Can the capacity for revulsion be mapped against politics?

V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Someone told me a study said it could. The more left wing you are the less revolted you are by stuff.

'Dirty foreigner' narrative, a revulsion at gay sex as dirty and unnatural...right-wing.

Dirty anarchists...left-wing.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
viktorvaughn said:
Someone told me a study said it could. The more left wing you are the less revolted you are by stuff.
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Not at all - surely you can be revolted (albeit in a slightly different sense) by political corruption, the various excesses of capitalism, environmental destruction, racism, religious bigotry, etc. etc.? Or do you mean specifically 'body-revulsion' about dirt, (illicit) sex and so on?

John's obviously spot on about fascism and cleanliness/purity, though.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
viktorvaughn said:
Someone told me a study said it could. The more left wing you are the less revolted you are by stuff.

'Dirty foreigner' narrative, a revulsion at gay sex as dirty and unnatural...right-wing.

Dirty anarchists...left-wing.
Click to expand...

Wor Vim's gonna love this thread ;)

In recent years there's been a trend towards portraying the political right as rakish gallivants high on life and PJ O'Rourke/Jeremy clarkson columns while the left all mooch about complaining about wars and people saying 'blackboard' or 'manhole' and don't hug their kids enough.

The Daily Mail refutes that, although a glimpse into the world of the paranoid left (Indymedia, say) shows there's plenty on the side of the angels high on their righteous indignation too.

Did your mate say where he saw it?
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
Not at all - surely you can be revolted (albeit in a slightly different sense) by political corruption, the various excesses of capitalism, environmental destruction, racism, religious bigotry, etc. etc.? Or do you mean specifically 'body-revulsion' about dirt, (illicit) sex and so on?

John's obviously spot on about fascism and cleanliness/purity, though.
Click to expand...

Oh, that kind of revulsion.
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
Not at all - surely you can be revolted (albeit in a slightly different sense) by political corruption, the various excesses of capitalism, environmental destruction, racism, religious bigotry, etc. etc.? Or do you mean specifically 'body-revulsion' about dirt, (illicit) sex and so on?

John's obviously spot on about fascism and cleanliness/purity, though.
Click to expand...

It's physical revulsion, squeamishness rather than intellectual/political/considered revulsion.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
viktorvaughn said:
It's physical revulsion, squeamishness rather than intellectual/political/considered revulsion.
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OK, fair enough - a hatred of all things 'sordid' and 'unclean', then? Yeah, certainly sounds more at home on the right, traditionally speaking anyway. An interesting modern development though is 'orthorexia', a disorder characterised by an obsession with eating 'pure' foods that's sort of a logical conclusion of vegetarianism/veganism, the organic foods thing, anti-lactose/ant-wheat/anti-(you name it) faddism and so on.
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
'Dirty foreigner' narrative, a revulsion at gay sex as dirty and unnatural...right-wing.

Dirty anarchists...left-wing.
Click to expand...

Some kind of biological determinism at work here -- do you feel revulsion at the thought of gay sex? :p
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
OK, fair enough - a hatred of all things 'sordid' and 'unclean', then? Yeah, certainly sounds more at home on the right, traditionally speaking anyway. An interesting modern development though is 'orthorexia', a disorder characterised by an obsession with eating 'pure' foods that's sort of a logical conclusion of vegetarianism/veganism, the organic foods thing, anti-lactose/ant-wheat/anti-(you name it) faddism and so on.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Apparently in this study they were showing people images of rotting meat covered in maggots, shit with flies on etc.

I can imagine the politics of these real hardcore 'pure' food eaters to be almost right wing though, the true health food crew are the gentle lentils chompers browsing leftist bookshops and herb gardens alike eating a bit of everything even a bit of ethically sourced meat.

Wonder if it can be mapped to atheism - atheists have a more materialist view of the world therefore find rotten corpses mere by-products of blind biological processes and not the ex-home of a soul.
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
You can read this alongside the article Mr Tea posted in the goth thread for an interesting counter-factual -- the fascist industrialists all think of themselves as animal spirits, uber-materialists in fact, and not cleanliness obssessed tories.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I find liquorice revolting; doesn't mean I find the idea of other people eating it revolting. Just as long as they don't try and force me to eat it. :mad:
 
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