A
question that has been posed many times in recent history, is why the
topic of serial killers has become so popular in our modern culture?
In the early 2000's, the novel and television series, Dexter on
Showcase, ran for, I believe, 5 seasons. Dexter was an 'inverted'
tale of a serial killer who came to the rescue, and achieved justice,
for the families, when the establishment failed. We cheered Dexter
on, slaughtering other killers in the name of fairness. A psychopath
with a conscience, a tautology, really, as an audience we accepted,
suspending our disbelief for the sake of entertainment. I loved the
show, as I was a fan of the texts, however the notion of
hyper-vigilantism in reality is severely problematic, for the obvious
reasons.
In
FBI Special Agent John Douglas' wonderful true crime text, moves the
reader away from 'sociopaths-in-shining-armour', to the despicable
'real deal' of killers whose strange and unspeakable actions, shock,
and in the least makes the stomach retch in pain. Douglas answers
this question about the fascination with serial killers. Apart of the
ghoulish pleasure of some, it is an attempt to understand why people
can inflict such suffering on others, to then revel is their deeds.
We want to know how human nature can be so horrible? Douglas attempts
to answer this question.
Why
people do the things they do has always intrigued me. Over the years,
I've studied everything from anthropology, philosophy to psychology
and the specifics of psychopathy. Even Evolution has answered these
questions in terms of our antecedence's, our brother the primate ape.
Sociology has also attempted to answer the question of criminality.
In the text, Douglas explores many of these theories, but never quite
hits the mark. What better motivation than preventing crime and
catching offenders, is the soft science of “profiling”. John
Douglas is the brainchild of this method of law enforcement. (And has
been successful) The profiling of a serial killer.
John
Douglas is a G-Man through and through. Reading the text, you get his
loyalty and respect for the institution. An institution directly in
time, after the mad and controlled influence of the cross-dresser and
blackmailer, J. Edgar Hoover. No question, Douglas' brainchild for a
serious Behavioural Science Unit in the FBI, would never have
happened under Hoover's watch. This is not to say that Douglas and
Co, never experienced opposition. On the contrary, new ideas in any
established institution is bound for conflict and ridicule. What I
admire about Douglas, was his doggedness, belief, and purity of
purpose in his idea. And in the end Profiling has become a major tool
in law enforcement around the world.
Douglas writes simply, and the cases he describes are
sometimes expressed theatrically, giving the cases a mythical
quality, beyond crime fiction. There are many examples, my
favourites, and those that revealed absolute psychopathy, were Edward
Kemper and Charles Manson. Kemper, the co-ed killer, murdered 7
women, his grandparents, ending in the gruesome murder of his mother.
Kemper's so-called *Signature* is vile in the very extreme sense.
Kemper, in fact, was Douglas' first significant interviewee,
launching this controversial approach to criminology. Similar to many
psychopaths, Kemper was intelligent, insightful and charming. Douglas
admits that to this day, he liked Kemper. Many people only had praise
for the sadistic killer after his death. This is revealing on many
levels.
Learned that MANHUNTER is a series on Netflix, and
watched the first season. Let me just say, it follows Douglas' text
closely aside from a few 'dramatic-purpose-alterations'. As a fan of
the director, David Fincher, the program only enhances the
fascination of this macabre subject. .
Advice, suggestion - read the text.
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