Saturday, October 3, 2009

Still thinking about hate speech...

I just read this great quote in Roger Ebert's blog comments (a blog I highly recommend!):

Dostoevsky knew that *129 years ago*, as his loathsome Fyodor Karamazov said:

"... it is rather pleasant to feel wronged -- don't you agree? So a man may know very well that no one has offended him, and may invent an offense, lie just for the beauty of it, or exaggerate what someone said to create a situation, making a mountain out of a molehill. And although he is well aware of it himself, he nevertheless does feel offended because he enjoys doing so, derives great pleasure from it, and so he comes to feel real hostility toward the imaginary offender."


Emphasis mine. I certainly felt the hostility directed toward me last week. I hope the hostile person derived some pleasure from it. Otherwise it really was without value.


Peace.


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