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Read other letters about this article
I am writing not in response to the article, but in response to the predictable replies decrying any criticism of sadism.
I have seen these arguments repeated more times than I care to remember, but I have never found them to be anything other than intolerant of anyone holding an opinion other than sadism’s.
The same weary old dogma is trotted out.
Hurting another person is the ultimate form of love.
It’s all about exercising choice.
If you think we are sick, its because you do not understand or the ultimate sadist insult, ‘you are narrow-minded’.
“Hurting another person is the ultimate expression of love.” Since when has abuse and humiliation had anything whatsoever to do with Love? Love and abuse are as far apart as it is possible to be, complete opposites ends of the spectrum. Love is kind, gentle, and uplifting. Violence is nasty, mean and vicious. They are not complimentary, no form of yin and yang, but two totally alien concepts which only get mixed in the wacky world of sadism where particularly disturbed individuals satisfy their warped lust, then try to hide this abuse by calling it love. How can I prove this? We all love our kid’s right? Would any parent express their love for their children by whipping them, calling them a ‘painslut’ or cutting their body?
“It’s all about exercising choice” I’m all for exercising choice, but I generally find that people who shout loudest for their ‘right’ to choose are the last to realise that choice is not singular. Fine, make your choice but understand that you are responsible for the consequence of that choice. If you choose to abuse, then you cannot run from the consequences when that abuse goes wrong. Sadists regularly come before the courts having followed the peculiar rules of sadism, only to be shocked when reality bites and they are made to pay for the consequences of their choices.
“ ‘If you think we are sick, its because you do not understand’ or the ultimate sadist insult, ‘you are narrow-minded’.” Of course if we where just to listen to the brilliant arguments the sadist’s use then the scales will fall from our eyes and we will be transported to the sunlight uplands where torture and abuse make everyone happy. Or we could use a little scepticism, you know like the story of the king’s new clothes. We could look at the arguments and decide that they are nothing more than self-serving dogma, held by those who are slaves to their need to abuse. A little scepticism could show that we understand what sadism is really about, and that it is nothing more than a nasty cult of violence.
Scepticism could make us get accused of being narrow-minded. Sad I know, but it’s better than abandoning scepticism and becoming so open minded that our brains fall out.
