Friday, July 8, 2011

Anatomy of a murderer

This was an interesting interview with Bill James, author of the new book, "Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence." It had the following gems:

  • Crimes stories are universally interesting. They reveal a side of people that we'd not otherwise talk about. Crime stories show us the part of people's lives they try to keep hidden.
  • In a lot of true crime stories, you will see that someone testifies for the defendant and talks about what a good person they are, and that this person could never commit the crime in question. I would like to think of myself as someone who would never commit a crime. I'm sure a lot of people would. But I don't think that's a good argument for anything. If I was on a jury, the claim that the accused was "too good a person" to commit the crime would not be an argument I would buy. Rabbis commit crimes. Ministers. Priests commit terrible crimes. Now, are they committing these crimes because they're not really good people and they're just pretending to be good, or are they truly good people who simply fail to deal with certain situations? I think the latter is more often the case.
  • in general, it's reductive to think of evil as something foreign and separate from the rest of us. Evil is part of everyone. We all have the capacity to commit evil acts.
  • It is not as if we walk through one doorway and decide that murder is acceptable. You have to walk through many doorways. The first doorway leads to a party, where people are doing drugs and having fun. The second doorway leads to more partying. It's a long, long series of doorways, until you end up in a room where a terrible thing happens. So the question is, "How many doorways away are you?" It's not a question about a person's capacity to commit a murder. It's a question of how many doorways we keep between ourselves and that situation.

89 comments:

  1. The only doors I have to cross are called "Reason" and "Can I Get Away With It?". If I had a good reason to kill someone, and a good chance to do it without getting caught, I'd be willing do it in a heartbeat. I've already planned where I would dump the body and such. I don't have a plan to kill everyone I meet... but I do have a plan to kill everyone I don't like and any of my friends, should the need arise.

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  2. hi hi,, please to respond to me,, please to respond to me now very much,, if u dont respond to me now very much,, with even just one word of respond to me,, i will put U on my hit list,,, my bad hit list,, my very bad hit list,, repond to me now U please!! !!!!

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  3. Oh, hush now, Anon – you'll work yourself into a right old tizz.

    I'm scribing!

    But I'll happily respond to your delightful comment when I'm done...

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  4. I started becoming afraid that I was a sociopath at age 14.
    I am psychic.I shut it all down cuz I was afraid of evil.
    I was afraid of evil in me.My mother molested me.I tried to be perfect after that.I was afraid of evil--VERY afraid.
    I became frozen until I met the socio.
    He was not a fake.

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  5. ME, you're an idiot.

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  6. But the difference is that these people are most often empaths who fall victim to human tendency.

    If someone repeatedly commits crimes and cannot and will not empathize and feel regret, that makes them bad people.

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  7. I am afraid of evil.
    I got frozen-my emotions.
    I could think--intellectual things but I could not FEEL cuz I was afraid of nooks and crannies.

    I still am. HOW far will I go? How far down does the evil go?
    AM I A SOCIOPATH?

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  8. GigglesthesociopathJuly 9, 2011 at 6:05 AM

    Ok... this is really hard for me... but

    When I was younger I used to enjoy torturing animals.

    I would dress lizards up in handmade tuxedos and wedding dresses, feed them crushed up pieces of cheez-its, and keep them in plastic bottles. They didn't live long.

    I did this to cats, too. Not the "in the plastic bottle thing" or the "cheez-its"... but... they would live after the torture which I feel was worse to go on living...

    The humiliation was terrible.

    I dressed them up in cabbage patch clothes, shot them with water guns, put them in cribs, chased them with vaccume cleaners, and put tape on their paws -

    All this laughing and giggling like a maniac.

    I also liked fire. I love fire.

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  9. I probably made male lizards get married to other male lizards, and this was before gay marriage was legal.

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  11. This is my question--I guess.What is a normal amount of evil nature that all humans have,I assume?
    When is one's evil nature such that one goes from having a normal amount of evil residing in oneself to being a sociopathic ?
    Is it about the amount of evil?
    Is itabout the degree of evil? Is it about the not CARING if you DO evil things to others?

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  12. @Erin

    Honey is that you?

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  13. Who is Steve? Are you messing around with me?

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  14. Torture, Giggles?

    But a perfectly proportioned, handmade formal suit is the height of comfort for a lizard!

    I regularly host elaborate private balls for bearded dragons, because I believe that waltzing is a necessity for them, and dress them in ostentatious gowns of silver tissue.

    Perhaps your lizards were driven to suicide by your frightfully ordinary refreshments?

    As everyone knows lizards adore hot marmalade pudding and fresh peach juice. I mean, really! Cheez-Its?

    I do hope, that at the very least, their jars were appropriately gilded with cherubs and gold leaf.

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  15. There's no need to be afraid, Erin, I don't blame you for murdering me.

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  16. why is sociapaths gosts in the mashine

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  17. Well,Steve
    You talk pretty cogently for being a corpse .
    You should take it on the road ;)

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  18. You're a psychic Erin, surely you believe in ghosts? You severed my major arteries with a knife when I was drunk...

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  19. I need a MAN, Steve
    You are a CHILD!

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  20. I realized today that I need to buy some merchandise from this place...

    M.E. puts up with so much crazy crap here, he deserves a medal of honor.

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  23. This is what I think. I have a SLICE of me which is sociopathic.
    I read the blog where the guy stabbed the ground hog and listened to it squeal while it's face looked human.
    My heart hurt.

    HOWEVER,I can get in to a cold, clean, space where I do not feel. I am in totally cool sterile air where I can intuit what is going on, what people feel with unerring accuracy.
    This is my sociopathic space.
    In it, I have no empathy,no feelings just cool reason and logic.
    If I were to stay here and not be able to flip in to the other space,I would be a sociopath.
    In the other space, I can feel what someone feels when they are sad, embarrassed or hurt.

    I do not think most people have sociopathic spaces, do they?

    DON"T MAKE IDIOTIC COMMENTS TO THIS---ANY OF YOU PATHETIC,IMMATURE MORONS

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  24. Read the article. READ THE ARTICLE.

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  25. I read it Anon
    I still have the question about the sociopathic space I can get it--Capiche?

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  26. Erin, that space you are talking about it's only your imagination. By the way you write I can say that you are about 10 or 12. Aren't you...

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  27. anybody that has a conversation with ERIN and doesn't realize that he/she/it is a TROLL who is starved for attention is a complete dumbass.


    now enjoy the rest of the day folks

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  28. Anon Darling--You need a name first of all

    Secondly I am looking for legit info not dumbass remarks por favor

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  29. My inner murderer is telling me I need to go get some lunch.

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  30. Well Jason
    You guys can laugh but I am totally serious

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  31. Don't listen to this slut. She will marry you, get your drunk,then kill you, then take all of your money.

    Fucking bitch.

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  32. LOL
    Well anyway--there are a FEW cool people on here like Socio jack and a few of the many Anon's

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  33. Bwahahah. Jason hasn't even hit puberty yet, and he's talking about murder!!! Can you drive, Jason? Go to the store and pick yourself up a sandwich, Jason?

    You are so going to get your little fanny handed to you here. And, I can't wait to watch.

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  37. Erin it sounds like you got used to shutting yourself down in order to protect yourself from people like your mother. If you cant feel anything you cant be hurt so you made a place you can go in order to stay safe. (And sociopaths have feelings anger, amusement etc.)

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  38. Anyway Back to the subject


    I think I have a place inside me which is the same as a socio.
    Maybe that is WHY I can see through mine. He is transparent to me.
    What do you think?

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  39. Erin Did you not read my comment my opinion hasnt changed

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  40. Well ManiaAzer
    yes --I froze--for sure--but BEFORE I froze I had this part of myself that I could flip in to.
    It was a cool room where nothing could hurt me .However,*I* had clear,clear sight and NO feeling,mo empathy,no nothing but pure senses.

    THAT is what I see in my Socio.That must be why *I* can understand him so effortlessly when people say Socio's are camoflaged.
    Mine is not. Why not? If I don't have HIM inside of ME?

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  41. Nothing but pure senses isn't a sociopath, and like you said nothing could hurt you in this "cool room" it still sounds like a defense mechanism to me.

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  42. Thank you ManiaAzer
    May I ask you some things since you are kind enough to give me your opinions.
    People say that most empaths cannot see the sociopath ,that the socio is camoflagued.
    How can I see him then if I don't have the same inner world?

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  43. Now, I want to know what it's like in a sociopath's head. What is it like to live like that? To be born that way???

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  45. Erin
    I think that ALL empaths can see there sociopath but choose to be blind, choose to ignore there own potential.

    And what makes you think that sociopaths have an inner world?

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  46. @Bunny
    I want to know what it's like in a empaths head. What is it like to live like that? To be born that way???

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  47. ManiaAzer... I will try to describe my emotions to you for my mother and people I cared about. Shortly.

    I loved my mother so much as a child that the feeling of it was like warmth, like floating in warm water in the ocean. You can feel boyancy inside of it, and you feel that you belong there. You are safe, and there is grace all around you.

    I loved her so much that I loved her smell. I knew the smell of her sweaters, of her hair, loved the sound of her voice. It brought me to a place that I felt happy - the way I felt when playing in the garden outside my grandmother's house. It was like living in a garden of eden, where the colors are vibrant, the plants belong to you, and everything is your friend.

    When you have empathy, you feel this kind of bond with a lot of people - maybe not as strongly with strangers, but when you see others hurt or be hurt, it is like yourself is hurt. When you see someone lose a child, you lose a child. When someone's world is diminished, your world is diminished.

    Empathy is the hearts bond to everything and everyone. It is sensitive, sacred, and unique. When you lose someone you love, it is like death of your world. You die a little with each loss, every time.

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  48. Ok ManiaAzer
    Thank you
    WHAT brings you to this Board?

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  49. So Empathy
    I assume you are an empath--right?
    You are describing what empathy feels like--right?
    It made me cry especially about the smells lol

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  50. Erin,

    Yes. That is what Empathy feels like to me... and, yes. I am an empath. I hurt for others, feel terror for others, pain, etc.

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  51. Who are these people? I don't like it. Go away. ;)

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  52. Aww Empathy

    I am psychic
    I just opened a web site to do it professionally.
    I FEEL but I have a slice pf me that is entirely cold.
    I have 2 compartments. I can go in to either.

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  53. Im here because Im bored.

    When I remember how I felt with my mother as a child i felt possessive, angry, protective I suppose... she was mine and would always be mine as a teenager when I wasnt imagining ways to kill her I was actively hurting the people who hurt her. A mean boss, a back stabbing friend or a friend of mine who said something mean about her (only I was aloud to do that).

    As for my other relationships Im not really close to anyone,I have been asked out though iv never dated nor do I have a need to date(other than to look normal). When I see people in pain or afraid or crying I feel amusement and/or annoyance and/or disgust. Hurting for someone else seems like it would be painful, since there is so many people being hurt everyday.

    My life is made up of masks,of lies. I lie everyday and to every person in my life. I have to watch what I say and think twice before I do something if I want to blend in. Which I do both to keep my mother in the dark and because it leaves more doorways open, more options.
    I get annoyed just as easily as I get amused and when I get angry things tend to get broken. However I rarely stay angry for more then a couple minutes, and I can count on one hand the number of times Iv held grudges (although I can spend years systematically destroying someones life because of one).
    I can easily trick people into thinking that I like them and do so often in order to use them, (for money, food, laughs etc). Im sure this isnt the same for all sociopaths but this is how it is for me. (oh and I believe I have only felt truly afraid at loss of control. I need to have control, control of myself control of others, control of the situation it dosnt matter to me, however thats a personal thing im pretty sure not all socios care about that as much as I do)

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  54. That last post was @Erin and Empathy

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  55. ManiaAzer
    Are you male or female? You felt female to me but now I am not sure.

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  56. Wow. Completely different universes.

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  57. So you are a sociopath and you do NOT feel I am one?
    I think I became frozen at age 4 when my mother put me on the ground between her legs and masturbated in front of me and looked in to my eyes with a look of so much pleasure that she was hurting me.
    I am sensitive by nature, a poetic type.
    I prolly broke then.

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  58. Thanks for your honesty, ManiaAzer. If you don't mind, I want to know...

    Do you see other people as you? Or are you able to tell that you are different?

    Do you enjoy or look forward to hurting people? Is that a source of satisfaction?

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  59. Yes thank you ManiaAzer
    Do you think there are degrees of being a sociopath.
    I know this sounds stupid,probably.
    However, like with Narcissism,Borderline etc--There ARE degrees of severity.
    Do you think there are degrees of lack of empathy from a relatively small lack of empathy to moderate to severe?

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  60. Erin
    I am female

    This is what makes me think that you are not a sociopath:
    "I read the blog where the guy stabbed the ground hog and listened to it squeal while it's face looked human.
    My heart hurt."

    I read this and feel only disgust for that man. In my eyes people who kill animals like that, are either children or cowards, too afraid to kill a human. I killed two animals as a child a rabbit and a Guinea pig once when I was 10 (GP) and when I was 12 (rabbit) I starved one and dehydrated anouther. I would never do that now. Im an adult and killing something that defenseless would make me a coward.

    I like to think being broken and being a sociopath are different things

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  61. Awww Thank you ManiAzer



    I love(d) a Socio. I suppose it is over cuz he called me terrible ethnic slurs that I cannot/will not take.
    Unless he apologizes, it will be over.
    I don't think socio's apologize lol
    It has been 3 weeks. He has prolly moved on.

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  62. Yes Manizer
    My heart hurts when I see others in pain.
    I guess it is a gift I retained this after all I have been through--an oasis.
    Someone loved me and that is prolly why.My Grandmother saved my life.
    I cry when I say things like this.One woman 's love saved another person.
    She never knew what it meant to me, a helpless child.
    I had nothing to give her that she could treat me so kindly and selflessly.

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  63. @Erin

    Disney called, he wants his cloying sentiment back, but you can keep his fluffy animals who were living in perfect harmony until along came evil man.

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  64. why does sociapaths suk dik

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  65. Ew! This sociopath does *not* suck dick!

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  66. why U talk to me,, please to tell me why U talk to me,, i want to know why U talk to me for,, i am no empathy man,,, very no empathy man,, please to tell me why U talk to me for,,

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  67. Erin

    My mother loves me... and although I hate the fact that there is someone in my life who I need she is the only thing that has kept me from really hurting someone. from loosing control of my anger. I swore to her I would never hurt some one like that. Never do that to her. so as long as shes alive I will do everyhthing in my power not to dissapoint her, since it makes me uncomfortable.

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  68. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdTHx0ZhyEA

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  69. I don't want to dissappoint Mother either

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  70. You know... Iv never actually watched Psycho... is it any good?

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  71. oops I actually have watched it... I was thinking of American Psycho

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  72. ManiAzer
    Forgive me if I am being intrusive and just tell me to back off.
    You call yourself a sociopath but you love your mother.You are loyal to your mother.
    You feel love or what is called love in our culture.
    Can a sociopath love? You can,it seems

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  73. I am finding who I am by writing. I have compartments.
    I am an empath.I feel love and warmth between myself and people.
    I also have my still,cool space in which I feel nothing but have keen sight.
    This space is similar to what I feel in my socio. He LIVES in this cool, airless ,totally rational and unemotional void, I guess you could say.
    He has one compartment, this one.
    Does that seem right ?

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  74. I have gotten a lot of clarity since writing here.
    You all are honest people. I like that a LOT!
    Thank you.

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  75. The Magic MushroomJuly 10, 2011 at 5:34 PM

    @Erin, you are at a crossroads.

    One path leads to Paradise, the other to Death. From where you stand, you cannot distinguish between the two paths. Worse, once you start down a path, you cannot turn back. Each path is guarded.

    One of the two guards, sociojack always tells the truth. The other guard, sociojock always lies. Unfortunately, it is impossible for you to distinguish between the two guards. 

    You have permission to ask one guard one question to ascertain which path leads to Paradise. Remember that you do not know which guard you're asking -- the truth-teller or the liar -- and that this single question determines whether your eternal life. The question is: What one question asked of one guard guarantees that you are led onto the path to Paradise, regardless of which guard you happen to ask?

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  76. Well Magic Mushroom
    I love to hear you guys tell honest things from which most people would cringe.
    I hope I will use my own heart and gut to filter out what is true :)

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  77. Erin you have three compartments, five if your feet are bent to resemble the lotus.

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  78. Ok Magic
    Don't really want to get off in to the discussion of compartments in too much detail Darlink
    I am needing other help more at the moment :)

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  79. In another thread,someone told me about her relationship with her S.
    SHE went in to his world but he could not go in to hers.
    That may be what is happening with me.

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  80. Can you--as a Socio--feel warm fuzzies in your heart when someone gives you love whether by a comment, a present or some demonstration of love?
    How do you feel inside when this happens?

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