Bruising to right upper arm showing finger impressions of Miroslav Pašek

Slovak State Police hired thug Miroslav Pašek has learned how to inflict great pain with his hands while leaving few if any marks on the victim’s body.

Most of the blows he struck against me were to my ribcage and upper chest. No bruising at all was ever visible there. Nevertheless, more than six weeks later, I still have twinges of pain in that area when I move or lay down in certain positions.

The bruise shown here is a product of Pašek momentarily losing control. When he came into my cell demanding that I sit up rather than lay down, he must’ve been gosh-awful furious that I wasn’t all instantly obedient. The bruise resulted from Pašek hauling me up from the bench by the arm, and clearly showed the shapes of three of his fingers.

Tisk tisk, Miro.

Bruising to left knee, courtesy of Miroslav Pašek

I’m not entirely certain how this injury to my knee arose. I may have been kicked or stomped in the knee after having fallen to the ground in pain after being hit. Or, it may be that my other knee impacted this one during one of those falls, and caused the bruise. Unclear to me.

This bruise was visible immediately. A second, even larger bruised emerged over the succeeding days higher up on the same leg. Similar uncertainty as to its origins.

All this stuff — except for the residual bruised-rib pain I mentioned above — is healed up now. Physically, I’m okay.

The psychological and emotional effects, however, are ongoing. I’ll be writing more about that in the near future.

Isn't it always thus?

Via Crooks and Liars:

Someone's been watching too much "They Live", or maybe they see the fnords clearly? Hmmmmm....

Experts may argue over if the Stockholm syndrome really exists. One needn’t go to the experts to ascertain a plainly visible phenomena. Human beings tend not only to accept life within oppressive social structures, but to love and cherish it. They invent fanciful reasons justifying their subordinate position and go to the extent of punishing those who refuse to accept their assigned position. Such a person is generally considered “well adjusted” in human society. Human society as we know it is Stockholm syndrome at a gigantic scale.

Well worth a read, and even more so for the Cthulhu bonus.

Read: Stockholm Syndrome Society

From the name Abraham we get the term “Abrahamic religion“, a catch-all for all those faiths which trace their historicity to Abraham. Abrahamic religion is one of the cornerstones of the dominant social and psychological paradigm across great expanses of the globe and among billions of human beings today.

The story of Abraham and Isaac always really bothered me. Let’s take a look at Genesis 22 (yes, all of it, from the New American Bible translation):

Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!”

“Ready!” he replied.

Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”

Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar. Then he said to his servants: “Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you.” Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. “Father!” he said.

“Yes, son,” he replied.

Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?”

“Son,” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust.” Then the two continued going forward.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD’S messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.“

As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, “On the mountain the LORD will see.”

Again the LORD’S messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing–all this because you obeyed my command.”

Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home. Some time afterward, the news came to Abraham: “Milcah too has borne sons, to your brother Nahor: Uz, his first-born, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

What lessons shall the child absorb and internalize, hearing this story retold in solemn tones by those he trusts, loves or depends on?

Invisible ghost speaks addresses man, and man responds “Ready!” — thou shalt obey the invisible

Invisible ghost commands man to commit atrocity against his own family, to violate not only Isaac’s nature but his own. Does Abraham question? Hardly. Abraham speaks nary a word, but sets out meekly in compliance with his invisible master’s order. — submit

Abraham lies to his servants by allowing the collective pronoun “we” was in “we will come back to you”, nevermind the horrors implicit in the idea that a man shall have servants. — servitude is fine for some

Next, Abraham lies to his trusting child, and points to an invisible ghost as the solution to his questioning. — lying for your invisible ghosts is okay

Next, Isaac submits to being bound by his father and condemned to death. A clearer expression of the horror contained in the commandment “honor thy father and thy mother” would be difficult to find. — ’nuff said

Then the invisible ghost comes along and says: “Just kidding!” Does Abraham object or rebel? Hardly, he waits for the next command. Does Isaac, the sacrificial lamb, say anything? Nary a word. — honor thy masters even when they deceive you

Invisible ghost, now playing good cop, praises Abraham for his blind obedience, and REWARDS him! — the ends justify the means?

Never mind its ahistoricity, anyone of conscience ought to burn their Bible after finishing Genesis 22, and condemn the behavior found therein.

Continuing on some themes I’ve set out before: Damn your holy books, damn your obedience, damn your culture. And fuck Jehovah.

And we haven’t even mentioned how this sick fucker sent his own son to be killed by his own agents to prove a point… maybe we’ll come back to that later.

Italy to fingerprint all citizens in order to avoid discriminating against the filthy, thieving Roma (gypsies). Ah, the smell of equality…

Australia introducing online “code of conduct”. What’s voluntary today will be mandatory tomorrow.

A fine essay entitled “Diffusion of reaction and obedience to authority” by Jerry Mazza at Online Journal. Worth reading.

Were the nobles who gathered round an earlier king to sign the Magna Carta striving, too, to silence The Voice of Authority? Has our time here on this planet, the evolution of our consciousness, been to free us from apathy, indifference, random violence, to see our humanity in the looking glass? Can we find that original responsive self or are we doomed to be robots?

Think about it. You don’t need to continue with the experiment. It is not absolutely essential that you continue. You have another choice. You don’t have to go on, soldier, politician, policeman, priest. You can always find freedom, original choice, in the space of your imagination, in your heart’s compassion, in the willingness, the courage to disagree. One might say your life depends on it, not to mention your soul.

Old news, but while following up on the essay above I read the Wikipedia page about the Milgram Experiment. Scary stuff and very instructive if you’ve not heard about it before. What was mind-boggling, though, was this news story from a few years ago, referenced in the wiki page:

From April 1995 until 30 June 2004, there was a series of hoaxes, known as the strip search prank call scam, upon fast food workers in popular fast food chains in America in which a phone caller, claiming to be a police officer, persuaded authority figures to strip and sexually abuse workers. The perpetrator achieved a high level of success in persuading workers to perform acts which they would not have done under normal circumstances. (The chief suspect, David R. Stewart, was found not guilty in the only case that has gone to trial so far.)

Do read “A Hoax Most Cruel“. Do it now. OBEY!