Stuff You Should Know - Selects: How Disgust Works

Episode Date: February 3, 2024

Disgust is an odd thing. It makes sense that we would feel a sense of revulsion at the thought of putting rotten meat in our mouths – that’s pure evolution. But why would we feel the same emotion ...at the thought of weird sex or from hearing a racist rant? Find out more in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:01:15 on iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you happen to get your podcasts. Howdy everybody. Ugh. Blah, blech, blech, blech. Yeah, I think you know where this is headed. It's our episode on Disgust. This is a Josh pick way back in the day. This is March 2019.
Starting point is 00:01:40 And I thought initially, well, what in the world are we going to talk about with Disgust? I'm not sure I get this one, Josh. But he knew, as he always does, that there was something more to it than meets the eye. And he was right. So check it out and learn all about Disgust right here, right now. Blech. there. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. You and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant over there.
Starting point is 00:02:20 There's Jerry and this is Disgust on and stuff you should know about Disgust. You got to say it like that. I'm excited about this one, Chuck. And you want to know why? I have no idea. I think you do. If you stopped and really thought about it, that's fine. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:02:37 But if you stopped and thought about it, you would say, yes, I know exactly why, Josh, and it is as follows colon quotes Because this is one of those things that science hasn't fully explained which means there's a lot of interesting theories Which means we just get to like talk smack the whole time It's interesting. This is one of those where I was reading it and I was I mean it was sort of interesting But then I was like why would anyone even study this? I interesting, but then I was like, why would anyone even study this? I mean, that's a good question. That's a good question.
Starting point is 00:03:08 I think one of the reasons that I'm fascinated by it, and then I'm sure one of the reasons of these, I mean, to dedicate your career to studying disgust, it is kind of a bizarre idea. But one of the main researchers in the study of disgust is a guy named Paul Rosen. He's kind of like the Godfather, maybe even the father of the field.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Yeah. He says- Poor people in that family. Sure. But he's been doing it longer than anybody. So he's the, he's the pappy as they say in the hills. He said that to him disgust is the thing, the emotion, the experience that makes humans human.
Starting point is 00:03:49 That it is disgust that separates us from the other animals that we share the animal kingdom with. So much so that we actually may use disgust to separate ourselves from the rest of the animals. Okay. That is pretty fascinating. And it's worth worth exploring too because I think it says a lot about us as humans and as animals. So that's why, that's the answer to your question.
Starting point is 00:04:14 How about that? All right. No, I get why somebody would want to study. I guess I'm talking about allocating funds to study it. Oh, gotcha. It just seems like a strange thing to sink money into. Well, I mean, if the humanities are gonna sink money into anything,
Starting point is 00:04:28 what makes us the most human would be, that makes sense. According to one guy. Right. I love it. Let's talk about gross things. Okay, so we're going to. So this whole idea of studying it,
Starting point is 00:04:42 of studying disgust is actually pretty new. Rosen didn't really start until like the 70s. And it wasn't until the 90s that it really got, it really picked up, which we'll kind of get into. But prior to that, it was basically just philosophers who were talking about disgust, right? Yes, I think, and I'm not sure about studying, but at least as far as,
Starting point is 00:05:04 I think it seems to me like it was studying, but at least as far as, I think, it seems to me like it was more of a, like, where's the boundary as far as what can we write about and what can we talk about and what can we perform and still sell books and tickets. Right. Like, we want people to be tantalized at the thought of being grossed out or disgusted, but not actually be disgusted. It is a fine line that's walked, you know? No, of course. And it's subjective. thought of being grossed out or disgusted, but not actually be disgusted. It is a fine line that's walked, you know?
Starting point is 00:05:27 No, of course. And it's subjective. It is, but the other thing about disgust that's pretty interesting is it also appears to be universal. It's like, it's a universal reaction, but what disgusts people is not universal. It's culturally bound, I guess, right? And maybe personal too.
Starting point is 00:05:42 Sure, I think totally personal. So the over time, like as, I guess, right? Maybe personal too. Sure, I think totally personal. So the over time, like as, you know, Disgust kind of moved out of the realm of philosophers and into science, there were a couple of people who kind of made contributions early on in the field. One was Charles Darwin. He wrote a treatise on it and his big thing was that Disgust was related to taste, which is true to an extent. But that was Darwin's big thing was that disgust was related to taste,
Starting point is 00:06:05 which is true to an extent, but that was Darwin's big thing. And then later on, there was a guy, a psychoanalyst named Andrus Angiol, and Andrus Angiol basically said that, no, no, no, disgust is not really related to taste. It comes from the idea or the thought of putting something horrific into the mouth, which again, kind of makes sense to a certain extent. But then when Rosen and friends came along,
Starting point is 00:06:34 it really started to take off. And they actually managed to kind of categorize disgust into a few categories, which is what you do when you categorize things. Yeah, the first one is core discussed. And that's what you think of if you, like, you know, if poop or, I mean, everyone has their own triggers, but if like vomit or feces or like, like entrails or something, like that's core discussed.
Starting point is 00:07:01 That's an encounter with some sort of like physical contaminant that makes you, you know, make that face. Right. And that face specifically, that's another universal thing too, apparently. The face is, it's called the gape, which is your mouth is open, your tongue may or may not be sticking out,
Starting point is 00:07:20 your nose is wrinkled, and your upper lip is raised. Interesting. I don't do that with my mouth open though. So you just kind of do the nose wrinkle in the upper lip? I guess. Like this? But I don't open my mouth. So that's why I sort of like, I don't know when it comes to stuff like this,
Starting point is 00:07:38 I'm a little, when they make these sweeping statements, like everyone makes this face. It's like, well, everyone may make a variation of a face. Of a, like kind of a, there's like a universal set of, of characteristics to the face that you could choose from that would fall into disgust like that. Well, I don't know if you choose anything, but maybe your natural reaction.
Starting point is 00:08:01 But like, I don't open my mouth. And when I read that, like, everyone opens their mouth. I'm like, no, that's not true. So, I think one of the reasons why there is like this idea of it being universal is because evolutionary psychology as we'll see has said like, yes, this is our realm. We've got this. We're going to explain this one and to fully explain it, it basically has to be universal. So, I think that's another thing about the point where the study of disgust is right now. Like there's a lot of good ideas, some of which have kind of been shown to be probably true thanks to the Wonder Machine,
Starting point is 00:08:34 but it's still, it's not fully explained. And so there are some ideas and descriptions that make it seem kind of wacky too, right? Yeah, for sure. That second kind of disgust, getting back to that was animal nature disgust, which is apparently these are things that, anything that reminds us that we're really animals and that could, there could be a wide range of things there from like some people think people eating with their hands is disgusting.
Starting point is 00:09:04 And I think that would qualify under animal nature because like you're eating like an animal, let's say. Sex, and we'll get into that more later, but apparently there's a baseline discussed for sex, which I'm not so sure about that one either. And then hygiene is another one, poor hygiene is the animal nature discussed. Yeah, and another one is the, like you said,
Starting point is 00:09:29 entrails, something that's called the body envelope, the ideal body envelope being violated, whether it's like there's a deformity or there is like some sort of like an open wound or something like that. They think that this whole animal nature thing, that all these things remind us that we are animals and that disgust can be triggered by that reminder,
Starting point is 00:09:55 that we are, that we are in fact animals, which is kind of weird, but we'll get into explanations for that later. I can't wait. That's right. And the final one is moral discussed, which, and this is one where you can be disgusted with someone's behavior or disgusted with something a politician does or disgusted with racism or bigotry, something like that. Right. And that one makes
Starting point is 00:10:22 the least amount of sense if you think about it. Like, okay, the first two were just kind of like, all right, we're like, it's animal related. We might have issues with being animals. So we're kind of disgusted by ourselves at the thought that we're animals. Maybe it's a bit more of a stretch than that core disgust. Like core disgust makes the most sense out of all of them. Agreed? Yeah. And I don't even think that the moral disgust, I think that's a different type of thing altogether.
Starting point is 00:10:48 So that other people have proposed that, that like some people have said, well, English speakers are just misusing the word disgust. That's what I think. They're actually talking, right. Well, they've done studies of people in the Wonder Machine that shows that the region of the brain, the anterior insula that usually lights up when you're shown a picture
Starting point is 00:11:11 of like dog poop and said, you're gonna eat this. You know, your anterior insula lights up. That same region lights up when people are disgusted with other people morally. Like remember the ultimatum game? I don't remember. It used to come up all the time back in the day in our episodes.
Starting point is 00:11:28 Oh yeah. But so if somebody was given a really, really low offer, a take it or leave it offer that was so low and so unfair that the person said, I'm just leaving it. I actually don't want this free money because I find it insulting. That same part of the brain that is triggered by like fecal disgust is also triggered,
Starting point is 00:11:51 which supports the idea that there actually is a moral dimension to disgust and that we experience it in the same way. Yeah, that's interesting. It is interesting, but it is like the, it's the most tenuous of those three, I think. So, the way this all started out, there are a bunch of theories, but it makes sense that it might have been sort of an offshoot of distaste, which is, you know, your body is conditioned thanks to, you know, evolution to, if you eat something that's bitter or rotten,
Starting point is 00:12:25 like your instinct, your taste instinct is to throw it out and get rid of it. And it's a defense mechanism to save your life. And so the idea is that disgust developed out of that and that it's just simply an evolutionary trait that could have saved Tuk Tuk's life, however many years ago. Yeah, and there's evidence apparently that this distaste,
Starting point is 00:12:50 which is basically is an involuntary reaction, is like dropping something that's hot. Like you don't stop and think like, wow, this cooking pan is about five, well, I'm 550 degrees Fahrenheit, and then you drop it, I should probably drop it. Like you just dropped the pan. Distaste is the same exact thing.
Starting point is 00:13:07 And they've actually seen it elsewhere in the animal kingdom. So we've probably experienced distaste since before we were humans. And it's just spitting something out that doesn't seem right in an effort to, I guess, keep the body from becoming polluted with disease, right? And they think that distaste somehow became a behavior that was laid over this, or I'm sorry, disgust was a behavior that became laid over this existing structure of distaste.
Starting point is 00:13:38 Yeah, and that's interesting to me because that means that it becomes all of a sudden, it's not like you have to eat poop to be disgusted. Like the mere sight of poop now can disgust somebody. And that just happened over time, I think. So that is why Rosen says this is like disgust is the defining characteristic of humanity because they suspect that other animals, at the very least almost all other animals,
Starting point is 00:14:09 don't have the cognitive capacity to use their imagination to imagine themselves eating poop and being disgusted by it as a result. So that's why they say disgust separates humans from animals because it requires imagination to go from an involuntary reaction of spitting out food to not even getting to the point where the food is in your mouth. You can imagine that you would have that reaction and experience the emotion of disgust. So you don't have to go through that process.
Starting point is 00:14:41 That actually very dangerous process of eating something rotten to figure out that you shouldn't be eating it. You can imagine it beforehand. And that's the function that disgust, at least core disgust provides humanity. It advances us. We don't have to learn through trial and error over and over again, not to eat rotting meat.
Starting point is 00:14:58 We just know on some very basic level that that is a disgusting thing to do and we have a reaction to it. All right. You want to take a break? Yeah. All right, everyone. We're going to be right back right after this with more Disgust. Hey, this is Dana Schwartz. You may know my voice from Noble Blood, Haley Wood, or Stealing Superman. I'm hosting a new podcast and we're calling it very special episodes. One week we'll be on the case with special agents from NASA as they crack down on black market moon rocks.
Starting point is 00:15:31 H Ross prose on the other side and he goes, hello, Joe, how can I help you? I said, Mr. Perot, what we need is $5 million to get back a moon rock. Another week we'll unravel a 90s Hollywood mystery. It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective or something. What we need is $5 million to get back a moon rock. Another week, we'll unravel a 90s Hollywood mystery. It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective or something. These Canadian cops trying to solve this 25-year-old mystery of who spiked the Chowder on the Titanic set.
Starting point is 00:15:55 A very special episode is Stranger Than Fiction. It's normal people plop down in extraordinary circumstances. It's a story where you say this should be a movie. Listen to very special episodes on the I heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your. are the hosts of the history of Curb Your Enthusiasm podcast. We're going to watch every single episode. It's 122, including the pilot. And we're going to break them down. And by the way, most of these episodes
Starting point is 00:16:32 I have not seen for 20 years. Yeah, me too. We're going to have guest stars and people that are very important to the show, like Larry David. I did once try and stop a woman who was about to get hit by a car. I screamed out, watch out. And she said, don't you tell me what to do!
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Starting point is 00:17:12 or wherever you happen Chicky's podcasts. You've been with me for season one and two, and now I'm back with season three. Yeah! I am so excited, you guys. Get ready for all new episodes where I'll be dishing out honest advice and discussing important topics like relationships, women's health, and spirituality. For a long time, I was afraid of falling in love.
Starting point is 00:17:40 So I had to, and this is a mantra of mine or an affirmation every morning where I tell myself It is safe for me to love and to be loved I've heard this a lot that people think that I'm conceited that I'm a mamona and I'm a Mona means that you just think you're better than Everyone else. I don't know if it's because of how I act in my video sometimes. I'm like, I'm a baddie I don't know what it is, but I'm chill. It's cheekies and chill. Hello Listen to cheekies and chill and dear cheekies as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, I think we should go back to Tuk Tuk and just like how this actually may have worked back in the day.
Starting point is 00:18:27 Let's say Tuk Tuk and his buddy Mok Mok are strolling along the tundra. You know, Chuck, after 11 years, I am surprised that we have a new character and I am very pleased. Mok Mok? Yeah. Well, don't get used to him because Mok Mok is, he's about to die. Poor Mok Moc is, he's about to die. For Moc Moc. So Tuk Tuk and Moc Moc are walking along the tundra.
Starting point is 00:18:50 They find an old dead antelope and Moc Moc is like, well, this doesn't smell great, but I tell you what, I'm going to eat this thing because I don't have this genetic trait because my mom ate this stuff And it's fine and took tooks like I don't know my friend. It looks and smells gross I do have this genetic trait. So I'm gonna pass on that. So mock-mock's like you're a sucker I'm gonna chow down on this rotten antelope and then mock mock get sick and dies before mock mock can have any babies. And then if this happens thousands and tens of thousands of times over a huge population, you can see how over time it would be like any physical evolutionary trait that might
Starting point is 00:19:39 evolve over time. And all of a sudden, Tuk Tuk's family is thriving today in the United States. All healthy descendants of Tuk Tuk and Mok Mok is long gone. Right. And because Tuk Tuk was able to pass along his genes of being disgusted by rotten meat and Mok Mok died before he could pass his genes of not being disgusted along. So nature's or natural selection, her evolution selected for Tuk Tuk's, right? Right, and Tuk Tuk was a prolific lover, as we all know.
Starting point is 00:20:12 And I imagine Mok Mok in his dying words, gasping, I regret never having seen the ocean. Yeah, probably so. It's a good Mok Mok. Everyone doesn't know, but it's true. That was a great mock-mock impression. So Chuck, that's the evolutionary psychology basis for explaining how disgust came along
Starting point is 00:20:36 and was passed along, right? And it makes sense on a very basic level, but it starts to get less and less sensible as you've already pointed out as we start to add more and more inputs of disgust, right? Like, yes, it makes sense that either somehow the idea of not eating meat was passed along either genetically, or even you could say,
Starting point is 00:20:58 Tuk Tuk went back to the hunter-gatherer tribe and said, hey, let me tell you what happened to Moc Moc. It was crazy. He ate some rancid antelope, which I guess we all kind of thought was okay up to this point. But let me tell you steer clear of the rancid antelope. You don't want to have anything to do that because it just killed Moc Moc and everyone trusting Tuk Tuk and not just assuming that he hit Moc Moc with a rock or something out in the wilderness and left him to die that he actually did die from eating antelope.
Starting point is 00:21:26 This became passed along. This is another way it could have happened. And that this like ancient knowledge, we just lost where the ancient knowledge came from that was actually took-took seeing mock-mock die. And instead it just became something that we came to think of as like instinct over time. You just don't eat rancid meat.
Starting point is 00:21:44 But really what it is, rather than being passed along genetically, it was a, I guess a meme, an idea that was passed along generation to generation. And it became so ingrained that we just confused it for genes or instinct as well, which is another explanation of it. But both of them have like an evolutionary component
Starting point is 00:22:03 to it for sure. Yeah, and then over time, that even changes to where like it's not like humans, like let's talk about a human body then, like a dead, a dead human body, a corpse. Let me get my poking stick. Well, you probably wouldn't poke it because your evolutionary instinct is to probably just stay away from that body. Well, that's what the stick is for. And it's not just because, like, well, it may be partially because a dead body just might creep someone out. But there's also an evolutionary basis to avoid that body,
Starting point is 00:22:34 get it out of the house, and bury it because it may have been diseased. And they've even done studies. There was a study in 2004 in biology letters, just the greatest teen science mag out there. The tiger beat in biological sciences. So biology letters said that they didn't study where they found the images of objects that held what was called a potential disease threat were rated is more disgusting. So this is just the idea that, again, because of evolution, we are, have trained ourselves to avoid somebody who looks sick. Okay.
Starting point is 00:23:15 Now, we get to another big chink in the armor, if you ask me. Where did we get the idea that a body caused disease and that you could become polluted by some weird magical transference of this disease by handling or coming in close contact with the body? Like pre-germ theory? Pre-germ theory. Germ theory is very new. It's about 150 years old, almost on the nose.
Starting point is 00:23:40 We're talking about people's aversion to dead bodies and corpses for eons before that. Hundreds of years, if not thousands and thousands of years, right? Well, maybe even more. Like, what if like, I mean, what if someone just going like back in the day where people like, oh, that's great. Come here and give me some sugar. Right. Or were people always sort of repulsed by that?
Starting point is 00:24:03 Yeah. I don't know. And we don? Yeah, I don't know. And we don't know. We can't say we can only go as far back as any like historical references we can find, but you can make a pretty good case that an aversion to something like that or a dead body goes back much further than germ theory.
Starting point is 00:24:20 Yeah, that's weird. So you come to that question. Where did we get this idea? Where did we get this understanding on a very basic, fundamental level that corpses are to be avoided so much so that we are disgusted by them. And even if you're not disgusted, like I wanna rich if I see a dead body in person, which you may be surprised.
Starting point is 00:24:39 I think a lot of people would be very surprised that if they actually did see a dead body, they would probably wretch. It depends on what's going on. The state it's in, yeah, if it's eviscerated or something like that, or the smell I think also too. But the idea that there's something that is keeping you from avoiding it, whether it's the creeps, whether it's disgust,
Starting point is 00:25:02 whether it's some form of aversion that is acting to put distance between you and the polluting entity, this dead body, where did that come from before germ theory? That's my big question that I haven't seen answered anywhere. It's where did we get that? Again, was it somebody handled the dead body and like became directly sick from it? So obviously that even like took took could say,
Starting point is 00:25:30 yes, the dead body caused this. So we should steer clear of hanging out around dead bodies or was there some sort of awareness on a very basic level that we haven't figured out how to explain yet, that kept generations and generations of humans relatively healthy before the advent of germ theory and our understanding of it. It is a bit of a mind experiment.
Starting point is 00:25:56 It is. Like, perhaps the very sound of someone very ill and hocking up, you know, phlegm sounds gross. Right. But like you say though, before germ theory, before they knew that that would make, that was sickness, that made someone sick, maybe people were like, I'll come in here and do that in my face. I love that sound.
Starting point is 00:26:19 Right. But it just doesn't seem likely. It's like ASMR to me. I don't know man. It's very hard to wrap your head around. And also if you remember in our great stink episode, right prior to germ theory, there was miasma theory, which was the smell of something directly polluted you
Starting point is 00:26:34 and made you sick. Well, okay, well maybe that. It wasn't like associated with it. But even that, it's like, so okay, what made you think that the smell? What makes you think that a dead body, which in and of itself isn't giving off any actual signals that it will make you sick if it's decayed enough
Starting point is 00:26:50 and you like interact with it. What about that made us associate sickness, a transference of sickness. That transfers is an invisible magical transference of pollution from the dead body to you the person who's handling the dead body. That is significant and remarkable that we came up with that. That's what I think is just so fascinating about all this.
Starting point is 00:27:12 Yeah, and I think this thing about the contingencies plays into because, and it's funny, I have to admit, when I read this, the word contingencies in my head, I was adding a letter or something when I read this, the word contingencies in my head, I was adding a letter or something and I kept saying it in my head as contingensis. And I was like, what is that contingensis? And finally I saw contingencies correctly.
Starting point is 00:27:39 I was like, man, am I drunk? Like what's going on? So anyway, there are contingencies. That's like a facetious. I had that same experience with facetious. Yeah. What'd you think it said or sounded like? Fesedious or something like that.
Starting point is 00:27:56 And I kept sounding it out. And then finally I was like, oh, that's facetious. Yeah, but you were probably like 12. And not a professional broadcaster. Yeah. I think you had something in your eye. That was all. So these contingencies in humans,
Starting point is 00:28:15 at any time, there are many contingencies at work within us competing against each other. So if you go back to Tuk Tuk and Mak Mak, Mak Mak died. but let's say he did feel some disgust, but it wasn't like, but he was also hungry. So that's the competing contangentesis and his desire to eat or not desire, his need to eat overcame his low level disgust of like,
Starting point is 00:28:46 well, it doesn't taste great, but I have this other contingency that says, I have to eat, so I'm gonna eat this thing, and he doesn't die, then it's a little more complicated. It is more complicated, and if you step back and think about it evolutionarily, it would make way more sense for us to not maintain a sense of disgust
Starting point is 00:29:06 and be able to eat like rancid meat and then instead learn like, like basically develop a gut biome that will kill any bacteria decay that could make us sick. So that we could have like that many more things that are available for us to eat when we're hard up. That makes way more sense through natural selection and evolution than learning to not eat something.
Starting point is 00:29:32 You know what I mean? And I think that's sort of the thing too though, like the winning contingency is ultimately gonna be the one that makes you more fit for, you know, replication, right? Right, so you would. Or not replication, but sure would for you for cloning, self-cloning. So the, but yes, so if you have more available food that you can
Starting point is 00:29:52 gain energy from in the environment, that would make more sense to adapt to that rather than to adapt an aversion to a potential food source, right? So that's one question and then you can also kind of lay that right over sex as well too, right? So this explanation of why we might be a verse, why we have competing contingencies for sex, right? Like you want to be attracted to your mate because you're a person you find attractive is probably going to be a
Starting point is 00:30:28 good match for you reproductive wise. Right. And especially if they smell good. Right. And then yes, and then if you if you are trying to reproduce with somebody you're disgusted by they might not be a good match reproductive life was evolutionarily it makes sense. That's a mental gymnastics right there. To me, it makes more sense to just say, here's an example of evolution screwing us up, of natural selection screwing us up. We developed an ability to feel disgusted by sex because it reminds us that we're animals.
Starting point is 00:31:03 And so we're missing out on sex or at least deriving pleasure from sex because we are possibly disgusted by the act of sex. If we step back and think about it in the right way. Right. You see what I'm saying? Sure. So there's a lot of holes here, which is why I mean, I've got both of my six shooters.
Starting point is 00:31:22 I'm about to start shooting them in the air out of glee because it's been a while since we had an episode like this. Yeah, another thing that I found interesting too from this was the just the mere reaction Apparently most people open their mouths. I keep mine shut but regardless We all have a disgust reaction. I guess if you don't then you're probably a serial killer Like if you saw someone yeah, like open up and and smell rotten meat and literally just kept this stone face, we're like, that smells really bad. Like they're clearly sociopaths.
Starting point is 00:31:54 Right, and that's what Rosen was saying. That's why Disgust is the defining human characteristic because that person would seem non-human in that sense. They'd be a robot kind of. Yeah, but so if people make this face, like that is the cue, like you don't even need to smell the milk. If I walk in the kitchen and Emily pours some milk in it, well, I was going to say I see it clump out of the thing, but that wouldn't count. Like if I see Emily just smell the milk, she makes her disgust face.
Starting point is 00:32:28 I don't need to smell it. No, but why is it that there is a 100% chance that Emily or anyone else is smelling it? Yes, who will say, ugh, smell this. Yeah, I never do. You're like, no, that's okay. Thanks for the warning with the wrinkled nose and raised upper lip.
Starting point is 00:32:41 I know, but when you're married, it's like, no, seriously, I smell it. Like you have to smell it. Right. No, I don't wanna upper lip. I know, but when you're married, it's like, no, seriously, I smell it like you have to smell it. Right? No, I don't wanna smell it. I've suffered. So that becomes like all of a sudden a something that like bonds communities together
Starting point is 00:32:56 and cultures together even. Right, which is another, okay. So this then we get to the explanation or the moral explanation of disgust, of how seeing somebody involved in cheating or some sort of unfairness or racism or just something, some really anti-social violating behavior that you experienced disgust.
Starting point is 00:33:22 At the very least, people say, use the word discussed. I'm disgusted by that. And make the face. I mean, maybe it is the same thing. I mean, that's what that one wonder machine study said. And the other way that they backed it up, there's a really interesting article by Rosen, Jonathan Hite, who actually was a contributor
Starting point is 00:33:41 in our Superstuff Guide to Happiness, if you'll remember. And then a guy named O. McCauley, what is Clark McCauley? They're kind of like this big three triad in the study of disgust. They're known as the only three. There's a couple others, but yeah, kind of. But they, in this paper, they basically say, okay, so you got the wonder machine evidence suggesting that our actual brain, the part of our brain responsible for experiencing disgust
Starting point is 00:34:09 is lighting up when somebody gives us an unfair offer of money. That's one thing. But also they go around the world and say that in Japan, in Spain, in Portugal, all over the world, whatever that society or languages, cultures word is for disgust. They routinely use it to describe things like the experience of seeing somebody hold poop up to their mouth
Starting point is 00:34:35 and the experience of being treated unfairly or seeing somebody racist. So it's not just people in English misusing an English word, disgust, which means actually bad taste in older Middle English. It's, it is, there is some sort of moral component to disgust it seems like. Well, even the word distasteful like is rooted in the word taste. Right.
Starting point is 00:34:56 And that's this is similar thing too, like behavior can be distasteful and rotten antelope can be distasteful. Exactly. Yep. Especially if he's a real jerk. Right. The other interesting thing about the work that Jonathan Haight did was this tying it to political ideology. Geez, what is wrong with me today? I thought it was super interesting because they did research and they found that people who are more sensitive to disgust and tend to be more socially conservative and that can be exploited. So when you go to a
Starting point is 00:35:35 major news outlet that may be conservative, that is why you were more likely to see photos of unwashed or sick immigrants approaching the border and not like pictures of like the handsomest most fit immigrant approaching the border. Because that will, at least according to this study, they have a higher powerful, more powerful emotion of disgust. Right, it's hijacking your ability to experience moral disgust, because apparently it's really, really easy to come up in poke to push a person's disgust buttons.
Starting point is 00:36:15 And from what the study says is that this happens a lot, way more than we're cognizant of, and that if we can make ourselves cognizant of it, we could actually defend against it a little more. Yeah, I mean, they're not gonna... Fox News isn't gonna put the guy that looks like... Oh, you said it. You said it. They're not gonna put the guy that looks like Antonio Banderas in the immigrant caravan as their front... You okay?
Starting point is 00:36:40 As their front page lead photo, you know, it's gonna be the person that's on the stretcher that's sick and dying, and that's gonna cause this reaction of disgust, like, look what's happening. They CGI flies, like flying around the person. Can't you see Antonio Banderas walking up in the video and going, this wall is too sexy. And then the other interesting thing about that whole study that he was doing, that Haidt was doing was they also found that people make harsher judgments when they're exposed to a disgusting stimulus.
Starting point is 00:37:17 So it usually was a smell like the smell of a tooty booty. A shot duck. And if you smell this flatulence, you would react more harshly toward like a photo of something that might disgust you just a little bit. I want to know the methodology of this study pretty badly. Like, was it just one of those things where they just kind of suddenly the area between you
Starting point is 00:37:46 and the researcher filled with the fart smell? Well, where do you get the fart smell? Is there a synthetic or? I think there is. You probably like at some novelty joke shop, they picked up like a spinning bow tie while they got the canned fart too, right? They're like, thank you.
Starting point is 00:38:00 Here's your $10 and have a good day. And they shake their hand, there's the buzzer. Right, exactly. So, but I mean, like, is this this so where they were talking about something like, you know, how what kind of a prison sentence would you, oh, excuse me, what kind of a prison sentence would you give to somebody and like this this fart smells this kind of comes up, but like they're just not talking about it. I would guess that's how you would have to do it, right?
Starting point is 00:38:22 Dude, I had a stranger ask me the other night if I farted. Oh yeah? Hed you? No, I was at the Fleetwood Mac concert standing in the beer line and this guy in front of me turned around with his wife and fully just said, did you fart? And I went, nope.
Starting point is 00:38:37 And I was like, I would tell you if I did. Did he look at his wife and go, did you fart? No, but then we got to talking and I was like, guys, I hate to tell you, I said, I don't even smell anything. So I think you're looking in the wrong direction. And then he felt like I was a little drunk. So I didn't care.
Starting point is 00:38:52 I was playing along, but then he felt like really bad and was over apologetic. I was like, dude, if you're going to ask someone if they farted, don't then turn around and be weirdly ashamed of that. All right. Get all weepy. Just own it. So yeah, does the guy not know the whole he who smelt it, deltid idiom?
Starting point is 00:39:08 I don't know. Maybe it was the first date and that was the deal. Maybe he did. Yeah, he really played it off well. It sounds like. All right, should we take a break? I think we should. All right, I'm going to go fart in the hallway.
Starting point is 00:39:22 We'll be right back. Thank you for that, Chuck. We'll be right back. Thank you for that, Chuck. We'll be right back. Hey, this is Dana Schwartz. You may know my voice from Noble Blood, Haley Wood, or Stealing Superman. I'm hosting a new podcast, and we're calling it very special episodes. One week, we'll be on the case with special agents from NASA as they crack down on black market moon rocks. H. Ross, pro's on the other side and goes, hello Joe, how can I help you?
Starting point is 00:39:53 I said, Mr. Perot, what we need is $5 million to get back a moon rock. Another week, we'll unravel a 90s Hollywood mystery. It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective or something. These Canadian cops trying to solve this 25 year-old mystery of who's like the child or on the Titanic set a very special episode is stranger than fiction. It's normal people plop down in extraordinary circumstances. It's a story where you say this should be a movie.
Starting point is 00:40:21 Listen to very special episodes on the I heart radio out apple podcasts or wherever you get your. Hi, I'm Susie Esmond and I am Jeff Garland yes, you are and we are the hosts of the history of curb your enthusiasm, I asked we're going to watch every single episode, it's a hundred and twenty two including the pilot and we're going to break them down by the way most of these episodes I have not seen for 20 years. Yeah me too. We're gonna have guest stars and people that are very important to
Starting point is 00:40:51 the show like Larry David. I did once try and stop a woman who's about to get hit by a car I screamed out watch out and she said don't you tell me what to do. And Cheryl Hines. Why can't you just lighten up and have a good time. And Richard Lewis. How am I going to tell him I'm going to leave now? Can you do it on the phone? Do you have to do it in person? What's the deal?
Starting point is 00:41:08 Not just on cable. You have to go in Asia. Human beings helped you. And then we're going to have behind the scenes information. Tidbits. Yes, tidbits is a great word. Anyway, we're both a wealth of knowledge about this show because we've been doing it for 23 years.
Starting point is 00:41:21 So subscribe now and you could listen to the history of Kerber on I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you happen to get your podcasts. with season three. Yeah! I am so excited, you guys. Get ready for all new episodes where I'll be dishing out honest advice and discussing important topics like relationships, women's health, and spirituality. For a long time, I was afraid of falling in love. So I had to, and this is a mantra of mine
Starting point is 00:41:57 or an affirmation every morning where I tell myself, it is safe for me to love and to be loved. I've heard this a lot that people think that I'm conceited, that I'm a mamona. And a mamona means that you just think you're better than everyone else. I don't know if it's because of how I act in my videos sometimes, I'm like, I'm a baddie, I don't know what it is,
Starting point is 00:42:14 but I'm chill. It's Chikis and Chill, hello. Listen to Chikis and Chill and Dear Chikis as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, it's back. Chuck is back now. Everything's fine in here. And we are still talking about disgust.
Starting point is 00:42:42 Let's just kind of go over this real quick one more time, okay? So we started out with this mechanism of distaste, where we involuntarily spit something out that's gross, that occurs elsewhere in the animal kingdom. And then over time, we figured out how to create a new adaptation, a new behavior that is overlaid over that same brain circuitry where we spit something out and we call that disgust.
Starting point is 00:43:14 And it originally started out as an aversion to things like poop and vomit and that kind of stuff. And then that evolved even further because at some point we said, we're better than animals and I don't like to be reminded of an animal. And I guess that desire to not be reminded of an animal developed so much that it became overlaid over that disgust emotion that had been,
Starting point is 00:43:38 that had hijacked the distaste emotion. And then at some point finally, it reached the moral structure and that hijacked the animal and the core and the distaste to where human was the addition of imagination and symbolism to these ideas so that we didn't even have to taste or smell or see anything anymore. Just thinking about this kind of stuff could disgust us. And that's where we're at in disgust research and that's where we're at in the podcast too, frankly. Wow.
Starting point is 00:44:21 That's a nice recap. Thank you. Alright, so culturally, you know, it depends on where you are in the world and what you might be disgusted by. So while it is universal, it's not like every single thing is universal. People eat things in some parts of the world that other parts of the world might think are disgusting. And that again is a thing that basically says, I'm a part of this family, I'm a part of this culture, I'm a part of this group, the fact that like, I'll eat eyeballs right out of a fish.
Starting point is 00:44:56 Right out of a fish's head, just scoop it out and eat it. I might think that's disgusting, but that's not necessarily like taboos are not the same in cultures all over the world. Yeah, whether it's food, apparently they think maybe even, you know, well cannibalism, obviously, some cultures don't view incest as taboo as other cultures do. So some of the things that we would think would be universally disgusting aren't universally disgusting.
Starting point is 00:45:25 And the whole idea of food too shows that you can learn to not find something disgusting or never find it disgusting at all because you were just raised in a culture that eats this food and values it. But to somebody else from outside of the culture, when they see that food, they are disgusted by it. So yeah, there's a lot of lack of universality in discuss that we might assume would be there that actually isn't. Yeah, I mean vegetarianism and veganism is a perfect example. Someone can eat meat until they're in their mid-20s and then all of a sudden
Starting point is 00:45:57 switch to veganism and a year later the mere sight of meat might discuss them. Whereas the year before they were chowing down on it. Which I would guess that's just like you restructuring your brain circuitry basically, right? Yeah, I think so probably. I mean, that would make sense. But so something that never discussed to you before can become genuinely disgusted.
Starting point is 00:46:17 Or the other way around. I imagine. Well, yeah, I mean, you can learn to eat other cultures foods that you were disgusted by previously. And I know people that were vegan that eat meat now. Right, right, yeah, I mean you can learn to eat other cultures foods that you were discussed it by previously And I know people that were vegan that eat meat now Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, you can also learn to eat broccoli over time Broccoli's good. It's it's not though. It really is
Starting point is 00:46:37 Roast it in the oven delish. Okay. I will give you that roasted broccoli is okay But if it's steamed or just like floppy in any way, shape, or form, I've had bad experiences with it over the years. It sounds like someone's overcooking your broccoli. Not anymore, but yes, I think mom and dad used to overcook it quite a bit. Yeah, I go for al dente when it comes to most vegetables.
Starting point is 00:47:00 Yeah, but roasted is good. Mushy is a food quality that kind of disgusts me. Mm-hmm. So Food preparation is important like I know we're just kind of kidding about the broccoli, but like let's say An eggplant or a squash if you cook that thing till it's really mushy It's it's really gross to me, but I will totally eat an eggplant if it's nice and firm. Yeah, yeah, I mean, the texture is enormous with it. It also affects taste too, which doesn't make any sense except for like it's part of the experience of it, right?
Starting point is 00:47:36 Yeah, but true disgust happens for me, I think. It's not just like, I don't prefer that like mushy food really, really grosses me out. Well, there's something that Ed actually hit upon early on in this is that like disgust is it goes around our conscious thought, right? Yeah. Like you're not like, hmm, this broccoli is not to my preference. It is way too floppy and mushy and I'd be, I prefer to not have it in my mouth anymore. So, blah, and you spit it out and it just falls back onto your plate.
Starting point is 00:48:07 Instead, you put it in your mouth, especially if you're not expecting it to be mushy and you start chewing it like you expect it to be good, your reaction without even thinking is gonna be, blah, spit it out probably. And you might not actually spit it out, but that will be your first reaction and you might have to stop yourself,
Starting point is 00:48:25 like bring your napkin up to your mouth or whatever. And that's one of the things that like really kind of is a hallmark characteristic of disgust. When it is experienced, it goes around our intellect and our conscious thought. It's a basic reaction. Yeah, and it can also get out of hand as far as the, if the idea is that at
Starting point is 00:48:46 its root we're trying to avoid disease and dying. We've all heard of cases, phobia is really that developed in pathologies out of fear of germs or dirt or cleanliness. Anyone who's ever seen the great movie, Safe by Todd Haynes, that was a movie about that, where this woman sort of slowly unwinds and eventually ends up in a, in a like a community where everyone does obsess with this kind of compulsive cleanliness.
Starting point is 00:49:18 Who's the woman? It's Julianne Moore. I haven't seen that yet. Isn't it pretty good? It was great. I mean, it was, it's a long time ago So it's like in the early 90s. I think okay like some of her earlier work, right? But that's just an example of how How that can happen and how it can get out of hand until
Starting point is 00:49:36 Basically, you have a compulsive disorder that may have started out of a legit environmental like a disgust reaction to disease have started out of a legit environmental like a disgust reaction to disease? Right. Yeah, well, that's what they think is the basis of possibly all of it that has to do with disgust or like a drive to feel clean or to get rid of germs or to be afraid of germs, that kind of thing, that it's your being indoctrinated into disgust went a little too far and your brain, your brain's disgust reaction just became too powerful. And now it has this kind of crippling effect on your life. Yeah, but it can also like, it's oddly there are things that have nothing to do with disease and dying that have been kind of labeled as disgusting.
Starting point is 00:50:22 And Ed points out acne is one of them. That might trigger a disgust reaction in some people and It's really completely harmless. It is but it's playing upon in an inadvertent way our predisposition to be grossed out by things like a store these yeah sore a pox a Pustule it has nothing to do with that It just kind of resembles it in the exact same way. People find slugs and snails disgusting. And they suggest that it's because they look like they're covered in mucus.
Starting point is 00:50:52 Even though it's not actually mucus, it reminds us of mucus. So we're disgusted at the thought of touching one of those things. Same thing. They're not disease carriers, but they remind us of it. That's the key because disgust works hand-in-hand with human imagination I got Emily one of those poppet pals. Have you seen those? No, what is it? You know how she's pretty obsessed with with zit popping and she doesn't watch she's not one of those people who watches the stuff on YouTube Yeah, but it's just like a personal thing, but they I saw it on Shark Tank. There's this thing now It looks it's about the size of a bar of bar of soap, but it's made out of silicon.
Starting point is 00:51:25 It's kind of this squishy rubber rectangular bar. And you squirt this, I don't know what it's made of. It's almost like Crisco or something. I think it's plant-based. And you fill it up with that, and the top of it is covered with all these little dimple holes. And you pop them.
Starting point is 00:51:43 And it comes snaking out just like the best pimple you've ever seen. So I kept trying to imagine that this was going on the person's face. Now I see it's like just to basically like here, keep busy with this and leave my face alone. Yeah, you just like whatever you said it in your lap and just pop away.
Starting point is 00:52:00 That's really awesome. Yeah, it was really satisfying for her too. I thought she might be like, nah, this is not the same, but she was obsessed with it for a couple of days. That's, is there any great human thing that Shark Tank hasn't given us? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:52:16 I can't think of one. Yumi has a thing for cauliflower ear and she'll sometimes watch videos of cauliflower ear being drained and it's like, I can't hang man. It'll make me faint. Did she ever date a wrestler? No,'ll sometimes watch videos of cauliflower ear being drained and it's like I can't hang man. Did she ever date a wrestler? No, not that I know of but... She missed her chance I guess.
Starting point is 00:52:32 She better have missed her chance. She comes in and she finds you like on the carpet rolling your ear on the floor. Isn't that how wrestlers get it? I think they get it from like a trauma to the ear, like a punch of the ear, like a impact of the ear. And then like it swells up and then it turns into like scar tissue or like just pussy infected edema. Well, which is why they wear the ear covers. Yes.
Starting point is 00:52:55 Well, that and to look cool. Those two look kind of cool somehow. So it offsets the singlet, which is the least cool thing you can wear. It's pretty uncool. I have to say sorry, wrestlers, but the entire rest of the world thinks that the singlets look uncool. It's not just us. Oh boy. So let's talk about the Discuss Scale real quick. You have that?
Starting point is 00:53:19 Yeah, you know, I didn't even look at this because I thought it might be fun if you just went through a few of those with me. Oh, okay. Well, this is a great idea, Chuck. Let's make it into a game. Still innovating after 11 years. I'm so proud of us. So, Paul Rosen and John Height and a couple of other people came up with the, sorry, Clark Macaulay.
Starting point is 00:53:37 And Clark Macaulay, I'm just gonna say the third person. They came up with a disgust scale. Okay? Yes. So Chuck, between zero and four, zero being strongly disagree and four being strongly agree, meaning it's very untrue or very true about you.
Starting point is 00:53:55 Please indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements or how true it is about you. Between zero and what? Three? Four. Okay, four. Zero strongly disagree. It's very untrue about you. Four strongly agree, very true about you.
Starting point is 00:54:07 You might be willing, sorry, I might be willing to try eating monkey meat under some circumstances. Strongly disagree, four. That's a zero. Okay, zero. Okay. It would bother me to be in a science class
Starting point is 00:54:22 and to see a human hand preserved in a jar. Obviously that would not bother me because when I saw the human head in a bucket very famously, my reaction was, huh, there's a human head. Whereas the person with me was really disgusted. Right, yeah, and I think understandably so. I love that story.
Starting point is 00:54:44 Okay, here's another one. I never let any part of my body touch the toilet seat in public restrooms, agree or disagree on true or true? I'm just gonna ditch the numbers because it's confusing me. Okay. That doesn't really bother me that much. I know that probably really disgusts you.
Starting point is 00:55:00 No, well, yeah, I just have to go to another place. Oh, see, yeah. When I do that. I don't mind, man. I know that's gross probably, but whatever. Okay, here's one more from this one. Then we're gonna do another set. You ready?
Starting point is 00:55:13 Okay. I would rather eat a piece of fruit than a piece of paper. Well, yeah, I'd rather eat a piece of fruit. Okay. Okay. I think that's just like a baseline one that they use Okay, so then between zero and four rate these not disgusting at all are extremely disgusting I just say one of those two, okay? You see maggots on a piece of meat in an outdoor garbage pail. Very disgusting
Starting point is 00:55:39 You I agree your friends pet cat dies and you have to pick up the dead body with your bare hands Not disgusted, just sad. I mean, I've done that with all of my animals that have passed. I took care of the bodies. Right. I think this leaves out that it was hit by a car and is now part of the road basically. Oh, yeah. That's medium disgusting and sad. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah. It's sad. You're about to drink a glass of milk when you smell it as spoiled, and then in parentheses, weirdly enough, it says, because Emily just changed it under your nose and said, smell this. That's weird. Yeah, the smell of turned
Starting point is 00:56:16 food grosses me out a lot. Okay. While you're walking through a tunnel under a railroad track, you smell urine. Yeah, I've been to New York enough times. It's not that big of a deal. It still gets me, man. I think smelling urine is worse than smelling poop for some reason. Oh, really? Yeah. Interesting. Okay, two more.
Starting point is 00:56:35 You see a man with his intestines exposed after an accident. Yeah, that's pretty high up there. Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. And then last, Chuck, you see someone put ketchup on vanilla ice cream and eat it. Yeah, that's gross. Okay.
Starting point is 00:56:53 Although it's interesting though, when I thought about the body's entrails, like I don't love it, but I can watch like a surgery. It's not my favorite thing, but I'm not like fully disgusted. But if it's an accident, I think that, so it might be a contextual thing as well. So one of the things that I experience when I see like something in surgery,
Starting point is 00:57:15 and I think yeah, context definitely has a lot to do with it in that case too. But if I see like a surgery, like remember there used to be that TV network that was nothing but surgery. You remember it? Uh-uh. It was in like the late 80s, early 90s I think. But to see that, I'll get like faint, right? Like oh, and it's not necessarily the side of blood,
Starting point is 00:57:34 it's like the side of viscera. I get a little faint and it never made sense to me. It might be mirror neurons, huh? I think definitely is part of it too. But I think also part of the disgust reaction is that your heart rate and blood pressure lower, which would explain why you start to feel faint. Like I don't feel queasy or nauseated
Starting point is 00:57:52 or like I'm gonna retch, I feel like I need to sit down for a second. Which is, I guess is still part of the disgust reaction. It just isn't the nausea version of it, but it's still revulsion, but a weird feinty version. So in the med school sitcom that we star in when they pull the sheet back, you start saying, I don't feel too good guys.
Starting point is 00:58:12 And we're like, yeah, you're so funny. And then all of a sudden you hit the deck. I think the way I would play it is even more straightforward where my eyes just go up in the back of my head and I fall backward in response to the sheet being pulled. It's a good move. I can't wait for that movie to come out. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:30 You got anything else? I don't think so. I'd be surprised if you did. We've gone on for a good six, seven minutes beyond when we should have stopped. I like that game aspect of that one. That was fun. Your score, by the way,
Starting point is 00:58:43 indicates that you do experience disgust from time to time. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you can just go look at some weird stuff on the internet. It's out there for you. And since I said that, it's time for Listen to My Mail. I'm gonna call this one of the many dyslexia emails we got. Those are really rolling in from people who have overcome dyslexia and adults living with dyslexia. So this one is from a fellow Atlanta, Audrey Short. She says this, hey guys I have dyslexia and I was so happy to hear you talking about my learning disability. I was diagnosed when I was about 10 and went to the Shanks School in Atlanta, which is specifically for children with dyslexia. In fact she sent a follow-up email just to clarify that.
Starting point is 00:59:45 We learned how to read and write using a technique called Orchid McGillian. When I left after the fourth grade, I could actually read. More importantly, I loved to read and devoured every book I could get my hands on. While I graduated top of my class, I had to work twice as hard as my classmates to keep up with the required readings and homework. My piercing to think that my extra time I received for exams was the reason I did so well, not the countless hours and late nights I spent learning material.
Starting point is 01:00:16 While this bullying did affect me, it did not discourage me from pursuing education at college. I attended Miami University in Ohio, graduating this May with a 3.99 GPA, wow, biochemistry and physics. Wow. I plan to attend a PhD program at Harvard, or you see Berkeley, I'm not saying this to brag, but to tell other children with dyslexia to keep trying.
Starting point is 01:00:41 I know so many students are afraid to ask for extra time or accommodations because they don't want to be bullied or stand out. I'm proud of my dyslexia because it has forced me to learn how to stand up for my student rights. I've made it to where I am today by utilizing the tools given to me like extra time and I want to encourage all people with learning disabilities to seek help because you are intelligent and your unique perspective just might change your field entirely. Nice. That was Audrey.
Starting point is 01:01:08 Audrey Short. Great email. And Audrey, that is great email. So that kind of replaces that whole, look, this famous person made it. You can just tell people, let me tell you about Audrey Short. Yeah, agreed. Okay. Way to go, Audrey. That's fantastic.
Starting point is 01:01:22 Congratulations early on graduating with a 3.99. Man, that's impressive. And good luck in grad school too. If you want to get in touch with us like Audrey did, you can go on to stuffyshadnow.com and check out the social links there. You can also send us an email. Send it off to StuffPodcast at howuffWorks.com.
Starting point is 01:01:49 Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hey, this is Dana Schwartz. You may know my voice from Nobleblood, Haley Wood, or Stealing Superman. I'm hosting a new podcast and we're calling it Very Special Episodes. A Very Special Episode is stranger than fiction.
Starting point is 01:02:17 It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective. These Canadian cops trying to solve this mystery of who spiked the Chowder on the Titanic set. Listen to very special episodes on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, this is Susie Esmond and Jeff Garland. I'm here. And we are the hosts of the history of Curb Your Enthusiasm podcast.
Starting point is 01:02:40 Now we're gonna be rewatching and talking about every single episode, and we're gonna break it down and give behind-the-scenes knowledge that a lot of people don't know and we're going to be joined by special guests including Larry David and Cheryl Hines, Richard Lewis, Bob Odenkirk and so many more and we're going to have clips and it's just going to be a lot of fun so listen to the history of curfew enthusiasm on iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you happen to get your podcasts. What up guys? Hola que tal? It's your girl Chiquis from the Chiquis and Chill and Dear
Starting point is 01:03:11 Chiquis Podcasts. And guess what? We're back for another season. Get ready for all new episodes where I'll be dishing out honest advice, discussing important topics like relationships, women's health, and spirituality. I'm sharing my experiences with you guys and I feel that everything that I've gone through has made me a wiser person. And if I can help anyone else through my experiences, I feel like I'm living my godly purpose. Listen to Chikis and Chill and your Chikis
Starting point is 01:03:39 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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