Re: Sentimentality & Cruelty

Marcus Smith (marcus@BETA.LOYNO.EDU)
Wed, 9 Apr 1997 18:36:18 -0500

Oh, come on. Read any account of an execution in the US (try Sister
Prejean's). People socialize these events--victims also--because they are
utterly absurd. The small talk in an operating theatre is similar.

People here are trying to identify and isolate some special psychological
moment when the circumstances drive it towards "everydayness."

Gimme a break.

On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, D. Vinson wrote:

> >It is reported that
> >many of the Nazi and SS people were tender husbands and fathers... Heinrich
> >Himmler praised his men of always having remained 'anstaendig' (decent,
> >correct, respectable)!
>
> Concentration camp inmates reported that Joseph Mengele always
> dressed immaculately, and that he was extremely cordial to the prisoners
> during the 'selections' as he pointed them left to the gas chambers or
> right to slave labor. Perhaps, in some satanic way, Mengele saw himself as
> a humanitarian.
> There are also films of Hitler joyfully playing with little
> children and with dogs. In fact, I believe that Hitler was a vegetarian out
> of concern for animals. (I'm not comparing vegetarians to Hitler, of
> course.) What this means, I can't say.
>
> --
> Laurence Duncan Vinson - University of the South - Sewanee, Tenn., USA
> http://www.sewanee.edu/vinsold0/top.html - Sewanee is not a river.
> Prevent forest fires: support strip mining.
>

Marcus Smith
Department of English
Loyola University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Office: 504-865-2481; Fax 504-866-1966