10.30.2002
I am having trouble viewing your page, chad. I get a browser error that says, quoth: "unable to fetch domain" and it happens on your main page as well as your blog. Have you not been paying your bill? :)
I think that we all feel a bit unnerved by serial killers, because they contain personality traits that are common to many people, but get twisted and distorted, which drives them to commit the acts they do. I have had an interest in profilers and profiling for a while, and I have finally had to back away from some of that interest because I could point out personality traits in me that led to serial murder in others. Things like obsessive-compulsive behavior (very unlike the ritual handwashing that is shown by popular media, more like a mild case of perfectionism) and schizotypal scores (like on the personality test we took a while back) and a nerdy, overly technical demeanor would indicate that I have at least something in common with them. There is a very real difference, however. Most serial murderers kill because the act (and feelings associated with that act) have replaced sexual feelings and drives. It is usually a progressive sequence of events, starting in childhood (such as abusive parents, deriving happiness from torturing and killing animals, etc), but taking on a more mature form later in life, starting out with soft-core porn and leading progressively towards more voyeuristic things. The end result for many was that killing got them off, and only killing. And, what was worse was the requirements (and feelings) intensified to the point where they needed to do more and more just to feel ok, much the same as a drug addiction.
But anyway, I need to take off.
l8r
Addendum: back again... I had to leave nearly midsentence, there, but I am back. Picking up with drug addiction...
I am not saying that the case of the sniper is illustrating these things. truly psychotic killers have some kind of a relationship with their victims, if only for the short time they are in contact with them. The sniper was more of a spree killer than a serial killer. Spree killers generally have a short "cooling off" period between kills, if one at all. They may have a relationship with only some of their victims (such as a co-worker), while others are just bystanders (such as a customer), but they usually act fairly quickly and decisively. Serial killers enjoy generating pain and fear in their victims, while a spree killer is out just to kill.
Really, the idea of a spree killer is much more frightening, because it is usually fairly normal people who just snap one day and kill 15 people.
anyhow, I think that we would know by now if we were serial killer material, and would have most likely acted already. Where is a little bunny when you need something to kill, anyway?
Any or all of us could be spree killers, however, if we were pushed to it. The question is just how hard a push it would take.
I think that we all feel a bit unnerved by serial killers, because they contain personality traits that are common to many people, but get twisted and distorted, which drives them to commit the acts they do. I have had an interest in profilers and profiling for a while, and I have finally had to back away from some of that interest because I could point out personality traits in me that led to serial murder in others. Things like obsessive-compulsive behavior (very unlike the ritual handwashing that is shown by popular media, more like a mild case of perfectionism) and schizotypal scores (like on the personality test we took a while back) and a nerdy, overly technical demeanor would indicate that I have at least something in common with them. There is a very real difference, however. Most serial murderers kill because the act (and feelings associated with that act) have replaced sexual feelings and drives. It is usually a progressive sequence of events, starting in childhood (such as abusive parents, deriving happiness from torturing and killing animals, etc), but taking on a more mature form later in life, starting out with soft-core porn and leading progressively towards more voyeuristic things. The end result for many was that killing got them off, and only killing. And, what was worse was the requirements (and feelings) intensified to the point where they needed to do more and more just to feel ok, much the same as a drug addiction.
But anyway, I need to take off.
l8r
Addendum: back again... I had to leave nearly midsentence, there, but I am back. Picking up with drug addiction...
I am not saying that the case of the sniper is illustrating these things. truly psychotic killers have some kind of a relationship with their victims, if only for the short time they are in contact with them. The sniper was more of a spree killer than a serial killer. Spree killers generally have a short "cooling off" period between kills, if one at all. They may have a relationship with only some of their victims (such as a co-worker), while others are just bystanders (such as a customer), but they usually act fairly quickly and decisively. Serial killers enjoy generating pain and fear in their victims, while a spree killer is out just to kill.
Really, the idea of a spree killer is much more frightening, because it is usually fairly normal people who just snap one day and kill 15 people.
anyhow, I think that we would know by now if we were serial killer material, and would have most likely acted already. Where is a little bunny when you need something to kill, anyway?
Any or all of us could be spree killers, however, if we were pushed to it. The question is just how hard a push it would take.
< 17:50 >< /j >
