Serial killers, psychopaths etc
 

What are your views on these people? I have to admit that I have a fascination with serial killers, both in fact and fiction (which sometimes overlap). The psychology behind it intrigues me.

I find it amazing that people have absolutely no feelings whatsoever for other humans, and that empathy, compassion and love are completely absent. I also find it fascinating that they're able to evade detection thanks to their high intellects, expert lying, and deceptive natures.

My favourite serial killer (poor way to phrase it, admittedly) is probably Dennis Rader. I read a lot of his story in 2009 and have kept up to speed with him ever since.

I'm honestly not fascinated with them and feel they are horrible people. It just reinforces how horrible the world is and how horrible people are to each other that they would kill innocent people for their own enjoyment.

Hate 'em. I find them interesting, but I'd never consider someone like Dahmer to be my hero.

Yes, of course. My fascination (as I say to snake) is simply on a psychological and criminal level. Obviously they're vile people.

That's what I mean. They're fascinating in the sense that you wonder why they're so devoid of emotion. Obviously there are psychological reasons for that, but it's pretty interesting.

Obviously I hate them too. They're scum.

Same here.

This topic is kinda creepy, Dave.

I did admittedly go through a phase back in high school where I was intrigued by what goes on in these people's minds and why they commit atrocities but I never condoned or worshipped them over it.

Some people are just sick in the head and lack the conscience/empathy to not harm others. That's all there is. And no amount of history of being abused as a child or some other kind of 'oh woe is me' story will ever justify their actions for me.

I am very interested in psychology and what makes people tick. I think it's interesting to see documentaries on them to try to understand the whole thought process behind it. But I don't think any of them should be named in media and become "celebrities" so to speak. That is what some of them are after, notoriety. However, the media will never let this info be withheld.

Can't say I've ever been interested in them. I know a couple of people who like reading biographies and watching documentaries about them, but I never saw the fascination about it, even though I'm interested in the human psyche.

I do like reading about dictators though. From Hitler, to Stalin, etc. I guess that's not very different since they're mass murders.

I'm also fascinated by them. Do I think they're heroes? No. Do I feel terrible for their victims and their families? Yes. But that doesn't stop me being interested in the whole thing: the psychology of the perpetrators, the forensics and investigations and the court cases, the whole shebang.

Plenty of people are interested in true crime - there are countless books devoted to it, as well as true-crime tv series and documentaries. It's understandable that some people find the subject repellent - it's also understandable that other people are curious about the dark side of human nature, as well as death.

Hey Dave, have you ever read any of the books/watched any of the docos on Richard Kuklinski? If not, you'd probably enjoy them.

I recently started reading Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, and the second volume has an intriguing story involving a serial killer convention. Really deep stuff there.

I don't think they do it for enjoyment, usually. Sometimes, they have, like, OCD, but instead having to turn the light on and off ten times, they have to kill. Or other times, they're so delusional they think they're doing a good thing by sending people to the next world, or whatever. And sometimes, they might just do it to see how it feels to kill someone. What if someone who read that had a compulsion to kill, and felt like they were subhuman. Instead of judging, we should preach acceptance and equality.

Are you a serial killer by chance? :P

Of course not, I'm a proud warrior in the fight for social justice. :lol:

It's funny, I do have casual fascination with serial killers, since you asked. Mostly in the sense, that, anyone could just kill another person in a crime of passion - fight gets out of hand, you catch your wife in bed with someone else, some guys doing 30 in a 50mph zone - there are plenty of understandable situations where a person could conceivably kill someone.

Whereas, serial killers usually have a theme, a specific pattern, and overall put so much thought and effort into everything they do; everything is planned, there's nothing accidental about it, it's all very deliberate. It's no surprise that it's surmised that most serial killers have a higher IQ and intelligence than most "normal" people. Further proof is in how few of the more prominent ones were ever caught.

I've done a fair bit of reading off and on about Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer. Part of what's so fascinating is how many conflicting theories and leads there are; not only were they never caught, but people whose main job was finding out who they were and stopping them never even came close, and the only "leads" they had were spoon-fed to them by the killers themselves. It's amazing to me how there really NEVER has been anything close to resembling "law enforcement"; no matter the time or place, all "officers of the law" have ever been able to do is break up bar fights and write citations. They never catch any criminals, especially the most dangerous ones, ones they assign task forces and such to finding. It's hilarious in a way.

On the whole I think I'm most fascinated with the Zodiac. Just the entire presentation and his overall "gimmick", the guy was such a Batman villain. Obviously his crimes were horrific but you have to give him an A for "presentation", if even some of those letters to the police and papers were really written by him.

Incidentally, I found it really tough to argue with Kevin Spacey's character in "Se7en". Like, he was a monster, but in listening to him present his arguments, there's a real logic and intelligence to what drives him. That's the scariest thing; it's not like these guys are often "crazy" in the sense they're baying at the moon and drooling on themselves. They're just usually super-intelligent people who went "nuts" because they have a disconnect in their brains as far as how unfair things are and how imbalanced the world sometimes is. Some people just go, "Huh, I guess it really IS all pointless, life as we know it really DOES have no meaning", and then they lose it. And that's less "insane" then it is "seriously imbalanced and disturbed", which, to me, is WAY more dangerous than simple "crazy".

I don't think there's anything wrong with a person being fascinated with people like this, though; I mean, part of why many of them never get caught is because it's tough for anyone else to understand them, so they're unpredictable. We spent a brief period in Criminal Justice class studying, in particular, some of the most famous killers and criminals in modern history and discussing what makes them so "popular". A lot of times it's the sheer incredulity of, "Holy sh*t, someone actually did this, and beyond that, got away with it." It's just so "WTF" and it really makes you think.

The only serial killer I can support is The Joker. The man is a genius. You think he's just some goofy clown who throws playing cards or jumps around giggling, but The Joker is one of the most intelligent villains in the Batman universe.

The crimes and schemes he comes up with are so well planned and thought out its mind blowing. Where does he get the money and henchmen to pull off such a thing?

That's not cool, man. Joker shot and paralyzed my waifu. In all seriousness, my real DC waifu is Raven.

Ever see Serial Mom where Kathleen Turner goes around killing people who wrong her kids? Oh man, I'd hate to be on that family's bad side!

What I find it odd is how people are usually quick to point the weirdest person in the room to be a future murderer or rapist, and then when you watch journalists on tv interviewing the neighbors and friends of a murderer or a rapist all of them say "I never expected this. He was such a nice guy. A great father and husband who got along with everyone!"

Get on my level.

Yeah, sociopaths are good at faking emotion.