There’s a bad smell, but there’s a solution.

Edward Taaffe
2 min readJul 1, 2020

--

Humans weren’t always literary beings and we weren’t created by a white god with an iphone glued to our thumbs. Shock horror!

Our Amygdala was once our only brain and still does the bulk of the leg work.
It starts by recognising two eyes and associating them with mother and safety. It recognises those that look, sound and smell like us, probably in that order, as safe and all others as dangerous. All that is logical, especially a few million years ago when there was no Facebook to guide you.

The same brain receives urges to defecate when things get a bit clogged up internally and it is programmed not to hesitate. Family groups, however, quickly taught kids to go out of the cave. Smelling the same has only so much benefit.

Today, an adult of any race in most parts of the world; there still a few exceptions, will not even consider the idea of dropping a pile where he stands.
Be thankful for small mercies.

Americans, Brits, White South Africans, Ukrainians, Russians and a motley list of others still feel it is useful to see someone who looks different and use that to single them out as; a threat, the enemy, or different.
It’s not what’s said, but what’s licensed to others to think deep in their Lizard brain that creates the problem. Plenty of studies like this one back that up.
That legitimate threat then forces the recipients of this bias to behave similarly and indeed they do have precisely the same internal mechanisms, they just have more recognisable and immediate threats to focus on.

Our forefathers didn’t spend decades studying neuroscience or psychology to figure out how they should rid the cave of a bad smell.
They made it clear to young children at an early age that pooing indoors is not acceptable.
Freud wrote plenty about the trauma that caused to all of us, so I’m not suggestion it’s an overnight easy cure.
What I am saying is, it’s the only logical and the fastest cure and it’s not optional.

Every mother knows what’s required. Everyone who ever brought home a puppy understands it.
They are also familiar with the looks of dismay and betrayal when you finally have to clip them round the ear, but its a job that has to be done and can’t be put off any longer.

Let’s cut out the racism, begin the potty training, start with Johnson and Trump and keep on going.

I’m fed up of the bad smell, what about you?

--

--

Edward Taaffe
Edward Taaffe

Written by Edward Taaffe

Ed is a technical consultant and writer in the areas of Digital and Products, with a lifelong interest in Economics..

No responses yet