[lit-ideas] Re: Hitler/Stalin
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:44:24 -0700
On Aug 14, 2009, at 10:07 AM, dsavory@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
The short answer to the question "Were they psychopaths?" is
"probably not."
For the other side of the argument try, R. G. L. Waite, "The
Psychopathic God."
Alas I can't recall the title of a similar book about Stalin and my
AHA guide to literature is at work. Here's a tale I remember from
such a book, I once scanned in Powell's and put down because I knew I
wouldn't read it. In his teen years Stalin was walking beside a
river with some chums. The river was in flood. It had stranded a
farm animal on a small island, a calf perhaps. The animal was
calling its distress. Stalin jumped into the river, swam to the
island. His friends expected him to save the animal or kill it
mercifully. Instead he kills it slowly, increasing its pain.
If this is true--and I can think of many reasons why it wouldn't be--
Stalin was not a normal boy.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
Other related posts:
