The truth is that every human on the planet is equipped with the core perversity needed to get off on degrading others. We’re all flaunting our dark natures every day by the things we choose to create and the things we choose to feast on. While you enjoy hours of beating up others in a video game, or you cheer for the man who is beating another man to a bloody pulp on television, or you delight in the movie that is filled with graphic carnage, or you enjoy reading a book about man’s cruelty to man, you put yourself in an entirely different camp than the terrorist who beats and bombs his enemies in real life. Yet are you so different? You’re both feeding the same cravings and you’re both focusing on the same sick subject matter. The only difference is that your methods are currently considered socially acceptable while his are not.
14 comments
because MY methods doesn't harm anyone, while his does. Just like reading porn stories about rape or pedophilia is preferable than acting upon it in the real world.
"The truth is that every human on the planet is equipped with the core perversity needed to get off on degrading others."
No, not every human is like this.
While I delight in setting mini nukes on mercs, killing raiders and getting as many headshots on ghouls/zombies as I can, my sniper skills rely on good game mechanics, not the actual desire to harm anyone.
That's the difference. I would never actually kill anyone IRL. I don't have the capacity for violence within myself.
If you need someone to explain how that works to you, you're either still in your mental childhood or a complete dolt.
Which is it?
While you enjoy hours of beating up others in a video game, or you cheer for the man who is beating another man to a bloody pulp on television, or you delight in the movie that is filled with graphic carnage, or you enjoy reading a book about man’s cruelty to man
Actually, no I don't. While I don't mind the occasional depiction of violence, I don't delight in it.
In about the most limited sense it is possible to mean it (seriously, a mathematician would have to calculate the tiny sliver) I am inclined to agree. Somewhat. With caveats. And explanations.
It all comes down to tedious philosophical chatter, but the idea is that what we regard as acceptable on automata versus what we find acceptable on beings (in order to include animals) will necessarily bring forth the question of what is an automaton. Here we talk about Descarte, and the view of animals. Though beyond even that is the confusing question about motivation outside the bounds of consequence. Physical or social. Remember, asshole CEOs and sadistic guards aren't always just naturally equipped with a history of cruelty. Once placed beyond the need to care they became what they were. In the case of prison guards the weak enforcement of rules and the supporting guard culture almost encourages cruelty. See Sheriff Arpaio's goon squad. It can also be thought of in terms of the movie "The Third Man" where mercenary opportunists of all stripes collectively help to suck Vienna dry, without coordinating. Recall well the famous speech, that I can only render as a decent half-remember paraphrase. "See those little dots down there. Now imagine if I offered you ten-thousand tollars for every dot that stopped moving forever. Would you honestly tell me to keep my money? Or... would you start calculating how many dots you could afford."
I don't deny a certain catharsis about taking a buzzaxe to a swarm of psychoes, or the satisfaction of slipping in undetected and making a silent kill (despite the fact that anyone paying attention should've noticed the increase in bald people with barcodes on them and sounded an alert), but here's the thing: I don't fantasize about it or have some uncontrollable desire for it. And neither do most people.
And then there's the factor of deriving enjoyment from a work displaying cruelty and violence not for those facts, but for the fact that someone stands against them. Seeing someone actually doing something about the misery in their world, or removing someone that causes misery. Taking joy in heroism.
Then again, I'm not sure you understand the concept of 'joy'. And for that, I pity you.
"The truth is that every human on the planet is equipped with the core perversity needed to get off on degrading others."
Whenever I read stuff like this, I'm reminded of this quote: "We assume of others that which we know of ourselves."
The truth is that every human on the planet is equipped with the core perversity needed to get off on degrading others.
Speak for yourself, dearie.
@ Gabriel:
The truth is that every human on the planet is equipped with the core perversity needed to get off on degrading others.
Oh yeah. You know who some of the worst of those are? These guys called "Fundies" who practically masturbate to the thought of people who disagree with them being degraded in Hell for all eternity. They do things like go on the internet and spout off about how the god they worship is a mean, narrow-minded, petty baby--and to them that's AWESOME!!!
Truly terrible people those are, I'm sure you'd agree, right?
I may sometimes take pleasure in blowing things up in video games, but I know the difference between video games and reality and would never take pleasure in that sort of thing in real life.
Because unlike you, I am not a psychopath.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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