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.
http://archive.org/details/MemoryOfTheCamps
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.
Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. :sad:
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.
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?
Quote from: TEXAS FAIRIES FOR ALL YOU SPAGS on July 22, 2012, 07:54:59 PM
Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. :sad:
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.
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.
Quote from: Phox, Mistress of Many Names on July 22, 2012, 08:24:07 PM
Quote from: TEXAS FAIRIES FOR ALL YOU SPAGS on July 22, 2012, 07:54:59 PM
Sorry, that's my go-to link when lamp shades come up. Knee-jerking again. :sad:
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.
Quote from: PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHARLIE MANSON on July 22, 2012, 08:29:31 PM
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.
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." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre)
No, you're missing the point. It's not about the actions. It's about the people.
So? It's just a murderer. So? It's just a Nazi. So? It's just a political dissenter.
Quote from: Phox, Mistress of Many Names on July 22, 2012, 08:51:25 PM
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.
I.e., "So? It's just Indians." :x
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."
You keep getting hung up in the Ain't It Awfuls, which dilutes the message. It's not so much "A person did this and this andthis." It's "A person did this."
Quote from: TEXAS FAIRIES FOR ALL YOU SPAGS on July 22, 2012, 09:04:40 PM
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."
No. The person who made the lampshade was just a person. Probably not in an altered state; probably not any more shut off than you or I are right now.
Becoming Evil (http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Evil-Ordinary-Genocide-Killing/dp/0195148681)
Relevant.
Quote from: Phox, Mistress of Many Names on July 23, 2012, 06:57:58 AM
You keep getting hung up in the Ain't It Awfuls, which dilutes the message. It's not so much "A person did this and this andthis." It's "A person did this."
Quote from: PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHARLIE MANSON on July 23, 2012, 07:06:21 AM
Quote from: TEXAS FAIRIES FOR ALL YOU SPAGS on July 22, 2012, 09:04:40 PM
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."
No. The person who made the lampshade was just a person. Probably not in an altered state; probably not any more shut off than you or I are right now.
Well, yes. And I see that I'm throwing out labels like "psychotic" and "child molester" for some examples, but not all of them. A lot of people who do this stuff don't have a pathology, they just manage to dehumanize whoever they're doing it to. I've read that's part of training for combat, Vietnam war-era soldiers were told things like "The Viet Cong don't cry when you kill their kids, it doesn't bother them", i.e., "Viet Cong are not really humans." It's easier to kill and mutilate an "it". Given enough bad signal, anybody could end up doing it.