The problem of Disgust

Hi friends,

Most of us don’t like to think about disgust. (It’s kind of a disgusting subject).

But it turns out that disgust is a powerful emotion.

In fact, disgust is so powerful that it can overwhelm the rational objectivity of scholars even when they are studying disgust.

Consider, for instance, how the political psychologists Mark Brandt and Jarret Crawford, summarize a field of sociological research:

People are motivated to protect their worldviews. One way to protect one's worldviews is through prejudice toward worldview-dissimilar groups and individuals. The traditional hypothesis predicts that people with more traditional and conservative worldviews will be more likely to protect their worldviews with prejudice than people with more liberal and progressive worldviews…

Let’s pause there. “The traditional hypothesis” is that conservatives are more prejudiced than liberals.

Why is that the “traditional” hypothesis? Well, consider this study, noted in Scientific American:

A 2015 study by psychologist José Duarte, then at Arizona State University, and his colleagues in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, entitled “Political Diversity Will Improve Social Psychological Science,” found that 58 to 66 percent of social scientists are liberal and only 5 to 8 percent conservative and that there are eight Democrats for every Republican. The problem is most relevant to the study of areas “related to the political concerns of the Left—areas such as race, gender, stereotyping, environmentalism, power, and inequality.”

According to Scientific American, the Duarte study found that this political imbalance resulted in distorted language that was prejudicial against conservatives.

Brandt and Crawford’s research amplifies these findings. According to The New York Times:

Earlier research has correctly found greater levels of prejudice among conservatives, they write, but these studies have focused on prejudice toward liberal-associated groups: minorities, the poor, gay people and other marginalized constituencies. Crawford and Brandt contend that when the targets of prejudice are expanded to include “conservative-associated groups such as Christian fundamentalists, military personnel and ‘rich people,’” similar levels of prejudice emerge.

Low openness to experience is associated with prejudice against groups seen as socially unconventional (e.g., atheists, gay men and lesbians),” they write, whereas high openness is “associated with prejudice against groups seen as socially conventional (e.g., military personnel, evangelical Christians).” They continue, “Whereas high disgust sensitivity is associated with prejudice against groups that threaten traditional sexual morality, low disgust sensitivity is associated with prejudice against groups that uphold traditional sexual morality.”

What an irony.

When an academic field dominated by liberals researched prejudice, they mainly found that conservatives were prejudiced! But when liberals were included in the analysis, similar levels of prejudice emerge.

Are you disgusted with liberals now?

Ok.

That’s the trap we all need to escape from.

Conservatives, liberals, independents: we’re all human. We’re all subject to bias — even prejudice. As it metastasizes, we normalize outrage, disgust, and loathing for them, our evil enemies. It’s such an obvious problem that we can become incredulous that there’s anyone who isn’t disgusted by them.

The latest social science research says that the current polarization is a discouraging mess. We hate each other — and we hate them for hating us — and the growing disgust with one another compounds as it zooms around media and social media.

As clearly as I can put it: that’s not the way of Jesus.

And fighting disgust with more disgust isn’t likely to work. As the saying goes, “never roll in the mud with a pig. Because you both get covered with mud — and the pig likes it.”

So what’s the alternative?

I hope you won’t be surprised if I find hope in the Scriptures. But what follows isn’t a comprehensive theology of disgust. In fact, I’m sure I’ve missed some important points. At best, perhaps these reflections get us started. I invite you to add your own thoughts in the comments. (Or you can quote-tweet this on Twitter if I’ve angered you).

First, disgust can be a blessing.

When people come after us, it hurts. We’re liable to think they’ve harmed us, and we need to strike back. But Jesus teaches:

Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

In other words, when people are disgusted with you — if and only if it’s because of your loyalty to Jesus — there’s no need to retaliate. Why? Because they are blessing you. You can thank them!

Second, disgust can blind us.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also teaches:

Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

If you want to criticize your enemies, you might as well be accurate. It’s not that much fun to get it wrong, is it?

But the only way to clearly see your brother’s splinter is to first look at the beam of wood in your own eyes.

So think about it: who do you hate? That could be a blind spot.

Third, God sees clearly.

When we see the wicked “getting away with it” — even being successful because of their wrongdoing — it introduces a doubt: God, are you paying attention?

In Psalm 94 we read that the wicked trumpet this perspective:

The wicked say, “The LORD doesn’t see it. The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”

But the rest of Psalm 94 makes it clear: the Lord does see. He will provide justice.

If we are confident that God will secure justice, that changes our heart posture.

Fourth, sin is disgusting!

Sin makes us unclean — and will drive us towards nothingness and death.

Isaiah 64 puts it plainly:

All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

When we see the sinfulness of those we don’t like, it’s natural for us to recoil from their abhorrent behavior.

Let’s go deeper. What’s another casualty of their sin? The way they bear the image of God is disfigured.

And this logic should equally motivate us to turn away from our sin. In Romans 6, Paul writes:

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In other words, sometimes, maybe what we like about wrestling with pigs is… that we’re pigs too. But if that’s in our past, why keep living that way?

May we be freshly motivated to receive God’s grace, turn away from our sin, and experience the gift of life that never ends.

Fifth, be careful what fires you start.

Consider James 3:5-10,

So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.

Our words have the power of life… and the power of death.

Is it worth starting a fire over what Democrats or Republicans have done wrong? Maybe.

My point is that we need to reckon with our influence. God gave us voices that can change the world. For good or for bad.

And we must humble ourselves to admit that we can advocate for what is good in a way that is bad.

So how will you wield this power?

Sixth, this process purifies our cries for righteousness and justice.

In no way am I trying to minimize outrageous sin. As I’ve learned from survivors and abuse advocates, the line “we’re all sinners” is a shrewd way that the powerful seek to get away with appalling, outrageous sin.

By contrast, Jesus offered scathing criticisms when it was due.

For instance, he told the Pharisees:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This is visceral. He’s saying the Pharisees stink like rotting corpses.

Or consider what Jesus says of those who harm children!

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.

This moral clarity is completely in sync with God’s approach in the Old Testament. (I would attribute the similarity to Jesus being God).

Isaiah 58, for instance, is startling in its candor:

“Cry out loudly, don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.

They seek me day after day and delight to know my ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.

“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!”

Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.

Part of obedience to God is to speak up — loudly — and announce what offends his justice and righteousness.

Some of us would rather shy away from such a great responsibility. Others of us might rush in too quickly.

Yet Jesus taught us, “for the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (Matthew 12:34).

If we are going to credibly announce what is wrong, may we do it with a heart that is right.

I hope that these reflections will help me — and maybe you — to do it with humbled, cleansed hearts.