How do some people go so terribly awry? I'm going to use serial killers as my example. How on earth was John Wayne Gacy Jr. able to live with himself after killing twenty-seven people? He did it without any emotion-he knew it was wrong, which didn't motivate him to stop; he was just more careful. I think what disturbs me most about serial killers is their lack of repentance-they rarely seem to show any guilt or even emotions. Most people seem more upset when they hear the name "Jeffery Dahmer" than the actual Jeffrey Dahmer seemed at his trial.
It's not as simple as locking them up or executing them. It won't make any difference to them. Because what defines right and wrong? Who are we to refute someone else’s reality and replace it with our own? Just because I believe killing animals is wrong does not mean you do. Is my sense of morality more valid than yours, and if so, why? Can our realities coexist without one having to trump the other, even though, by nature, one cannot really exist while the other does? Serial killers’ minds seem to be governed by a different set of parameters than those of most people. But that’s their reality-a reality which may seem just as upside-down to us as ours may seem to them. And it’s just as real to them as ours is to us. So how can we say that they were wrong-we are invalidating their reality and replacing it with one we deem acceptable. It’s putting a square peg in a round hole and expecting it to fit. Even though there are more round pegs we can't pretend those square pegs don't exist.
I guess what I'm trying to say is not that serial killers are normal or right, but that they live in a world that is not governed by the same rules of right and wrong as that in which most people live. I know Tori will probably jump in with a psychological reason for serial killers, but this is more from a philosophical standpoint.
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