Serial-killings, necrophilia, mass-murders, cannibalism and so on

[DVV]

Hi all

if you're interested in serial-killings, mass-murders, cannibalism, necroplilia, necro-sadism, etc. etc., take my advice and read whatever you can find about the French Revolution.
You'll make tremendous progress in your field and soon become an expert.

[lynn cates]

shudder

Hello David. Hope you are well.

I shudder at the thought.

Cheers.
LC

[DVV]

Hi Lynn,
I'm fine, merci, hope you're well.
I'm shuddering too.
S'ils apprennent que je lis Joseph de Maistre, ils me couperont le cigare...

[lynn cates]

Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

Hello David. Thanks.

I'll leave the cigars for Freud. (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[Cogidubnus]

Slightly lugubrious bon viveur

Hi Lynn

I imagine Sir Clement might've enjoyed them...though it was Henry who had such frightfully good taste...

All the best

Dave

[GUT]

Maximilien de Robespierre

The child bride spent years studying Robespierre and some of the information would give you nightmares, not so much about him, but the things going on at the time.

[Sunbury]

Marquis de Sade

Any thing by the Marquis de Sade of course will turn you off your dinner He was a revolutionary politician amongst other things.



Edit but for pure stomach churning reading of totally dysfunctional societies I would recommend

History of the Conquest of Mexico & History of the Conquest of Peru by William H Prescott
The book is from the 19th Century so the wording takes getting used to.
It covers mass-murders, cannibalism, necroplilia, necro-sadism, etc etc on a truly unimaginable scale.

http://www.amazon.com/History-Conquest-Mexico-Peru/dp/0815410042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395218483&sr=8-1&keywords=William+H.+Prescott

[lynn cates]

'Enery

Hello Dave. Thanks.

You've tasted Henry, then? (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[Cogidubnus]

touché...or perhaps I mean touched!

Cheers!

Dave

[Ginger]

The child bride spent years studying Robespierre and some of the information would give you nightmares, not so much about him, but the things going on at the time.

Oh, yes! Robespierre was a real piece of resistance! Many years ago, I write an essay on the aniversary of his accession and downfall:

It is the 9th of Thermidor, the Day of the Blackberry, anniversary of both the accession and the overthrow, one scant year later, of Maximilien Robespierre, the Incorruptible. For all that he's largely forgotten today, I consider him one of the pivotal figures of world history, on a par with Augustus or Luther.

Robespierre fascinates me. There's no doubt whatsoever that the man's intentions were saintly. Even his enemies agreed on that. He didn't invent the sobriquet 'The Incorruptible' for himself. That fanatical purity of purpose is what made him so dangerous. This was a man who had no doubt at all of the worthiness of his goals, and doubted only the effectiveness of his methods, never their justice. Robespierre meant to build heaven on earth, and if he had to kill all those unworthy of his heaven in the process, it was worth the price.

What Robespierre invented wasn't totalitarianism per se. Augustus had already done that. What Robespierre hit upon was the notion of human perfectibility through governmental intervention. For all that we generally think of that as a 20th century idea, it dates from the summer of 1793. Gladstone's reforms; the Commune of Paris; Bismarck's Welfare State; Johnson's Great Society; and even Pol Pot's Re-education Camps all have their roots in Robespierre's notion of restructuring society to eliminate human weaknesses.

No one prior to Robespierre had even come close to this. Human nature had always been conceded to be the realm either of the Church or of the individual. Attempts to change it were made as appeals to the individual conscience. The idea that it might depend upon environmental factors was probably one that would never even have occurred to anyone before Descartes. The Church had certainly made attempts to suppress heresy by killing heretics; but those campaigns had the limited goal of stopping unwanted memes by killing their carriers. The Church's very zeal in suppressing dangerous ideas can be seen as an implicit admission of the impossibility of changing human nature.

Robespierre set himself a task far more ambitious than anyone in history had ever before even dreamed. His modern disciples are still plugging away at it, with goals as lofty and praisworthy as those of the Incorruptible himself, if (thankfully) less willingness to write off the damage done as worth those distant and shining goals.

[RivkahChaya]

Just listen to all the verses of La Marseillaise. And people say our anthem glorifies violence because it's about a flag surviving a battle.

[Cogidubnus]

Hi Rivkah

Some of the 18th/19th Century alternative versions of the British National Anthem might equally repel you...particularly some of the anti scottish ones...but that's about par for the course with patriotic music...

All the best

Dave

[RivkahChaya]

Whenever there's a group sing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," my brother always sings the words "To Anacreon in Heaven."

[Barnaby]

I knew Jack - err Jean --- the Ripper was French. No Englishman would commit these atrocities.

[Errata]

Whenever there's a group sing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," my brother always sings the words "To Anacreon in Heaven."

Oh dear lord... so do I.