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A Field Guide to Feelings
Disgust Management
I have an idea for a new business opportunity for us shrinks. You know how they have anger management classes that judges, employers, and spouses send people to when they keep losing their cool? The kind like in the movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson? Yeah, that. Well, anger’s not the only emotion that needs to go to class. There ought to be disgust management classes, too.
Disgust is that feeling of revulsion you get when you comes across anything gross, grody, ghastly, gruesome, creepy, hateful, horrible, nasty, nauseating, stinking, loathsome, objectionable, obnoxious, odious, hideous, beastly, detestable, distasteful, repugnant, repellent, rotten, vile, vulgar, cloying, foul, horrid, scuzzy, icky, lousy, sleazy, noisome, offensive, or yucky. It’s often accompanied by a narrowed brow, a curled lip, a wrinkled nose, and a tongue sticking out for all the world to see. You feel it in your stomach. It makes you want to hurl. It’s closely related to hate, contempt, condescension, snootiness, and the reason bands of villagers go marching with torches and pitchforks.
Who would go to these classes? You’ve got people who’ve got to keep their peas and mashed potatoes separated and the kind who lays toilet paper on the seat. There are those who can’t bear the sight of blood, won’t do CPR, and are useless at an accident scene. You could send anyone who runs away whenever there’s a spider, gets grossed out by handkerchiefs, and nail clippings give them the shivers. If you can’t keep down a perfectly good tapioca pudding, that’s it, you’re going to disgust management class.
It’s not just the persnickety people who would be sent to disgust management. The emotion shows up anytime there’s something different. Homophobes, transphobes, and xenophobes should apply, as well as anyone who can’t bear the thought of Blacks and Whites marrying, if there’s anyone left. If you can’t ride in a subway car with a homeless person, it’s disgust management for you. If you get all nervous and jerky when there are too many wheelchairs in the room; if you don’t know what to say to someone who looks funny, then come to disgust management and tell us all about it. Whatever’s your thing; maybe you can’t stand Jews or Palestinians or Somalians or Syrians, or anyone with a turban on their head. If…
