Whim, Eccentricity, and Perversion
“Think of a romantic man who wants to give a rose to a woman. If he wishes to serve the rose in a golden vase, it’s a whim. But if he wishes to eat that rose in front of the woman, he is being eccentric. Again perversion is when he will force that woman to hold that rose in her hand, knowing that her grip is on the thorn and she would be bleeding from it… Whims and eccentricities are perverse when one person’s urge for happiness can cause sufferings to another… Whims, eccentricities and perversions are outcomes of our needs to release mental waste. Often, these are malfunctions of the mind created by genetic flaws or similar dysfunctions. Often, these are obdurate expressions of oblique propensities, which need to be satisfied like children who wish to go to a park, zoo or museum. The mind needs to breathe, and whims and eccentricities are open space where it goes for an occasional stroll. Perversion is when the mind chokes on that freedom because it has stayed out too long or gone too far.” — The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Written by a banker and punctuated with examples of cruelty drawn from Roman history, this piece presents itself not as a news item but rather as an editorial. Interestingly, nothing in the text itself — no reference to current events or issues of the day — indicates what need prompted this distinction between whim, eccentricity, and perversion. It leaves you thinking that perhaps it’s a veiled shot at somebody, as when it compares John F. Kennedy’s philandering to the decadent sexuality of the Romans. Is this meant to be subtle anti-American sentiment? A potshot at a new American Reich?
Regardless of its motivation, the editorial does offer a compelling definition of perversion. It sees perversion as the outcome of a surplus of liberty. And while you could read this as another veiled shot at the West — i.e. America, because of its freedoms, breeds and encourages perversion — no doubt there is something fundamentally true about the relationship between perversion and freedom.
Think of how someone such as Michael Jackson becomes a latter-day Nero, the decadence of Rome wrapped up in a lone individual. When you have seemingly limitless money, power, and fame, no one steps in to prevent your stupidest whims from become the grossest perversions. You “take liberties” because you know you’ll get away with them. It’s not to say that Michael Jackson is really a pedophile — who knows for sure? Rather, the very fact that no one knows what he is exactly is its own indictment. Freedom — which money, power, and fame only intensify — allows a kind of inner monster to express itself. Not that everyone necessarily has an inner monster to begin with. Some people have an inner child, others an inner septuagenarian. Some have an inner monster, others an inner angel. Freedom allows all these things to express themselves — and that’s why freedom is good. But alongside the children and angels you also end up with the monsters — and that’s why freedom is dangerous.
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