Man is cruel. He has always been cruel. He is cruel to everything which he considers inferior to himself. He is cruel to both his fellow man and to animals. The advance of civilization has not resulted in man losing his capacity and appetite for cruelty; it has merely directed it both into fresh channels, or camouflaged them, or temporarily subjugated them. The delight which man experiences in persecuting others shows itself today in various forms; and where physical persecution is impossible, psychological persecution takes its place. The fact that a barbaric act is practiced under the aegis of justice, and the additional fact that it is conceived to be a fit punishment for the crime, do not alter or in any way mitigate its basic cruelty.
George Ryley Scott, The History of Corporal Punishment, 1968
George Ryley Scott, The History of Corporal Punishment, 1968
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