Analysis Of David Sedaris 'The Moral Instinct'

Morality is often viewed as a fixed set of principles that influence our behavior and decision-making, however, certain aspects of morality are universal and dynamic depending on the cultural, societal and behavioral context. While some principles are fixed, others have shifted with the changing society, making it a complex and multifaceted concept over time. In “The Moral Instinct,” Steven Pinker argues that morality is subjective and needs to change from time to time because it is highly influenced by context, culture, religion, and human emotions, ultimately making it universal but, at the same time, very particular; This concept can be seen in David Sedaris’s “Picka Pocketoni,” where he narrates an anecdote of encountering an American tourists

From the very beginning of the story, Sedaris presents Americans as being loud and that “questions, observations, the locations of blisters and rashes– everything is delivered as though it were an announcement” (Sedaris 326), which has a demeaning tone and shows his bias towards the American people. His initial emotion is very strong towards Americans even before observing and listening to the conversations and judgments from these people on the train. Sedaris says he “wanted to hate them from the moment” (Sedaris 327) he entered the subway when in fact, he did not have a very good impression of tourist Americans before entering the subway. This illustrates psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s argument written in Pinker’s text that morality usually “begin with conclusion, coughed up by an unconscious emotion, and then work backward to a plausible justification” (Pinker 4). Sedaris himself had an emotional judgment, and even when the couple was making false accusations about himself and the French society, he justifies his negative emotions when he says, “I didn’t want to touch these people’s hands or see things from their point of view, I just wanted to continue hating them” (Sedaris 329). Sedaris already had a bad impression of the Americans before entering the train, which can be justified through Pinker’s idea about the emotional reaction to morality to explain his hate towards the Americans after entering the subway. Therefore, this story strengthens Pinker’s idea that rather than careful consideration of the situation, evidence, and logical thinking, people’s initial emotional impulse dictates their