Gene, the scapegoats

Soon after their discovery, genes have become a part of our social expression in addition to being the darling of research. They also have become the scapegoat for any thing that happens to us, from our anger to the diseases we get. First they were selfish, using our body to propagate themselves. Once we have transmitted them to our progeny, then genes don’t need us and lead us to the path of demise and death.
They were supposed to be the cause of cancer, the oncogenes. They were supposed to be the reason for our mental illness, for our behavior of all kinds, even if we shoot some one for fun, we can always blame the genes, they made me do it. I am not at fault.

I think the more I learn about genes, I feel that the gene excuse is less scientific than thought. For sure we can be predisposed due to certain mutation in our genes to get lung cancer. However if we refrain from smoking and from the polluted smog filled areas, there is much less chance of us getting it. The same is true for how long we live or what we can become. The potential is there, but unless it is triggered by one or more of our behavior, eating a lot, doing no exercise, eating wrong kind of food or being under stress to be millionaire instantly, the chance of genes leading us astray towards our destruction is kind of remote.