{{Title link: https://psmag.com/social-justice/bugs-like-made-germ-theory-democracy-beliefs-73958 }}

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(hat-tip to @slatestarscratchpad‘s link post, though I’d been hearing off-hand mentions of this for a while and had been meaning to look into it)

“The pathogen stress theory is also hard to swallow in a way that evolutionary psychology arguments often are—especially for those who fancy the idea that we are in control of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.”

I don’t know, I don’t really feel upset by “the reason you don’t grok liberal mindsets is because you’re a germophobe”. It sounds a little weird, sure, but not upsetting. I think I just file it under “interesting if true”.

(It’s not like it’s going to cause germophobia to become low-status: it’s already low-status, as I am reminded every time sick people act like [me wanting to arrange things so we don’t touch the same objects] is an unreasonable burden on them.)

Mind you, I mostly don’t feel subjectively in control of my political beliefs, so perhaps that makes it easier to swallow.

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Tags:

#my brother and father had a cold recently so the unreasonable-burden thing is fresh in my mind #why no I do *not* want to play Go Fish with you #especially not during a dinner to be eaten with one’s hands #this post technically qualifies as #oh look an original post #but is closer to the spirit of #reply via reblog #illness tw #(and for link picture) #needle tw #bugs #oh and one more category tag seems relevant #our roads may be golden or broken or lost