Current cruelty

GREG BRAXTON wrote of the fascination we have for terror, thrills and chills, violence, torture and other forms of mayhem. In these pages, Kenneth Turan also decried the gratuitous violence seen in “Kill Bill” [“Blood, No Guts,” Nov. 2, 2003]. Why do we enjoy the sickness of bum-fighting, extreme fighting or snuff films? Why do we enjoy seeing sadistic sociopaths, murderers and monsters? Why do we inflict this on ourselves and see it as entertainment? Because it is built into our DNA, and the juice is adrenaline. The tiger needs it to run fast and kill. The mammal needs it to dominate and control. The caveman needed it to fight or to flee.

We don’t need it anymore, but it’s built into us. We attempt to control this instinct, sometimes in positive ways as in our enjoyment of sports, the ever-faster roller coaster, the powerful car or the rush of the ski slope. But we are more damaged than helped by “negative” adrenaline. It is no longer adaptive but destructive. We are on a spiral into a darker place.

Forty years of psychological research has proved that watching aggressive behavior breeds more of it. Enough already.

MARSHALL STONEHILL

Los Angeles

Stonehill is a behavioral therapist.

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THE movie “Hostel” is about people paying to indulge their sadistic needs for entertainment. I suspect the irony has escaped most people who went to see “Hostel” -- that they too are paying to indulge their sadistic needs for entertainment. Both derive a pleasure from seeing others being hurt. Who are the sadists now?

K. HARROP

Thousand Oaks

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I read with great interest the insights provided by Greg Braxton and his article on the titillating trend in “thrills and chills” sold as entertainment. The use of horror, pain, torture and mutilation for entertainment is certainly nothing new.

In the decline of the Roman Empire, convicts were sentenced to the theater for “realism” in scenes of death and execution. More recently, the Grand Guignol of Paris (1897-1962) explored audiences’ fascination with terror, horror, blood and corpses on the stage along with nightmares of sadism and perversion. Today’s audiences are no less fascinated.

Is it a mark of decline and debasement of the culture? Of course. But it also reflects the reality of the human soul. After all, man does have the ability to explore and delve into the very heights of his creativity as well as the ability to plunge his soul into the very depths of depravity.

JOSEPH LEA

Mission Viejo

Lea is an associate professor of education at Cal State Long Beach.