-
@mcjulie Y'know, I tend to suspect that Karl Marlantes is right with his explanation. Well, he doesn't *quite* make the argument directly, but he does strongly imply it, in WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR, that sadism is an adaptive psychological coping tool. (Which can go wrong, obviously.)On twitter.com
Mood -3 🙁
-
@mcjulie Like, precivilization humans in competing bands, during some major geological or climatic crisis, in a world with multiple human species? They had to do pretty horrific things to survive, and needed a tool for coping.Permalink On twitter.com
-
@mcjulie (Marlantes talks about how many pilots describe a sense of euphoria during bombing raids, for example. People who don't normally feel this way, I mean... and who struggle to reintegrate and cope afterward. But in the moment? They find pleasure in it, reportedly.)Permalink On twitter.com
-
@mcjulie To be clear, he describes our capacity for sadistic pleasure as an obviously dangerous thing people need to admit, be conscious of, and learn to control or rein in. He just notes that for soldiers in a war zone, it seems to serve a coping purpose. (The evolution stuff is mine.)Permalink On twitter.com