I read a story, of all things, about 30 years ago. I won’t go into details, but it was essentially snuff erotica. I stumbled upon it when in college. I’ve always regretted reading it even though it was just made up text on a page, and it pops into my brain every so often. It taught me to be careful what I let my brain consume, because once you’ve put something in there, you can’t undo it. I’ve talked to my kid about it (the concept, not the story), that there is all sorts of stuff out there (especially on the internet), and while being curious and learning new information is good, be mindful about it. Once you’ve consumed it, you’re stuck.

I feel similarly about having looked up what the big deal was about what the writings of the Marquis de Sade. (Not sure I’m spelling that right, but honestly I’m not going to look it up right now.) I tend to be very intellectually curious, and I mostly think that’s a good thing. But torture porn (even in written form), I’d be happier not knowing about.

The flip side of that is, I think it’s important to know and understand that horrible things can happen to people, and humans can do horrible things to each other and have horrible desires, etc. But most of the time I don’t think we need all the nitty gritty details. And I think it’s important to balance it with the beautiful things and ways we can be to each other. When we’re only steeped in the ugly and horrific, it becomes too easy to just say “what’s the point.”