[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Russia Case 2

Written by Ivan at 15 May 2003 20:06:55:

As an answer to: Re: Russia Case 2 written by chImp at 15 May 2003 19:45:40:

>I guess my point is (and mind you, I do not have a view on this matter, I just want a discussion about it): if circ is so bad, why do so many voluntarily do it, even in cultures with no pressure to get circed whatsoever. Even most Russian jews weren't RIC'ed, since ritual circ was banned.

I can name a whole raft of completely irrational things which people do nonetheless. Some of those I would name you would agree with, and some you would think I was just being a smart-aleck. But let's just take smoking as an example. There isn't a person who draws breath that does not know that it is (1) smelly, (2) expensive, (3) useless, and (4) absolutely awful for your health. And yet millions of people do it, and every year there are new recruits. Or for another example, closer to the false allure of genital mutilation, there's erotic asphyxiation: the word gets around among those looking for a thrill that if you wank while near passing out from lack of oxygen that the climax is mind-ripping good (Actually I suspect there's a connection there to the fact that laughing gas is chemically closely akin to carbon dioxide - i.e., that it binds to hemoglobin similarly to carbon dioxide, crowding out a substantial amount of the oxygen-carrying capacity, producing a similar light-headed euphoria): even though the practice is terribly dangerous and quite a few people die from it every year (dozens? hundreds?), people keep on trying it because of the hunt for the thrill.

A large part of the seduction is the enthusiasm itself. If you look at just the factual content of the post, he says the circ hurt like hell till his glans became like leather, and now he is so insensitive that it takes him 40 minutes of working at intercourse to get off. Any intact guy with a modicum of sense and enough practice to be comfortable with sex can hold off for forty minutes or more as needed by modifying movements and angles. This guy was just inept. But enthusiasm is infectious, even if the fool doesn't really know what he is talking about. All sorts of cults have been built around individuals who had great enthusiasm and certitude and charisma, but were in truth totally out of touch with facts.


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