"The ethic of divinity pertains to a sense of exalted purity and holiness, which is opposed to a sense of contamination and defilement." (Steven Pinker, The Blank State, p 271)
Feces is bad - kills people (cholera)
A little bit of bacterial or viral contamination is all that is necessary to lead to sickness or death. This fact has sculpted our genetic expression.
As Dan Gardener states in Risk, we tend to polarize uncertainty into high-risk, low-benefit (Bad) or low-risk, high-benefit (Good).
In a form of ethical insurance, we are willing to pay an avoidance premium to reduce our risk...
From politics to religion to entertainment (hero, villain), polarization seems to resonate.
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