japan do not and have an unbroken line for 2678 years (both Manetho and Kojiki are untrustworthy/legendary but after the first several centuries both are corroborated by better sources). European royalty kept to a small closed group, and also exhibited frequent defects and short dynastic lines.
If occasional cousin marriages were a huge deal, the human race at large wouldn't be overpopulating quite so extraordinarily.
By the same logic, drinking alcohol during pregnancy isn't a huge deal, because most such kids are born without apparent issues, and it was prevalent for thousands of years well until 20th century.
I hate dancing, but for your grave I can make an exception.