Excuse me for the long explanation, but this topic just got me to thinking.
CTE didn't cause Aaron Hernandez to murder. Most football players with CTE are not murderers. And most murderers don't have CTE from playing football. Because he was a murderer and was found to have chronic traumatic injuries to his brain doesn't mean that the CTE was causal, but only co-existant. The reason Hernandez was a sociopath is complex but it is a mixture of brain structure, genetics , and environment. It is a mixture of all of these things and obviously not in equal parts. That is a simplified explanation but it has some basis in neuroscience. CTE could have altered his brain structure, but it would not have altered his genetic make-up, the environment he was raised in, or even the basic brain structure he was born with.
I am not downplaying the role of traumatic brain injuries to the brain. We all know that these injuries have an effect on the brain and can cause early onset dementia, problems with balance, judgment and other neurological problems. But some of these dementia cases with CTE would have turned out to be dementia anyway. The CTE might have just caused it occur earlier than it would have "naturally". Can CTE cause someone to murder? Maybe in the individual with a certain genetic make-up. But it is obvious that CTE doesn't cause most people with it to murder other people. It a very small subset of people it might be a tipping point. Maybe. Of course, if your the NFL pushing an agenda, or you're a lawyer trying to get your client off a murder charge, then you are going to come out with the CTE defense.
Aaron Hernandez was programmed to be a sociopath at birth due to his genetics. Perhaps. If he was raised in a different environment would that have allowed him to turn out differently? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes environment can overcome genetics but it's a hard fight, a tough row to hoe.
I never liked Aaron Hernandez. I never liked him before I found out who he really was. He was a great football player. But he always seemed like a "thug" to me. He was one tough dude. We all condemn what he did. But his life was partly the "luck of the draw" or what the cards dealt him. I am not saying that we are just automatons or that there is no such thing as a morality because everything is pre-determined. Some people have come out of very poor social situations and have turned out to be fine upstanding citizens. These people may have had poor social situations, but their genetic make-up was o.k. or even good. They had pretty good brains. But if you look at the brains and genetics of murderers you will see people who lie on the bad side of the bell curve. Aaron Hernandez had all the ingredients -- the genetics to be programmed a sociopath, the early loss of his father, perhaps some macroscopic or microscopic structural anomalies the brain he was born with. But he was also genetically programmed to be an athlete, a football player. He had the right environment to accomplish that with his youth and high school coaches. He put in the work it took to become an SEC and NFL football player. If you don't have the right genetics then no matter how hard you work or even if your youth coach was actually Pop Warner you are not going to become even a high school football player.
If you have success in your life I am sure it was due to some hard work on your part. Pat yourself on the back. And you might have been fortunate to have been raised in a good home with good parents. But you were also fortunate to be born with o.k. or even good DNA. It was like Obama said: "You didn't build that." My answer is "Yes, I did" and "Yes, I didn't".
