- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
The people who took pictures of abuse of prisoners did not do so to expose abuse. People in the military were sending pictures like these to each other and also home--for entertainment purposes. They sent them to friends and family who gloated and laughed over the abuse and degradation of the other (prisoners). People get a kick out of Max Hardcore's work in the very same way. They get a thrill from the abuse and degradation of the other, but in this case the other is female (women).
Bush and company wouldn't get away with torture if Americans refused to accept it. But in all honestly, a hell of a lot of Americans think torture is A-OK. They pay good money to jerk off to it.
We've become a brutal and sadistic nation. Or perhaps we always have been and now it's just more evident, I don't know. But I do know a nation that approves of "movies" depicting women being orally raped to the point of vomiting and then being forced to eat their own vomit (one of Hardcore's specialties) is going to react to the abuse of suspected criminals/terrorists with a yawn.
Someone up thread mentioned the Saw movie series. I'd say that's connected too.
I do have to take issue with your assertion that Hardcore's work is fiction. It is not fiction. It's real and right there in front of you and people get off watching it. That's a big part of this problem.
