[lbo-talk] negative freedoms

[Robert Wrubel]

Sadism goes back at least two thousand years in European history, only it used to be called "heroism" or conquest.  I'm reading about Napoleon's 15 years reign of terror in Europe, which makes Bush's seem minor by comparison, and I can't think of any better word for it.

   

  But of course sadism and murder are words reserved for private acts; they're never used for acts of state.

   

  B

andie nachgeborenen <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:

  
.
> 
> Incidentally, is there any pre-19th century term, in any
> language, which
> is even remotely a snynom for "sadism"?
>

Not to start the kink wars going again, but what do you mean by sadism? I presume you _don't_ mean one of the consensual sexual games perverts play. (Which also antedate the 19th century.) Rather you mean something like deriving gratification from or enjoyment in intentional cruelty, right? which is of course nothing new either. Any language, you say. Schadenfreude? (I am pretty sure that is pre-19th century.) Of course that can be petty and doesn't have involved the enjoyer's infliction of the pain or humiliation. How about the good old English term "malice" or "maliciousness," since you wanted the adjectival, doesn't that suggest deliberate and intentional infliction of harm spiced with enjoyment as well as ill will? 

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