opprobrium

I may welcome being labeled as abject, because I think it is something Bataille encouraged.  He thought that if we embraced everything that humanity typically considered “excrement”, we would actually strengthen our characters to the point that we were indifferent to social opprobrium .  That would give us strength to do almost anything at all – to be superhuman.  So there is a certain self-sacrifice (a sacrifice of a portion of our being that wants to be socially well-regarded) in the process of gaining more strength.  Of course this was exactly the same principle adopted by the Mau Mau in their efforts to overthrow colonial rule.  They engaged in self-debasing rituals to give them a feeling of indifference about killing other people.  So we can see clearly the advantages – and perhaps disadvantages – that accrue from gaining a sense of indifference to disgust.