Sadism as an inexplicable lesson of human nature

July has been a month of exploration into sadism, both in recreated fact and pure fiction. What do the Bosnian excursion and the reading of Stieg Larsson's first novel in his trilogy have in common? Both experiences have been descents in the complex laberinths of a sadist's mind and doing. A sadist is a person who simply takes enjoyment in other people's sufferings. Ghastly as it seems, it is an act which is very well documented, and not only in its sexual repercussions (harmless up to a point), but also to the lengths that some people can go to get satisfaction even out of mass assessinations. One of my fellow walkers in the Bosnian forests asked me how a person like Slovadan Milosevic could perpetrate such horrendous deeds as the ones in July 1995. The answer, my friend, far from blowing in any decent wind, is rooted in every bastard's logic who loves playing God over other person's life. If only to understand this, it is worth reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which despite its unfortunate title translation (it should have been Men who Hate Women!) is a chilling account of how a sadist's mind works.