A word that keeps popping into consciousness, no matter how wrong it is

A reader in England sends an article from the Daily Mail, “Thai mother Kills, Cooks and Eats her Young Sons because She thought they were Pigs,” with this note:

Su…. sub…. subhu…. subhuma…. no…. please Larry,…. I didn’t say it I promise … I wasn’t thinking it either … the word mysteriously started appearing on the page just as I began this e-mail … I don’t know how the word came into my head again … I sooooooo agree with you that no one should be called subhuman!!! EVER…. even if they kill their own sons and eat them … hey, nobody’s perfect! No one can ever be s_____n….

As for Edward Maryland, the black husband who tortured his white wife…. I would never call him a name like s______n….

LA replies to reader in England:

Hah hah.

Seriously, why even bring up the s______n issue? It’s not needed. The woman who did this to her children is criminally insane.

So how do we classify people who do not possess effective human reason and are criminally insane? We classify them as criminally insane. See? The issue’s already been handled. We don’t need to bother our heads with the troublesome s______n issue, which is beyond our pay grade anyway.

Of course in conversation, as distinct from the law, we can describe people any way that seems right.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 27, 2012 01:28 PM | Send