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“By those who get a kick out of this sort of thing (and they are very numerous) inhumanity is enjoyed for its own sake, but often, nonetheless, with a bad conscience. To allay their sense of guilt, the bullies and the sadists provide themselves with a creditable excuses for their favorite sport. Thus, brutality toward children is rationalized as discipline, as obedience to the Word of God - "he that spareth the rod, hateth his son". Brutality toward criminals is a corollary of the Categorical Imperative. Brutality toward religious or political heretics is a blow for the True Faith. Brutality toward members of an alien race is justified by arguments drawn from what may once have passed for Science. Once universal, brutality toward the insane is not yet extinct - the mad are horribly exasperating. But this brutality is no longer rationalized, as it was in the past, in theological terms. The people who tormented Surin and the other victims of hysteria or psychosis did so, first, because they enjoyed being brutal and, second, because they were convinced that they did well to be brutal. And they believed that they did well, because, ex hypthesi, the mad had always brought their own troubles upon themselves. For some manifest or obscure sin, they were being punished by God, who permitted devils to besiege or obsess them. Both as God's enemies and as temporary incarnations of radical evil, they deserved the be maltreated. And maltreated they were - with a a good conscience and a heart-warming sense that the divine will was being done on earth, as in heaven.”
― The Devils of Loudun
― The Devils of Loudun
“When public executions were abolished, it was not because the majority desired their abolition; it was because a small minority of exceptionally sensitive reformers possessed sufficient influence to have them banned.”
― The Devils of Loudun
― The Devils of Loudun
“Deleuze's findings are confirmed by those of an experienced woman psychiatrist who for many years has made a study of automatic writing. In conversation this lady has informed me that, sooner or later, most automatists produce scripts in which certain metaphysical ideas are set forth. The theme of these scripts is always the same: namely, the the ground of the individual soul is identical with the divine Ground of all being. Returning to their normal state, the automatists read what they have written and often find it in complete disharmony with what they have always believed.”
― The Devils of Loudun
― The Devils of Loudun
“Mr. Adam and his fellow apothecaries sold Perpetual Pills of metallic antimony. These were swallowed, irritated the mucous membrane as they passed through the intestine, thus acting as a purgative, and could be recovered from the chamber pot, washed and used again, indefinitely. After the first capital outlay, there was no further need for spending money on cathartics. Dr. Patin might fulminate and the Parlement forbid; but for the costive French bourgeois, the appeal of antimony was irresistible. Perpetual Pills were treated as heirlooms and after passing through one generation were passed on to the next.”
― The Devils of Loudun
― The Devils of Loudun
“To change a vocabulary is easy; to change external circumstances or our own ingrained habits is hard and tiresome.”
― The Devils of Loudun
― The Devils of Loudun
The Rory Gilmore Book Club
— 21415 members
— last activity Sep 28, 2024 09:13AM
Reading is sexy! This group is for fans of literature and the Gilmore Girls. Join us for some witty banter, numerous pop culture references, and enlig ...more
Reading is sexy! This group is for fans of literature and the Gilmore Girls. Join us for some witty banter, numerous pop culture references, and enlig ...more
Last Podcast on the Left
— 850 members
— last activity Mar 27, 2015 05:17PM
Just a resource for all of your bookish needs for things that go bump in the night. Feel free to add books to the bookshelf! Just make sure that whe ...more
Just a resource for all of your bookish needs for things that go bump in the night. Feel free to add books to the bookshelf! Just make sure that whe ...more
We The Fifth
— 103 members
— last activity Jul 18, 2024 12:45PM
Created by a fan of The Fifth Column podcast as a clearinghouse of all books mentioned on the show including recommendations and books by guests. Mode ...more
Created by a fan of The Fifth Column podcast as a clearinghouse of all books mentioned on the show including recommendations and books by guests. Mode ...more
Marie-pier’s 2023 Year in Books
Take a look at Marie-pier’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
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