-Caveat Lector- http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2 002_12_01_dish_archive.html#90002327
MAKING LIGHT OF TORTURE: What to make of this astonishing article \http://slate.msn.com/?id=2074821&device= at Slate? Am I hallucinating or is Tim Noah actually equating Saddam's torturing of political enemies with consensual safe sado-masochistic sex between adults? Here's one memorable phrase, glibly posited by Noah as if he is saying something clever: "[O]ne man's recreation is another man's torture." Excuse me? Tell that to those tortured to death by Saddam. This moral equivalence is far worse, I think, than equating Miss World contests with forcing women to wear burqas. It trivializes enormous evil; and makes light of the hideous suffering inflicted on Saddam's enemies. Somewhere in some dark prison right now, someone is being electrocuted, or burnt, or pummeled or tortured by Saddam's henchmen. And Noah finds a way to equate that with free, consensual, sado- masochistic games: "It would be less awful if [Saddam's] victims were willing. But how much less awful?" The answer is: less awful by a universe of awfulness. One has to ask: What universe is Noah in that he can even begin to think this way? How desperate is he for something to write that he can come up with this angle? Would he equate Stalin's gulags with leather-fetish clubs? Would he trivialize Hitler's holocaust by remarking how similar it is to some bondage games? Maybe he thinks he's being funny. He's not. He's being depraved. Maybe he's just peddling titillating details about S&M into what's supposed to be credible journalism. Or maybe his goal is to stigmatize people with unusual sex lives just for the hell of it. But to do so by equating it with political torture is unequivocally vile. And there's something about his chirpy repetition of the third person "Chatterbox" device while making light of the hideous torture of political prisoners that is truly sickening. Of course, he has the disclaimer: "By no means does Chatterbox mean to make light of these horrible practices. Quite the opposite: Chatterbox is trying to add a little weight to decisions about personal pleasure that shade into voluntary mutilation." Maybe Chatterbox should take a tour of Saddam's gulags before he writes such obscenities again. - 3:44:01 PM <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
