Mrs S is a constant provider of delight and surprise. As I hope I am to her. Today’s little surprise was that she, like I, am interested in the the writings of Douglas Murray. We rarely talk politics, so I had no idea.
She had come back from the library with a copy of “War on the West“, which is on my ‘must read’ list of books for this year. Which will be added to our own library at some stage.
On the topic of books, it has come to my attention that some utter slaphead, some complete wankarse, has deemed it necessary to put a ‘trigger warning’ on the audiobook versions of the Discworld novels written by the late, great Terry Pratchett (It’s behind a paywall so I won’t link to it). My immediate reaction was; how monomaniacally retarded, how emotionally stunted do you have to be to need ‘trigger warnings’ at all?
I must confess that I have read a lot of unpleasant books, full of insalubrious ideas, including the complete works of the notorious Marquis de Sade and Aleister Crowley. My reaction? “Well, that wasn’t very nice, but whatever floats the boat of consenting adults. Just don’t ask me to join in ’cause I won’t.” Did I regret reading their works? No, because one has to be exposed to the demons within the soul to know them for the impostors they are, and to send them packing with a flea, or other suitably unpleasant biting insect, in their metaphorical ear.
On the other hand, our demons and the way we handle them define us as humans. Not wishing to learn about the ‘dark’ side, as defined by some very ignorant and foolish people, leaves us vulnerable to evils worst excesses because we can’t recognise a line when we’re about to make the mistake of crossing it. The many and varied roads to hell being thickly paved with ‘good’ intentions. For a given value of ‘good’. Which is often so far from actual goodness that it flips straight to evil, because, as any fule kno, good can be mistaken for evil, especially when evil wears a smile and good is having a bad hair day .
Notwithstanding, I will leave you with an appropriate quote from the infamous Marquis;
“My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others! ”
Goodreads quotes
The Bill Sticker Alternative 