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Ulgeguug t1_j36p0c2 wrote

The list of hideous torturous degrading sick ways of killing people devised by human beings is very long.

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LP99 t1_j37g196 wrote

> In the second act, the body was braided into another wooden spoked wheel, which was possible through the broken limbs, or tied to the wheel. The wheel was then erected on a mast or pole, like a crucifixion.

The history of mankind is very, very depraved.

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Africa_versus_NASA t1_j37r2i6 wrote

The elevated breaking wheel is prominently featured in Breughel's "The Triumph of Death"

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brueghel_the_Elder,Pieter-_Triumph_of_Death,detail-_c._1562-1563.jpg

He likely saw it himself, and felt the same way about it as you do now.

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Khelthuzaad t1_j37ord7 wrote

In retrospect the countries with the worst kind of torture were the ones with the most civil unrest or elites fearing the normal people.They were uncanny cruel not because they hated the person,but because they didn't wanted the people to mimic their actions.There were also double standards,with men getting lesser punishment for the death of abuse of women.

China for example has a very very long history of battling itself rather than other regions

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Skythewood t1_j37qjdc wrote

China is too vast during ancient times for most of it's population to fight anyone other then each other.

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ShortOldFatGuy t1_j39aa0e wrote

Amazing how external threats (those wonderful Mongols, et. al.) always manage to bring about brotherly love between fueding families. It can even inspire family projects - like a wall around the middle kingdom. As a footnote, Machevelli counseled rulers in The Prince that if they feared internal foes most - then build walls. If external foes were the greatest danger, then do not build them. (Wonder if Trump was basing his Mexican wall plan on this counsel?)

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Jjex22 t1_j38qtwd wrote

At least this one didn’t require a particularly sick train of thought to come up with I guess? We invented cart wheels, people got run over by them and their bones broke, then when we wanted to torture someone we were like ‘hey remember when Timmy got run over by that cart? That fucking hurt… grab a wheel!’

But yeah, from a modern lens it’s quite hard to really envisage just how horrific we were to each other in the past

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ZerglingBBQ t1_j3ageqr wrote

We're still just as bad if not worse. Saw a video of Mexican cartel flaying a dude and then cutting his heart out of his chest while he was still conscious.

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RedTheDopeKing t1_j382s5i wrote

I mean we’re still depraved it’s not like we’re enlightened in modern times.

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Ulgeguug t1_j39bezm wrote

While this is true, I think that humanity has developed quite a lot.

The idea, for instance, that you should publicly gruesomely execute people, while it still exists in places, has declined dramatically over the past couple centuries. It was only a few decades ago that firebombing civilian populations and burning entire cities alive was just one of those things you do in war.

There's a terrifying race going on between our advancement as human beings and our advancement in the capacity of barbarity.

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RedTheDopeKing t1_j39duz8 wrote

That’s still one of the things you do in war, we just have less war now. It’s not gone forever I promise you. Russia is using rockets to destroy infrastructure in Ukraine, taking their power offline, trying to freeze people in winter.

I think people are the same as we always have been, deep down, and always will be. I don’t think we’re striving towards one day having some utopia, people like to ignore the ugly side of humanity but it’s there.

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Zamasu19 t1_j39il4k wrote

Yeah. Like if the world fell apart tonight, we’re going back to wing fucked up to each other

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[deleted] t1_j36pvzv wrote

Yes, it's really depressing how much effort we've put into torturing our own kind. I suppose we should be thankful we live in more "enlightened" times.

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bystander007 t1_j38zlu6 wrote

The bottomless depths of human depravity which arise from boredom will never cease to amaze and horrifying me.

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INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS t1_j3amkcy wrote

And most of them are fake.

Things like the Iron Maiden and the Judas Cradle weren’t real. They were just meant to scare people. I wouldn’t be surprised if the breaking wheel was also fake.

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BaidenFallwind t1_j392cks wrote

Here's the thing: I agree, along with hundreds of others. But as soon as there's some psychopath who tortured, raped, and murdered children, there will be more who deeply wish we could return to such brutality.

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Ulgeguug t1_j393vxa wrote

I think that there's a brutal impulse that is at odds with our moral aspirations, and certainly our desire to fit into a civilized society. I think that impulse tends to seek out outlets where it's socially acceptable to be brutal or fantasize about it. "Flaying another human being alive while starving rats eat the eyes out of their face is sick, evil, no one should ever fantasize about doing that to anyone EXCEPT Nazis child molesters terrorists rapists enslavers ooh yeah we should torture them mmmm torture the fuck out of them"

Like the deplorable people who exist in the world are used as an excusable outlet for repressed sadism and cruelty. It allows us to conflate those impulses with feelings of righteous vindication. Anyone who's watched the bad guy in a movie die a grisly death of humiliation and pain with any feeling of satisfaction understands this.

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shaving99 t1_j3a2tul wrote

Yeah imagine having to hear Nickelback everyday

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[deleted] t1_j3bbetg wrote

Even just the outlawing of cruel punishment makes the US Constitution an amazing thing

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Ulgeguug t1_j3bc7t9 wrote

With limited success, unfortunately, but yes

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[deleted] t1_j3bd27g wrote

You think the USA still has torture like the breaking wheel?

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Ulgeguug t1_j3bdk1c wrote

I think you either don't understand the difference between "limited success" and "no success at all", or you do understand and you're responding in bad faith.

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[deleted] t1_j3bfdxs wrote

I think the constitution is wildly successful - cruel punishment being one. Criminals are in prisons with HVAC, gyms, TV , 3 meals a day …

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Ulgeguug t1_j3bhg2q wrote

>Criminals are in prisons with HVAC, gyms, TV , 3 meals a day …

Except when they're in prisons without HVAC being subjected to heat, or being regularly subjected to extended solitary confinement, or beatings and other abuses, or put in deliberate danger including of sexual assault, or in the case of those that are abducted from other countries and deprived the dubious rights and protections granted prisoners and subjected to torture, either euphemized or not.

Like the idea that prisoners getting "3 meals" means it's not cruel simply because you're not literally starving them, even if that food is unfit for human consumption and is often unsafe for human consumption, is pretty callous.

I'm a big fan of the constitution, like, I have a favorite Federalist paper big fan, but in terms of how successful we've been at upholding it, either in letter or spirit, we are sorely lacking.

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