Headlines in recent days suggest that even though the German philosopher was writing in the 19th century, than his words still ring true in the 21st.
In Friday’s Otago Daily Times alone there were tales of dogs being "given a hiding" by their owner and stories of students biting off the legs of a live duck as part of a flat initiation.
Animals being senselessly beaten is, sadly, an all too regular occurrence.
The story about the ducks seems too bizarre to be true — certainly one would hope so — but it comes via one of those involved hence, distressingly, it is credible.
It emerged hard in the heels of Otago student magazine Critic Te Ārohi this week reporting on video of a flat initiation which showed four male students standing in their underwear, hoisting a panicked eel above their heads like a trophy while crowds of onlookers cheered.
The university, and one suspects other authorities as well, are investigating the circumstances of the incident.
Last year the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals marked the 150th anniversary of its founding in New Zealand.
One might have hoped that in a century and a half we might have learned better but seemingly not — in 2021-22 the SPCA received more than 13,000 animal cruelty complaints.
Of those, 20 prosecution charges were filed in court, and 75 infringement notices were issued. A further 2882 people were given verbal advice and assistance, and 1355 cases involved warnings and education.
The society has recently reorganised its national cruelty inspectorate and graduated an additional 12 intern inspectors, which suggests a large and ongoing animal cruelty issue.
There is an even larger, much harder to solve, stupidity issue which no specialist organisation exists to tackle.
Flat initiations are as old as university flats, and hazing is an even older phenomenon.
Back in 1495 Leipzig University issued a statute "forbidding any one to annoy or unduly injure the freshmen."
At its best it can be light-hearted fun. But at its worst it can be insensibly inhumane and has sometimes had fatal consequences. Going by student comment on the eel incident, second years seem to be on some toxic race to the bottom to outdo their peers when it comes to bizarre initiation rituals.
This extremist craving to somehow surpass their fellow men in devilry must be soundly condemned. At the very least it is stupid, at the very worst it is criminal.
Yes, students come to Otago to escape the shackles of home and will sometimes step over the line as they test their new-found freedom.
But that is not a licence for idiocy or cruelty, be that against an animal or a flatmate.
The proctor’s office has already been involved in trying to curb this new and dismal vogue for flat initiations, and some planned events have been cancelled.
But ultimately, policing this kind of offending is up to the student body itself.
Its perpetrators will be a minority, but mute acceptance of such practices runs the risk of legitimising them.
For the sake of the people involved, let alone any innocent animals which might find themselves tormented, students must say enough is enough when it comes to repellent hazing rituals.
And another thing
As well as tales of animals being harassed by people, there have been numerous examples cited this week of people harassing people.
Politics is, and should be, a passionate arena.
But there have been too many stories this week of candidates — and particularly female candidates — complaining of harassment or verbal, and sometimes event physical abuse, for them to be taken lightly.
One can hardly complain that there is no one to vote for if one then devotes their time to trying to scare the people who are brave enough to take the courage of their convictions onto the hustings.
Let the election be a contest of ideas by all means, but do not let it be one of insult or intimidation.
