Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

378 J HOW THE MIND WORKSweed whackers, limb loppers, branch pruners, stem snippers, hedge clippers,and wood chippers in a Sisyphean effort to hold the forest at bay.Here in Santa Barbara, the land wants to be an arid chaparral, butdecades ago the city fathers dammed wilderness creeks and tunneledthrough mountains to bring water to thirsty lawns. During a recentdrought, homeowners were so desperate for verdant vistas that theysprayed their dusty yards with green paint.FOODFOR THOUGHTGreat green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,Mutilated monkey meat,Concentrated chicken feet.Jars and jars of petrified porpoise pus,And me without my spoon!—fondly remembered camp song, sung to thetune of "The Old Gray Mare"; lyricist unknownDisgust is a universal human emotion, signaled with its own facialexpression and codified everywhere in food taboos. Like all the emotions,disgust has profound effects on human affairs. During World WarII, American pilots in the Pacific went hungry rather than eat the toadsand bugs that they had been taught were perfectly safe. Food aversionsare tenacious ethnic markers, persisting long after other traditions havebeen abandoned.Judged by the standards of modern science, disgust is manifestlyirrational. People who are sickened by the thought of eating a disgustingobject will say it is unsanitary or harmful. But they find a sterilizedcockroach every bit as revolting as one fresh from the cupboard, and ifthe sterilized roach is briefly dunked into a beverage, they will refuseto drink it. People won't drink juice that has been stored in a brandnewurine collection bottle; hospital kitchens have found this anexcellent way to stop pilferage. People won't eat soup if it is served ina brand-new bedpan or if it has been stirred with a new comb or flyswatter.You can't pay most people to eat fudge baked in the shape ofdog feces or to hold rubber vomit from a novelty store between theirlips. One's own saliva is not disgusting as long as it is in one's mouth,