[Main Blog Post] [Book] He Is Frenzy

[jprussell]

I had been meaning to read Galina Krasskova's He Is Frenzy for a while, and I finally got around to it and sharing my thoughts. Let me know what you think!

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

The line between self-harm and taking risks is to my mind a reflection of the probabilities. Self-harm is 100% probable once committed, but volunteering for something with a positive chance of no harm is something quite different, and I think you are right in seeing them differently. I think there is a good reason that self-harm is seen as a negative or out of the ordinary (ie those 19C Russian Christians who flogged themselves) in many cultures. Where it gets interesting is when the harm is low level - i.e. tattooing (or does the shift in its acceptability reflect a shift in the acceptability of self-harm?). What distinguishes tattooing from branding except a pain threshold and cultural mores (or historical use)?

[jprussell]

Right? It's complicated. Your example raises another point I didn't think of while writing the post. Getting a tattoo (or even ritual scarification in a particular, significant pattern) also has the added complication that you are getting something of beauty or at least significance that you don't get with self-flagellation or cutting or the like, which also seems to change the intuitive moral valence of it. But you're right, cultural acceptability also makes a big difference - I grew up with a very strong anti-tattoo bias inherited from my parents, but having been in the Army, a lot of my best friends have extensive tattoos, so while I still haven't felt the desire to get one, I'm a lot more accepting of the idea than I was when I was younger.