#torture

Alas, the gates of life never swing open except upon death, never open except upon the palaces and gardens of death. And the universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden… What I say today, and what I heard, exists and cries and howls beyond this garden, which is no more than a symbol to me of the entire earth. ↗

— Octave Mirbeau

#torture #death

A man does not have to feel less than human to realize his sin; oppositely, he has to realize that he gets no special vindication for his sin. ↗

— Criss Jami

#confronting-problems #degrading #demeaning #equal #equality

…is methodical abuse, often using indoctrination, aimed at breaking the will of another human being. In a 1989 report, the Ritual Abuse Task Force of the L.A. County Commission for Women defined ritual abuse as: “Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful,humiliating, intended as a means of gaining dominance over the victim.The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual indoctrination. It includes mind control techniques which convey to the victim a profound terror of the cult members …most victims are in a state of terror, mind control and dissociation” (Pg. 35-36) ↗

— Chrystine Oksana

#abuse-of-power #cult #dissociation #fear #healing

Ivanov: Once I worked hard and thought a lot but I never got tired; now I do nothing and think of nothing, but I'm tired in body and spirit. My conscience aches day and night, I feel deeply guilty but I don't understand where I am actually at fault. And add to that my wife's illness, my lack of money, the constant bickering, gossip, unnecessary conversations, that stupid Borkin... My home has become loathsome to me and I find living there worse than torture. ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#tired #torture #whining #home

Many governments employ torture but this was the first time that the element of Saturnalia and pornography in the process had been made so clear to me. If you care to imagine what any inadequate or cruel man might do, given unlimited power over a woman, then anything that you can bring yourself to suspect was what became routine in ESMA, the Navy Mechanics School that became the headquarters of the business. I talked to Dr. Emilio Mignone, a distinguished physician whose daughter Monica had disappeared into the precincts of that hellish place. What do you find to say to a doctor and a humanitarian who has been gutted by the image of a starving rat being introduced to his daughter's genitalia? Like hell itself the school was endorsed and blessed by priests, in case any stray consciences needed to be stilled. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#esma #hell #sadism #sexual-abuse #torture

I was tortured, and probably half of it was deserved, but I was bullied - so much so that there were days when I was like, 'I can't go to school today.' I was too scared. ↗

— Chelsea Handler

#days #deserved #go #half #i

Partly I was honing my self-consciousness into a torture device, sharp and efficient enough to last me the rest of my life. ↗

— Lucy Grealy

#life #self-consciousness #sharp #torture #life

I want to get married, but I'm always tortured in relationships. ↗

— Scott Caan

#get #get married #i #married #relationships

I don't understand people whose gratification is a BMW. You don't know what joy is until you see a kid who was tortured get adopted by a family. ↗

— Andrew Vachss

#bmw #family #get #gratification #i

I am told that the majority of Iraqis wanted Saddam removed from power, but they were unwilling and were incapable of doing the job themselves because they feared Saddam and knew the pain and torture he was capable of inflicting upon them. ↗

— Howard Coble

#because #capable #doing #feared #i