Coevilutionary

Most often, a person prefers
Either a biological
Or cultural explanation,

Since it’s so widely imagined
The implications of each kind
Aren’t difficult to understand—

Biological hints it can’t
Be changed—good as is, natural—
While cultural implies it can.

If you like something as is, then,
You trust it’s biological,
But if you’re certain it should change,

You’d prefer it were cultural.
There follow appeals to reason,
Barbed arrows in both directions.

You don’t know the implications.
Biology is malleable,
And nature’s not one of your saints.

Culture’s stubbornly persistent
And more prone to shift you than it.
We could go on, but what’s the point?

It’s a mess; you’re part of the mess.
If you scrutinize your clay feet,
You’ll see they’re neither feet nor clay.