Christopher Lasch, in This World (Summer 1989), P.O. Box That Kills 448, Mount Morris, 111. 61054.
A century or more ago, the handicapped, the deformed, and the mentally ill were commonly teased and ridiculed on city streets. Some, such as the 19th-century El- eohant Man. David Merrick. were dis-played in freak shows. criminals were pa- raded before angry crowds and pelted with curses and stones; murderers were exe-cuted in public.
It is a triumph of modem humanitarian- ism that such spectacles...