This is the Stupidest Article I've Read in a While

[Terrel L. Shields]

A couple get DNA tests and find out they are from third to fifth cousins...

Couple with kids took DNA test that left wife 'sick to her stomach'

At-home ancestry kits can teach us a lot about ourselves: what our ethnic roots are; whether we’re predisposed to certain illnesses and even whether we have secret relatives.However, sometimes the details we learn about ourselves are uncomfortable to say the least. And no one knows this better...

www.indy100.com

The woman is distraught over finding out they were distantly related. It's not like her kids are going to be born with birth defects...This is very common and no one the wiser. In fact, I think most states that prohibit cousins from marrying only apply that to first cousins.​

Anyone with a smidgen of understanding of genetics knows that that is quite distant relations. It means the connection possibly dates back to the 19th century. No closer than perhaps their respective grandparents grandparent were brothers or sisters. Since it varies with the actual dna shared, its less than one percent for 3rd cousins and 0.05% for fifth cousins. I don't know any of my 5th cousins except my genealogy mom had a tree of my grandfather's family where his grandfather's sister married the great-great-great grandfather of my niece's husband. And we only know that because that was a paternal link that was kept the name intact. And his aunt and I am the same age. If we'd hooked up then we'd be 4th cousins...she was kinda cute come to think of it. We all went to church together otherwise had no idea we traced there until mom compared notes with the nephew's uncle.

You have almost certainly talked with, worked with, or otherwise interacted with people who you are related to and not know it. I went to college with a girl who went to another school but lived only about 4 or 5 miles away. When I mentioned it to my folks, mother said, "Oh, she's Jr. Martin's daughter and her mother's mother and my mother were cousins. I went to school with both of them when we lived near there."...small world.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

A couple get DNA tests and find out they are from third to fifth cousins...

Couple with kids took DNA test that left wife 'sick to her stomach'

At-home ancestry kits can teach us a lot about ourselves: what our ethnic roots are; whether we’re predisposed to certain illnesses and even whether we have secret relatives.However, sometimes the details we learn about ourselves are uncomfortable to say the least. And no one knows this better...

www.indy100.com

The woman is distraught over finding out they were distantly related. It's not like her kids are going to be born with birth defects...This is very common and no one the wiser. In fact, I think most states that prohibit cousins from marrying only apply that to first cousins.​

Anyone with a smidgen of understanding of genetics knows that that is quite distant relations. It means the connection possibly dates back to the 19th century. No closer than perhaps their respective grandparents grandparent were brothers or sisters. Since it varies with the actual dna shared, its less than one percent for 3rd cousins and 0.05% for fifth cousins. I don't know any of my 5th cousins except my genealogy mom had a tree of my grandfather's family where his grandfather's sister married the great-great-great grandfather of my niece's husband. And we only know that because that was a paternal link that was kept the name intact. And his aunt and I am the same age. If we'd hooked up then we'd be 4th cousins...she was kinda cute come to think of it. We all went to church together otherwise had no idea we traced there until mom compared notes with the nephew's uncle.

You have almost certainly talked with, worked with, or otherwise interacted with people who you are related to and not know it. I went to college with a girl who went to another school but lived only about 4 or 5 miles away. When I mentioned it to my folks, mother said, "Oh, she's Jr. Martin's daughter and her mother's mother and my mother were cousins. I went to school with both of them when we lived near there."...small world.

Two mid-20 year old dudes worked for me in New Orleans as cooks in a small kitchen. After working together for more than a year, they realized one day that the bro of one cook was married to the sister of the other! After a year!!!

 

[Mark K]

Third to fifth cousins? In some areas south of my state, they would be complete strangers.

A joke from those parts of the country where the term "uncle daddy" is common...

A young man comes home the day after his honeymoon and tell his family he's leaving his new wife.

"Why" asks the dad, 'she seems so nice'.

"Well Dad, she was a virgin"

"Son, you're doing the right thing. If she's not good enough for her own family, she sure ain't good enough for ours."

 

[alebrewer]

I've always been fascinated by how culture evolves. At some point in the past, society determined that it was unhealthy (for society) for there to be too much inbreeding, so we began to develop cultural stigmas attached to procreating among close relatives (even though it was practiced by the wealthy through the middle ages). There obviously is nothing inherently 'immoral' with the practice, but - as with many of our mores - at some point we collectively learned that inbreeding was detrimental to the health of the society.

 

[Fernando]

I've always been fascinated by how culture evolves. At some point in the past, society determined that it was unhealthy (for society) for there to be too much inbreeding, so we began to develop cultural stigmas attached to procreating among close relatives (even though it was practiced by the wealthy through the middle ages). There obviously is nothing inherently 'immoral' with the practice, but - as with many of our mores - at some point we collectively learned that inbreeding was detrimental to the health of the society.

Back then, monarch and wealthy people wanted to keep their wealth and power concentrated. Inbreeding was less of their concern.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

I've always been fascinated by how culture evolves. At some point in the past, society determined that it was unhealthy (for society) for there to be too much inbreeding, so we began to develop cultural stigmas attached to procreating among close relatives (even though it was practiced by the wealthy through the middle ages). There obviously is nothing inherently 'immoral' with the practice, but - as with many of our mores - at some point we collectively learned that inbreeding was detrimental to the health of the society.

Probably a poor analogy but I once heard it mentioned that a variant of inbreeding was the downfall of the Detroit auto empires...

 

[Surf Cat]

I hear the banjo of Deliverance playing while reading these comments....