Wow, this is a great post! I didn't see it go up before, but I had to take a break from the forums for a couple of weeks. Must have been during that time.
What to say about this... hmm.
I guess I'm kind of lucky in this area. In my world it's always been normal to sort of embrace the "darkness." There have always been lots of horror movies (and books) and things around. Most of my family is artistic and quite a few of them write. Often with a darker element. (My poor cousin had a huge fiasco in middle school over a short story she wrote. Apparently they thought she was planning to become a serial killer. *shaking my head*) Actually, I don't think I ever fully appreciated this before. I have been really lucky to have always had access to like minded people. Even my dad, there's not much positive I can say about him, but he was very creative and a pretty decent artist.
So some girls I know were discussing a book on facebook the other day and one somewhat disgustedly said something to the effect of "I don't understand how (the author) can come up with such disturbing stuff." And that's not a thought that's ever really crossed my mind. It's funny that people can be so different. I usually go about my business assuming that most people have at least some of the same kind of thoughts going through their heads that I do. Maybe not. Actually, I would be kind of disappointed to be wrong about that. :(
I feel like the dark side as it's being discussed here stems from what others have already said, a primal (
@Senecia), wild (
@Anrish) part of us. Base thoughts and urges that most of us know perfectly well never to act on most of the time. That doesn't mean they can't be properly channeled, whether through some kind of creative outlet or an aggressive activity that doesn't harm anybody.