Conservatives Are More Easily Disgusted

[dkf]

Robert Roy Britt

livescience.com – 2 hrs 44 mins ago

People who squirm at the sight of bugs or are grossed out by blood and guts are more likely to be politically conservative, new studies find.

In particular, the squeamish are more apt to have conservative attitudes about gays and lesbians.

Lots of other research has tied politics to biology and behavior. Some quick background:

* A study last year found that when people feel physically clean, they are less judgmental.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090605/sc_livescience/conservativesaremoreeasilydisgusted

[VWolf]

1. Makes sense

given that they're more disgusting to begin with.

[guitar man]

2. then what do they do

when they look in the mirror? :shrug:

[panader0]

3. I'm headed for the shower

[JenniferJuniper]

4. Fearful people, right-wingers are

Hence all the angst about being "kept safe".

Bunch of cowards, the lot of them.

I guess I must not be feeling very "clean" today!

[beac]

5. It's taken me 40+ years to get over my fear of bugs and I still get lightheaded

when it's time to give blood, much less at a gory movie scene.

And working from home has...um... let's say "lessened" my physical cleanliness.

And I am about as liberal as they come and support gay marriage 100% (including with my wallet).

My dentist, who spends all day up to his armpits in other people's blood has Faux News on the TV and listens to Rush.

That study is bunk.

[JenniferJuniper]

8. The study is not necessarily bunk.

But your stories are necessarily anecdotal.

There have been other studies that have indicated that right wing/conservative people are generally more fearful than normal people. "Squeamish" is a close cousin to fearful.

And, of course, we know closed-minded stuff is true about them.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Dentists are a special catagory -

I think, like the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, that a lot of them are drawn to the profession because they can sublimate their sadistic side in their work. And in all my years I've NEVER met a liberal dentist.

Tell me, how liberal are your parents, and how did THEY feel about bugs? A lot of such attitudes is instilled in a child in the formative years.

And conservatives are obsessed about OTHER peoples' cleanliness, not their own.

I think there is a lot to this, from my experiences with the really out-there righties.

[beac]

22. My parenst are life-long liberal Democrats and have never been afraid of bugs or much of anything

else.

I do agree that dentists are mistly sadists. Though most doctors and surgeons I've met are on the conservative side too and they certainly can't be squeamish in their profession.

[wolfgangmo]

19. It is not bunk

It is a study. In science the theory must fit the facts. So they gathered a sampling of facts and they posit a theory to fit the facts.

What you describe is known as a statistical anomaly. The reason that the study is not bunk is that humans is not made up of identical people. We are all individuals with unique characteristics and behaviors. As such, there will always be some people who do not fit the profile. Gather enough of those people and you get a new theory, but if you can't find enough people outside the parameters of the theory then you just have exceptions to the rule.

I would guess that your dentist, despite his profession, is a clean freak and doesn't get anywhere near a patient without being gloved, masked, etc. It's not like he likes saliva. In fact he probably loathes them and everyone who has them. I have a brother in law just like that.

Cheers.

[beac]

23. Yes, yes, yes, I understand how studies work.

I'd like to know if they included any medical professionals in the study.

[nc4bo]

6. Guess that's why there was that ban on photos of our returning war dead

or a blackout on the images of ruin, rape, murder and mayhem on the streets and countrysides of Iraq and Afghanistan.

For all the warmongering, pimpin' for Jesus, gun-luvin', fetus worshipin', domestic terrorizing, homophobic fearing these people do, it does amaze me that many of them would be conservative.

[alfredo]

7. This explains so much. Think about the murder of the doctor last week,

the number of pederasts (hairy adults are disgusting), corrupt businessmen, and politicians in the Republican party.

"An interesting related aside to chew on: Research published in 2007 in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that people who think of themselves as having high moral standards often become the worst cheats because they pursue what they believe to be a moral end at all cost."

[dkf]

14. Their morality is above the law.

Typical Republican.

[alfredo]

15. God's law is above our constitution, only if they get caught.

[ccharles000]

9. I don't like to see blood but I am not conservative.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. LOL. I loved this quote from the article:

Another study found that political conservatives tend to be tidy, with organized offices, but liberals favor colorful, more stylish but cluttered spaces.

Anyone besides me that this would apply to?

[Skittles]

12. definitely me

yes INDEED

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. I don't know about 'stylish', but 'colorful' and 'cluttered' define me. nt

[JenniferJuniper]

16. I find clutter strangely comforting.

About once a year, my assistant flips out when I'm not in the office and organizes everything. Horribly discombobulating, but organized people just can't understand that.

[WI_DEM]

17. that's because they are more easily disgusting.

[spanone]

18. Conservatives Are More Easily Disgusting

[scheming daemons]

20. This is why conservatives make lousy lays

They're squeamish about sharing bodily fluids.


Good luck getting a conservative, of either gender, to go down on you.



And they always want the lights off during sex.

[dorkulon]

21. The thing is that they take their disgust to be significant.

I would be lying if I said the image of men having sex with each other didn't gross me out a little. The point is that I don't take that to mean anything relevant regarding morality of whatever. The conservative thinks his disgust is some kind of moral instruction from God.