Yeah, my impression from reading Tourettes in the context of Steven Pinker' work is that its not that different from yelling 'fuck' when you stub your toe or so

Yeah, my impression from reading Tourettes in the context of Steven Pinker' work is that its not that different from yelling 'fuck' when you stub your toe or something. The expressive mechanism just seems to be on a hairpin trigger or tied to the wrong inputs. I think in this case, the analogy breaks down. Its more that he doesn't see the problem his racist behavior causes, or doesn't have the mental wherewithal to see that it matters.