Hi, Francoise & all,
The difference between pain & cruelty is one of agency, it
seems to me. And whereas felt pain may be transformed by the subject into
narratives, theories, products, different self/world relations, the
subject is powerless to do anything about felt cruelty (suffering
that one feels as a result of cruelty can be transformed only
when one is out of cruelty's reach). Same with sadism & masochism, ugly
words that mask the complexity of experience in my view. Instead of
condemning other people for how they get their pleasure, or condemning
murky motivations behind deeds we see as hurtful, it is more ethically
compelling to ask how knowledgeable we are about the effect
we have on others, how we imagine decency, and what we do to modulate
our relations with the world in order to allow for mutual learning/
humanizing of one another. I'd have more respect & trust in a
conscientious sado-masochist pair than in a self-ignorant pair of
do-gooders. Though I suppose I would want to stay furthest away from
self-ignorant sadists & masochists. And from anyone who can not
or wants not to imagine decency.
- Judy
Judy Diamondstone
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
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