Sadism Intrigues

Once a while, I'd turn to the TV to see what the pandemonium's all about. And? A damsel was bitch-slapped by an evil lady. The audience on the couch went, "Ouch, that hurts. Evil." And they stayed for more. The Little Nyonya seems to be a little bit unreal owing to the constant bullying. Yes, people that time don't fight back but I think the screenwriter enjoy stretching it too.

Think again, such cruelty and bullying does keep people glued to them. What's on my screen? Tabs on Firefox with the words lynching, Litwack and more. I'm quoting and reading from Wikipedia (and not some personal sites having the tendency to be biased - whether by exaggeration or whitewashing). And crucify me for using Wikipedia. It's my preliminary source of information before an in-depth analyses of things.

Humans are capable of violence and unspeakable cruelty. History didn't prove otherwise. Besides lynching, I'm sure many have read other instances of atrocities and torture methods devised by our warped [and desperately wicked] mind [or heart]. For now, we'd keep to the history of lynchings or extrajudicial punishments if you like.

The postcard on the left shows the lynching of Jesse Washington in Texas; specifically mutilation and burning. That poor guy was treated like an animal.

The following is found in the wiki article:

The black bastard was beaten and dragged to the suspension bridge spanning the Brazos River. Thousands roared, "Burn him!" Bonfire preparations were already under way in the public square, where Washington was beaten with shovels and bricks. Fifteen thousand men, women, and children packed the square. They climbed up poles and onto the tops of cars, hung from windows, and sat on each other's shoulders. Children were lifted by their parents into the air. Washington was castrated, and his ears were cut off. A tree supported the iron chain that lifted him above the fire of boxes and sticks. Wailing, the boy attempted to climb the skillet-hot chain. For this the men cut off his fingers. The executioners repeatedly lowered the boy into the flames and hoisted him out again. With each repetition, a mighty shout was raised.

For the participants and the guilty ones, I have nothing to say except that God forgives them. But often, such things continue due to the fact that no one actually did anything. Some claimed no knowledge of any incident when forced to witness the atrocity (like the one in Dachau concentration camp during WWII). Others would stand by and enjoy the process, approving, and even allowing their kids to see it. Good parenting eh?

The photographs stretch our credulity, even numb our minds and senses to the full extent of the horror, but they must be examined if we are to understand how normal men and women could live with, participate in, and defend such atrocities, even reinterpret them so they would not see themselves or be perceived as less than civilized. The men and women who tortured, dismembered, and murdered in this fashion understood perfectly well what they were doing and thought of themselves as perfectly normal human beings. Few had any ethical qualms about their actions. This was not the outburst of crazed men or uncontrolled barbarians but the triumph of a belief system that defined one people as less human than another. For the men and women who comprised these mobs, as for those who remained silent and indifferent or who provided scholarly or scientific explanations, this was the highest idealism in the service of their race. One has only to view the self-satisfied expressions on their faces as they posed beneath black people hanging from a rope or next to the charred remains of a Negro who had been burned to death. What is most disturbing about these scenes is the discovery that the perpetrators of the crimes were ordinary people, not so different from ourselves - merchants, farmers, laborers, machine operators, teachers, doctors, lawyers, policemen, students; they were family men and women, good churchgoing folk who came to believe that keeping black people in their place was nothing less than pest control, a way of combating an epidemic or virus that if not checked would be detrimental to the health and security of the community.

- Leon F. Litwack, American historian and Pulitzer Prize winner

Surely, such atrocity exists today in other parts of the world or it has taken a new form and name. Perhaps the words racism, supremacy, superiority, and the like ring a bell?

Man is doomed. Surely. His days are numbered. And history condemns us all.