Why do we loathe John Edwards? A brainy explanation

Interesting examination today by Time Magazine about why Americans feel such hostility toward John Edwards.

It's partly self-evident. The North Carolina senator cheated on his wife and fathered a child outside of marriage, all while Elizabeth Edwards was battling the breast cancer that ultimately took her life.

But, as writer Jeffrey Kluger says:

There's a certain deliciousness to the way we loathe Edwards. We dismiss a mass killer like Osama bin Laden with a simple "rot in hell." We dismiss O.J. Simpson with a simple "rot in jail." And before you say that the difference is that both of those thugs have at least been dealt with, consider that the thrice-married and repeatedly unfaithful Newt Gingrich behaved nearly as despicably as Edwards, yet even now he is making a credible, if fading, run for the White House. Edwards, by contrast, can't walk into a restaurant without the risk of getting pelted by dinner rolls.

Why is that so? Kluger says a big factor is our brains. Studies using functional magnetic imaging have shown researchers there's an overlapping circuitry that governs morality and disgust. Our brains are triggered by different manifestations of that disgust - personal betrayal, the feeling we have when we see others cheated, and the pragmatic consequences of bad behavior.

Edwards, with his bad behavior, essentially played pinball with that circuitry - setting off all of our disgust triggers. Not only were we repulsed by him cheating on a sickly wife, that action brought potential consequences to his party and, perhaps most of all, was a surprise to many given his public choirboy persona. With Gingrich and Bill Clinton, we were disgusted - but not particularly surprised - at their infidelities.

Could our brains actually forgive him? You might be surprised at what science says. Give it a read.

Peter St. Onge