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Long read troglodytes....
Pudd'nhead WIlson is a book written by Mark Twain and published in the mid 1890's. Like many Twain books, it is an exercise in social constructs. It's been a long time since I have read it, but it always stood out.
The story is of a slave born child switched at birth, by his mother, with the son of the master. As the story goes along, the slave born child grows up to be a real asshole as a free child, and the free child, raised as a slave, becomes a real good person.
At the end of the story, the switch is revealed and justice is served. The slave born child is returned to slavery, sold down the river, and the master's child is returned to his rightful spot atop an inhumane hierarchy.
Readers cheered. The way Twain wrote the story, the reader felt good that this horrible person "got what they deserved".
But that right there is the trick, the social construct Twain was pointing out. This book was published within 30 years from the end of the American Civil War. Slavery was an abomination the country was still dealing with. But that never came up in the reviews.
Twain was pointing out how society will ignore, or excuse, an immoral concept or institution if it in fact delivers justice to something else that is more abhorred.
This dynamic works with all kinds of variables. It doesn't have to be selling someone back into slavery, just simply liking one person, a person you normally wouldn't, solely because the second person is that much worse and you want that second person to experience just what you don't like about that first one.
"Bro, bro, bro you're suspended, at least for 90 days, shut the fuck up" - Michael Bisping
Bisping's words never sounded so sweet. Post fight-press conference P4P tops.
Anyway, carry on ogres.
Pudd'nhead WIlson is a book written by Mark Twain and published in the mid 1890's. Like many Twain books, it is an exercise in social constructs. It's been a long time since I have read it, but it always stood out.
The story is of a slave born child switched at birth, by his mother, with the son of the master. As the story goes along, the slave born child grows up to be a real asshole as a free child, and the free child, raised as a slave, becomes a real good person.
At the end of the story, the switch is revealed and justice is served. The slave born child is returned to slavery, sold down the river, and the master's child is returned to his rightful spot atop an inhumane hierarchy.
Readers cheered. The way Twain wrote the story, the reader felt good that this horrible person "got what they deserved".
But that right there is the trick, the social construct Twain was pointing out. This book was published within 30 years from the end of the American Civil War. Slavery was an abomination the country was still dealing with. But that never came up in the reviews.
Twain was pointing out how society will ignore, or excuse, an immoral concept or institution if it in fact delivers justice to something else that is more abhorred.
This dynamic works with all kinds of variables. It doesn't have to be selling someone back into slavery, just simply liking one person, a person you normally wouldn't, solely because the second person is that much worse and you want that second person to experience just what you don't like about that first one.
"Bro, bro, bro you're suspended, at least for 90 days, shut the fuck up" - Michael Bisping
Bisping's words never sounded so sweet. Post fight-press conference P4P tops.
Anyway, carry on ogres.
