Universal Sadism

Sadism and a thirst for the destruction and misfortune of others is everywhere, regardless of the current moral axioms of any given culture that advocates peace and altruism. I think sadistic urges are, while not universal (very little is universal), a largely natural and common human inclination.

I tend to avoid the word "natural" to describe much of anything, but I'm using it to describe sadism. The meaning of the word "natural" has been so thoroughly abused and manipulated to mean so many things that its uses are limitless, and can be taken to mean anything; commonly used to justify some argument or behavior. Well I'm not justifying sadism here, I'm rationalizing it. There's a difference. Justice implies rules, rights, fairness, and some nonsense called morality. I'll have none of that! All those things are just as meaningless as the word "natural" (although I use them from time to time). But when I rationalize something, I merely imply logic and reason, and hurting others is very reasonable. Logic can be proven, but morality and justice cannot be proven. Logic means you process information in a way that leads you to be correct about facts. If you are wrong about something (illogic), this can be empirically proven. Saying something is unjust is a mere opinion, and bears no proof (nor any need for proof). So I never justify my actions. Justice is for sissies.

But I will rationalize my actions, such as my assertion that sadism is "natural". By natural I mean common, functional, and deriving from an atavistic or evolutionary source, that source being our ancient ancestors. You may have a different definition of natural, but fuck you. This is my article, and for now that's what natural means.

Anyway, there's little doubt our ancestors were a bunch of violent assholes. We were killers long before we were human. We have uncovered skeletal remains of early hominid species where the bones had been systematically split with sharp rocks, likely to get at the delicious bone marrow inside. Eating the marrow of your enemies is a very good stepping stone to success. Why don't we do that anymore?

We're not much different today. I don't need to describe all the war, murder, rape, and violence of modern humans to you. We all know about that, and I'm sure most of you think that those occurrences are not the norm. This violence on the news we hear of every day is not representative of most people. But that's just it: we hear about it in the news, we all do. We may not all have the balls to commit these violent, or as I call them, sadistic, acts, but we sure as fuck want to hear about it. Who wants to hear good things on the news? Do we want to hear about the success of various charities? Do we want to have news reports on how peaceful a current country is? I sure as fuck don't. Even our benign celebrity gossip, while non-violent, is malicious. We want to hear how horrible some celebrity is, how out of control and socially dysfunctional they are. We want war, murder, crime, and everything else in between. We were made for this stuff.

And it's not just the news. We don't all watch the news. I sure as hell don't. But it doesn't stop there. What about movies? Name a movie without conflict or a villain? Sure, some of us want the conflict to be resolved or the villain to be defeated, but we wouldn't' be watching the movie without these things. We love strife, conflict, and cruel, villainous crimes against humanity, even if some wankers root for the goody two-shoes hero. Besides, what we consider to be heroic is purely cultural, and a lust for conflict, I believe, is more on the genetic side of human behavior. Beliefs on what constitutes "good" or "heroism" varies tremendously from culture to culture, but interest, fascination, and general inclination for violence, no matter how subtle, exists in almost all cultures. Thus, people want pain and suffering in their movies.

I could list more of human recreation and entertainment that could be construed as malicious, such as our sense of humor or sporting events, but I think you've already got a sufficient idea of what I have to say about all that. You may think that all I've described is so minor, mundane, and innocuous that it hardly constitutes sadism. You may be right. It depends on how you want to define sadism, and to what degree you have to be malicious in order to merit being labeled with the word. But one thing is for certain: these slight indicators of our rancor towards other life forms are at least evidence of a seed, however small, of ill will and violence that can, given the right influences, grow to undeniably sadistic proportions in most all human beings.

Here in America, in times past, whole families would get together to have a fun time watching public hangings and executions. Fun for the whole family. This wasn't that long ago. The Romans loved to watch gladiators fight to the death and disembowel each other in ancient history. In 16th century France, festivals were regularly held where people would gather dozens of cats and place them all in large nets, and the nets were subsequently held, suspended, over bonfires, resulting in the cats being burned alive. This was done for fun and amusement for the spectators. Even French kings during those times would be present to enjoy the show, and would often celebrate by lighting the fires themselves for display. This was the recreation of the time, and sadistic is definitely the word for it. It's all about environment. Live in the right society (and time period), and we can learn to love the misery of others. As we should!

And why shouldn't we? The downfall of others can mean success for ourselves, because a competitor has been eliminated or a position has been recently made vacant for you to seize. Strife and suffering is opportunity, so long as you don't suffer yourself. In psychology there is a term called "schadenfreude", which means the enjoyment of the misfortunes of others. Psychologists have studied this phenomenon, and found it very prevalent in almost all countries across the globe. When someone in a group of people meets misfortune by being rejected, insulted, or failing at some given task, the scale measurement of the happiness of those around him/her tends to go up. People often report a desire for this sort of thing to happen to others on questionnaires, especially if the data gathered in these questionnaires is anonymous. There are also great health benefits to schadenfreude. People who enjoy the suffering of others experience a greater immunity from diseases, less anxiety/stress, a healthier heart, etc.

And why shouldn't it be healthier?! All sadism is, is optimism. People who don't enjoy it when others suffer are so negative. You see, I look on the bright side of things. When I see someone in pain and anguish, I don't see tragedy or misfortune. Instead, I see hilarious entertainment. That's the spirit of someone healthy! People who are more negative need to stop whining. Studies show their lives may depend on it. The more negative you are, the lower your average life expectancy and the earlier you die. All that stress taxes your nerves and immune system, and reduces your health. So, don't be stressed. Laugh at the misfortunes of others. Laughter is good for your heart.

Schadenfreude isn't the only means for greater psychological and physical health. There is evidence that the vast majority of perpetrators of violence, be they petty street criminals or brutal dictators, have abnormally high self esteem. And I know self esteem is positively correlated with happiness. Thus, happy people kill. Don't you want to be happy? I may be making a loose association here, but whatever. So sue me.

Sadism is a very unique characteristic to our species. There are no species more needlessly violent than humans. In fact, there are only two species on Earth who ever really kill for fun, and humans are still much more violent than this other species. And, interestingly, this other species happens to be chimpanzees, who we share 95% of our genes with. So that's where we got it. Chimps will band together in all-male gangs, and go out in ventures through the forest. When they find another male chimpanzee, they will all gang up on the guy and beat him to death. Do they eat the body afterwards? No, they continue their little rampage elsewhere, looking for more victims, or they just go home, satisfied. No species does this except chimps and humans. I love humans.

Humans are a very unique species. One obvious way is our intelligence and our ability to create. But also unique to humans, a trait that is not quite as well recognized, is our ability and desire to destroy. We are the most creative of all life forms on earth, but are also equally destructive. Who am I to say one of these traits is better than the other? Both distinguish the human race apart from all life on Earth. I say, enjoy both, because both are in your genes. Enjoy creation and beauty, but don't hesitate to destroy beauty and life when your whims allow it. When others suffer, don't get upset, be an optimist and laugh at the unfortunate fool. They'd probably do the same to you anyway. Do unto others before they do unto you.