i am interested in torture.
i get that the medievals were good at it.
please share

64 responses total.

<Humdog>, tell us more.  Is it the exquisiteness of the physical pain expertly
delivered or the claustrophic feeling of being restrained and under the
complete control of another human being that most attracts you to this idea? 
Or is it perhaps... the arcane rituals of the medievals that conjur cravings in
your consciousness?

Tell us.  We can help.

<orinoco reaches for his whip>

<brenner runs baack to the safety of the accordion (tm) conference
to ask mdw what this means.>

for example, the vikings had an interesting torture called
the Blood Eagle.

do any of you medieval guys scuse me, Personettes, know about this,
or shall i explain?

you don't need to explain.
It's old news.

i cannot tell you how pleased i am to hear that.

now let us treat of modern inquisitions.

If you're going to talk about modern stuff, please do so in another
conference. This is about history circ. 600-1600AD. Thanks.

        Pattie

 does not compute.

The medivals were interested in torture in purely practical terms; as a
matter of getting to the truth.  I believe they had several underlying
reasons for this:
        (1) some people might be more likely to tell the truth
                if faced with the prospect or reality of pain.
        (2) "trial by ordeal" - a religious theory that "God"
                will help those who deserve succor.
        (3) a theory which persists even today (republicans) that
                where there's smoke there's fire.
                (oddly, fire has always been a popular means of torture.)
        (4) people who are "guilty" (see clause 3) deserve
                punishment (persists today).
Indeed, while we like to think these are purely medieval notions of
punishment, these theories are by no means dead, but persist in varying
form in such countries as Saudia Arabia, Iran,Singapore, and what
remains of Yugoslavia.  It's been updated, of course.  Electricity has
edged fire out in popularity; not only in the form of cattle prods, but
also in such purely symbolic gestures as the use of lamp cords and
electrical tape.

Most trials bear the symbolic vestiges of "trial by ordeal."

Well, certainly the idea of deserving physical punishment persists.
Like when the papers report an accident or murder, and they make
sure you know that the victim was a nice guy.  If he'd been a mean
guy, who cares, right?

The present trial in LA is an ordeal for all of us, sho 'nuf. And torture
is ever so au courant, my deah, in all the best circles, n'est ce pas?

(God, it's true -- I'm becoming schizoid. Pulling up a chair at the cafe
table occupied by rats in the middle of the intersection of Tobacco Road and
the Champs Elysees.)

Love me or I'll kill you baby,
Gonna slice you up like rare roast beef.
Love me or I'll kill you baby,
gonna slice you up like rare roast beef
Gonna have to call a dentist
Identify you by your teeth.

Call me or I'll beef you baby,
Gonna ring ya like the telephone.
Call me or I'll beef you baby,
Gonna toot toot toot your horn
Gonna have a phlebotomist
Stick stick stick you in the morn.

Identify you by your teeth -- that's my favorite line.  You, ah, seem
a bit enamored of that song, Steve.  Who sings it again?

Ah, but isn't the "pau de arara" a wonderful little method of torture?

brenner, you have a big future in the blues.

I love that tune, thanne.  It seemd, well, *rude* not to share it with my
new pals here, too.  It's by Nick Gravenites.

Now, steve this is a Pre-Cambrian fantasy conference.
Lookit! Pebbles! Bam Bam! Role playing! Hurr hurr hurr!~

that's right.  this conference is dedicated to
creating history as it should be, full of gooey marshmallow
romance and all the men are fabio and all the women
have big tits.

(Day two...and still no flames, ladies and gentlemen!)

I suspect Humdog's flame wars are mythical in more
ways than one.

Oh, dear -- I think he's poked that glint-toothed canine just once too
  often. <juls dives under the couch, big tits barely making it>
    

i do not Flame on command, you know.
i do hardly anything  on command.

Big tits *barely* doing anything is quite a mental image!

That's what I was hoping.

You should be so lucky as to have hummer flame you, vs.

I understand your Napoleon complex, sdober, being short
and skinny and all, but your diminutive megalomania has
led you astray on this one.  Better even than flaming me,
Her Majesty has sent me on a *quest*.  Read on.

> Napoleon complex

Heh!  Could it be Shannon has us confused, Dr. Dogstein?  Not that I'm
very Napoleonlike.  Except that hand-in-the-shirt thing, of course.

Stand up Doggie. 
(I am standing)

hurr hurr hurr.

and furthermore you don't even GET the thing about language
and exclusion at alll...

Language and exclusion my butt.  Talk, or don't.  It's simple.

Carmen, please read The new Victorians by Rene Denfeild.
Denfeld. Whatever.

"language and exclusion...."

jeez and you throwing around nice words like
Signifier and all, and not even getting it about Code.

Christ i should buy you a dictionary when i go get one for
<axon> so at least his insults would broaden his vocabulary.

I would Never use a word like signifier.  

You must have me confused with (steve).

You Own Your Own Words.  Attention Is The Currency.  Post Or Die.

I exclude all.

Understanding of the Self must
come before the Code.

I understand myself just fine.

Why, are you having problems with it?

No, steve, I know who i am. Who are ou?

Who do you think?  I am the Ace of Bass, the Coca Cola of Steves.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss