ATTN: Everyone (Not for the squeamish. Seriously.)

[Phox]

I would like to take a moment and remind everyone of a particular piece of home decor: a lamp shade. Hand made, mid 20th century. Fitted nicely on a heavy European frame. There is one thing about it though. The lampshade is an odd yellowish color, and has a very strange texture. Well, it would be strange if one didn't know it was made from human skin. Then it makes perfect sense.

And just remember. It was made by a person.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

http://archive.org/details/MemoryOfTheCamps

[Phox]

No need for images. Images, in fact, detract from it. This is largely the fault of over-circulation and more importantly Hollywood-led desensitization. If an image is necessary for a person to comprehend, such horrors are found easily enough. I just want people to think.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. 

There's a segment where they have relics like that arranged on long tables, and they round up the local German citizens and make them file past. People are crying and puking.

Sometimes having to actully look doesn't desensitize. Of course, it happened IRL, not in a movie.

[Phox]

A problem I have is that it frustrates me when people do not comprehend this thing. Not so much those who deny it's existence (after all, that amounts to nothing more that "if I can't see it, it can't see me", which is a pity, but you cannot simply pry a person's eyes open). THe problem I have is with those who acknowledge this thing for what it is. A lamp shade made out of the skin of a person. These people who say "So?"

"So?"

What possesses a person to say this?

This person had feelings, friends, family members. Loved ones, dreams, hopes, fears.

This person... this person could have been anyone. A child, a mother, a father... it could have been a murderer or a rapist.

When the day's over, we don't know about this person. Truthfully, we don't even know if it German-made or a Holocaust victim. And we likely never will.

"So?"

So? So? That's exactly what the person who did this said. "So? It's just skin. I didn't kill the person myself.", "So? It's just skin. It's not like it's a skull or anything.", "So? It's just one person. Other people have killed a lot more than I have.", "So? It's just a Jew.", "So? It's just a fag.", "So? It's just a gypsy.", "So? It's just a Kraut.", "So? It's just a Jap." , "So? It's just a raghead.", "So? It's just an old person." "So? It's just a retard.", "So? It's just a baby."

And we never really stop. A person made that lamp shade.

So?

[Phox]

Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. 

There's a segment where they have relics like that arranged on long tables, and they round up the local German citizens and make them file past. People are crying and puking.

Sometimes having to actully look doesn't desensitize. Of course, it happened IRL, not in a movie.

Even pictures and film would have sufficed, if not for the fact that since then we've been inundated with the images and even more forgeries and fakes. That's where the desensitization comes from. not just that it's in a movie. But the fact that each of us has seen it a million times, and so many other atrocities that were "worse", that merely seeing something isn't enough. What NEEDS to happen, is that people need to think. And it's so much easier not to think when you can dissociate the image from reality.

Take a moment. Take moment and think. Think about the person whose skin made that lamp shade. Think about the person who took the time to make that lamp shade. Think about those two people. Think about them. Not as images, or objects, but a people. Your friend, your cousin, your child, you yourself could be either of those people. Think about that, just for a few moments.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I've been fascinated with items made from human skin since I found out about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropodermic_bibliopegy

It is strange to contemplate an era in Western history where tanning human skin wasn't completely repellent.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. 

There's a segment where they have relics like that arranged on long tables, and they round up the local German citizens and make them file past. People are crying and puking.

Sometimes having to actully look doesn't desensitize. Of course, it happened IRL, not in a movie.

Even pictures and film would have sufficed, if not for the fact that since then we've been inundated with the images and even more forgeries and fakes. That's where the desensitization comes from. not just that it's in a movie. But the fact that each of us has seen it a million times, and so many other atrocities that were "worse", that merely seeing something isn't enough. What NEEDS to happen, is that people need to think. And it's so much easier not to think when you can dissociate the image from reality.

Take a moment. Take moment and think. Think about the person whose skin made that lamp shade. Think about the person who took the time to make that lamp shade. Think about those two people. Think about them. Not as images, or objects, but a people. Your friend, your cousin, your child, you yourself could be either of those people. Think about that, just for a few moments.

THIS.

Because the kind of thinking that made that happen is all over the place. Nobody's immune.

[Phox]

I've been fascinated with items made from human skin since I found out about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropodermic_bibliopegy

It is strange to contemplate an era in Western history where tanning human skin wasn't completely repellent.

Yeah, it is strange.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

If you're not vigilant, you can be sucked in. Mob mentality.

"The body of White Antelope, lying solitarily in the creek bed, was a prime target. Besides scalping him the soldiers cut off his nose, ears, and testicles-the last for a tobacco pouch...They also scalped many of the dead, regardless of whether they were women, children or infants. Chivington and his men dressed their weapons, hats and gear with scalps and other body parts, including human fetuses and male and female genitalia. They also publicly displayed these battle trophies in Denver's Apollo Theater and area saloons."

[Phox]

No, you're missing the point. It's not about the actions. It's about the people.

[Phox]

So? It's just a murderer. So? It's just a Nazi. So? It's just a political dissenter.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

No, you're missing the point. It's not about the actions. It's about the people.

That was my point. 

Chivington was most likely psychotic to begin with, but most of his men could probably pass a psych eval. The people in Denver who cheered when they saw all that shit were probably what passes for "normal", for the most part.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I.e., "So? It's just Indians." 

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Sometimes the more evolved parts of peoples' brains just...shut off.

And people can justify anything in their own minds. You see this with child molesters: "The the kid took his shirt off. He wanted it."