“ Cruelty is shameful—unless the cruel man can represent it as a practical joke. ”
C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942). copy citation
| Author | C. S. Lewis |
|---|---|
| Source | The Screwtape Letters |
| Topic | cruelty joke |
| Date | 1942 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.truechristianity.info/en/the_screwtape_letters.php |
Context
“if he boasts of it in a jocular manner and twits his fellows with having been scored off, he is no longer "mean" but a comical fellow. Mere cowardice is shameful; cowardice boasted of with humorous exaggerations and grotesque gestures can passed off as funny. Cruelty is shameful—unless the cruel man can represent it as a practical joke. A thousand bawdy, or even blasphemous, jokes do not help towards a man's damnation so much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only without the disapproval but with the admiration of his fellows, if only it can get itself treated as a Joke.”
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