According to David Pizarro, in his TED talk, disgust is a natural human reaction to protect oneself from poisoning or contamination. Expanding upon that, disgust seems to be rooted in experiencing the unfamiliar and how the body reacts to that experience.
In 6th grade, my reading class published our own Christmas “magazine” where we included various activities, articles, and recipes. Each student submitted one or two of their family’s traditional Christmas-time dishes, and brought them in for a class party. As the food was brought out, one of my teachers from next door came in to join our party. In the class, one girl came from a Latino family and brought bread pudding made with coconut milk. It contained two things I was unfamiliar with: the sliminess and sponginess of the bread and the distinct taste of the coconut milk. I took a bite not knowing what to expect, and the combined tastes and textures caused me to gag. I couldn’t swallow the food. My body would not let it happen. The teacher from next door saw me gag and try to spit the food out, so she commented, “Wendall, you’re such a little white boy.” She was white. I was white. For some reason I was extremely hurt and offended by what she said. I had never been called a “white boy,” especially in such a derogatory manner.
Looking back, I always contemplate the nature of what she said. How being a “white boy” was shameful because I couldn’t stomach the food. In that situation, “white boy” could easily be replaced by pansy, sissy, wimp, or wuss. The implied meaning and effect of the insult would be the same. It’s intriguing how that the sense of disgust could be so effortlessly correlated to a racial insult. However, think of this in a similar situation. What if I and the teacher were black? If I couldn’t swallow the food because of the texture, calling me a “black boy” would not carry the same weight as an insult.
Considering Pizarro’s argument, it appears that the conservative, white male in America is intrinsically inclined have a heightened sensitivity to feeling disgust. Combining the thoughts, based on my 6th grade experience, shouldn’t I be an extremely easily disgusted individual and fall on the far-right conservative side? After viewing Dr. Robinson’s comment on Rachel’s blog and if looking only at my experience in the Honors Topic, I apparently have a very low sensitivity to disgust, so wouldn’t I be an ardent liberal? I do fall into the conservative realm, yet I bravely ate the insects. There is some variation in Pizarro’s claims where race, culture, atmospheres, upbringing all play parts in an individual’s sensitivity to disgust.