Trey Smith
Baroness Radon sent me a link to a very interesting article in the New York Times, Politics, Odor and Soap by Nicholas Kristof. The main feature of the article is a discussion of how liberals and conservatives view moral psychology differently. I encourage those interested in the subject matter to give it a read.
Of course, since I'm an odd guy, there was something else that caught my eye!
A University of Toronto study found that if people were asked to wash their hands with soap and water before filling out a questionnaire, they become more moralistic about issues like drug use and pornography. Researchers found that interviewees on Stanford’s campus offered harsher, more moralistic views after “fart spray” had been released in the area.What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is the "fart spray" experiment. Why would anyone even think of that?
Were a bunch of researchers sitting around a conference table discussing various control elements when, all of a sudden, one of them shared a bit of gas? Did one or more of them then become more moralistic during the conversation?
"Dr. Derryaire, I think you're on to something here!"
"Yes, Dr. Sphincter, I'm getting a whiff of a brilliant idea!"
"What is it?" the other researchers ask.
Fart spray!
Well, actually I think it's kind of clever. Attitudes toward bathroom odors and condition say a lot about us. Starting with the premise that one's own shit doesn't stink, it is a very interesting measure of how you regard other people. Who doesn't have a moment of revulsion when they go in a public bathroom that reeks of a previous visitor's dump? As a Taoist practice, I go into dog mode --"oh, I smell pooh"--not that I revel in it like a dog, just observe. But most people would have a moment where they think, what is WRONG with that other person? Needless to say, Chinese toilets have probably changed my consciousness abut this. And I remember trooping up some temple stairs following someone, pretty much nose to butt, who was suffering from the same gastro-intestinal trouble that struck us all eventually. I found it kind of charming. And once, because we were eating a lot of cabbage, I let loose a huge sloppy loud fart in another temple area. Some haughty Russians who were traveling with us gave me a horrified look. I just laughed and said, "What, you never ate cabbage???"
ReplyDeleteAnd don't ask how I know this, but among supplies that are available to undercover agents are "fart agents,", like those aldehydes we all experimented with in high school chemistry class. How better to embarrass someone than to surround him with a bad smell that seems to emanate from him.