Disagree. Do look, even if it hurts. Especially if it hurts a lot (if it doesn’t hurt at all, there’s a lot more wrong to fix first). Update your model of reality, avoid availability and (dis)confirmation bias. Face reality head-on. That kind of thing.
All due respect, but I don’t think there is any imperative to view material that will cause serious psychological harm. If the price of knowledge is your right hand you are not required to pay it. The most relevant example would be showing hardcore pornography to small children—it may be knowledge of a kind, but it does more harm than good.
EDIT: Of course, I read them anyway. Very, ah … deep.
I only said that in regards to the many photos of staged degradation, multilation, self-harm, etc on the second blog—they’re cringe-inducing yet presumably taken in a consensual way (for a loose definition of consent), and thus have a worse “unpleasantness-to-facing-reality” ratio than the textual descriptions of real abuse & its consequences. I quite agree that reading those shocking descriptions is epistemologically and morally imperative.
Disagree. Do look, even if it hurts. Especially if it hurts a lot (if it doesn’t hurt at all, there’s a lot more wrong to fix first). Update your model of reality, avoid availability and (dis)confirmation bias. Face reality head-on. That kind of thing.
All due respect, but I don’t think there is any imperative to view material that will cause serious psychological harm. If the price of knowledge is your right hand you are not required to pay it. The most relevant example would be showing hardcore pornography to small children—it may be knowledge of a kind, but it does more harm than good.
EDIT: Of course, I read them anyway. Very, ah … deep.
I only said that in regards to the many photos of staged degradation, multilation, self-harm, etc on the second blog—they’re cringe-inducing yet presumably taken in a consensual way (for a loose definition of consent), and thus have a worse “unpleasantness-to-facing-reality” ratio than the textual descriptions of real abuse & its consequences. I quite agree that reading those shocking descriptions is epistemologically and morally imperative.
Good point. If there are written descriptions available, they’re a better weighted alternative.