This is a reply to R. C. Smith’s essay “Rape, Torture, Murder, Genocide“. First of all, thanks R. C., for pointing this essay out to me. I find it very interesting and thoroughly thought through. Here, I want to present a different view on the subject. 

This lets us dive straight into the first point. What exactly is the subject? What exactly are we talking about? 

The essay by R. C. Smith, as I understand it, is a psychological breakdown of human motivation. Why do people act in certain ways? Or, more precise: Why do humans commit atrocities? There are many answers to this, and R. C. Smith has provided an apt overview. Humans are complicated. So is their behavior. This might be true on an individual level, but the psychology of the masses is a very different pair of shoes. Masses can easily be deceived and manipulated. You don’t believe me? Then go and browse through TikTok. Yes, you, my dear reader, are a member of the masses as well. As am I. Anyway. This is not the point. You can make people do anything. Absolutely anything. And I believe it becomes easier the more people you are trying to manipulate.  

So, what are we talking about then, if not individual or mass psychology? Well, we should take a step back. We humans do not just act based on a mere cost-benefit analysis. We humans evaluate behavior also, and very much so, on an ethical level. And that is exactly the point.  

One may very well understand R. C. Smith’s essay as a lament that humans constantly act unethically. I do not disagree that human history is littered with massacres, genocides and every atrocity the darkest minds can conceive. I don’t like this. Not at all. Of course, I would rather live in a much more peaceful world, where people respect each other.  

Am I right in detesting genocides? Yes? You think so?  

Why? 

If we discard religious beliefs (you can believe in anything, even a spaghetti monster) as justifications, what is left to substantiate the claim that genocides are a bad thing? 

Criminal law. Ah, of course. But why do we have criminal laws? Certainly not solely for practical reasons. 

Basic human rights, you say? Of course, there are fine examples like the ‘Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union’. But where do these fundamental rights stem from? Certainly not from an old white bearded man, stepping down from a hill in Brussels with two stone tablets in his hands on which these rights are chiseled.  

Hm? What do we do now? There must be a good reason, why we should not roam the lands in genocidal intent. There just must. 

Does it? 

Not really. Morale and ethics are human concepts. Just that. They certainly are not universal rules. And how could they be? I mean do you think there are rules which apply to humans on Earth in the same way as to strange lifeforms which have evolved in galaxies millions of light years away? Gene Roddenberry might disagree. And why then do we so miserably fail to formulate global (not universal, just global as referring to Earth alone) human rights? 

Morale and ethics cannot be objectively defined. There is no fundamental “justice”-law. There is no compelling philosophical thought, not even by Kant, which would give us a clue about what’s right and what’s wrong. Is abortion a crime? Should cluster munition be prohibited? See. 

So, what are we left with?  

With our own standards. You and you alone can distinguish right from wrong. You are your own god/goddess, judge and jury.  

If you don’t want women to vote, then (apart from the fact that I personally wish you to hell) so be it. If you think, raping your eight-year-old daughter is fine, okay (as it will then be okay for me, to wish that someone would rip off your dick and make you eat it, with your balls on the side). If you think punching someone in the face, because you think that person is a disgrace, go for it. It goes without saying that all this doesn’t apply in a legal sense. But the law is nothing more than an approximation to the majority’s ethical standards and beliefs. 

I, therefore, do not discard R. C. Smith’s essay. I merely believe we should take a step back and regard this from a more fundamental point of view. I, personally, do not care too much about individual motivations, for I believe that everyone is capable of anything. All I can do is cope with this world, which is cruel and cold all too often. 

At the end of his essay, R. C. Smith has a request: “But there is one request that I have: that you ask yourself under which circumstances you might commit any of those acts of violence, or participate in them, or encourage them, or watch them, or wish for them to happen, or appreciate them, or condone them, or excuse them, or look away, or deny them, or profit from them, or shrug them off. Or secretly think they deserved it, or serves them right, or it was their own fault. And should you say “under no circumstances ever,” then ask yourself, if this is really true.” 

R. C., you are right in pointing out that people sometimes revel in other people’s suffering. And yes: “Acts of rape, torture, killing and looting, alone, in groups or in masses, can give an intense emotional and sexual high.” I, myself, have published texts which deal with this. 

I believe, it is unlikely that I will commit or participate in any of these acts of violence, R. C. Smith talks about. But it is possible. I regularly consume the usual gore sites and enjoy – often during lunch in the office – what I see. I guess, I would easily be one of the rubbernecks watching violence in the streets. For instance, seeing a child rapist being beaten to a bleeding piece of pulp – certainly! Encourage people in the act? Why not? Film it? Yep, guess so. Then dash away before the cops arrive? Sure as hell!  

My mind often explodes with wrath. For instance, when in a movie or a show someone (usually a male person) is taking someone hostage. Then, I not only wish that this worthless piece of biowaste was subjected to the cruelest forms of torture, I wish to do it myself. And I believe, under the right circumstances, I might really do this in real life.  

So, what does this make me? A monster? A sociopath? A retarded fuckwit? 

No. 

Just human.