He nurtured orchids and raised hamsters - the neighborhood is still in shock!

[smeddley]

He was a 'normal, average guy' friends and neighbors tell reporters

There's some buzz over at JustCara that people think he's innocent because he just seems so... normal. People who knew him are shocked that he's even accussed of such a crime. Wrong place, wrong time is what's being said.

Now, I'm not passing judgement. Maybe he did it, maybe he didn't. Time and evidence will tell. I'll leave that up to the police and the proscecuters and the jury. And I firmly believe in 'innocent until proven guilty'.

But I do want to say that people's reasoning behind thinking he's innocent (he was a nice guy) is a bit funny. Think back to all the really big mass-murders (not Charles Manson, the loon, because he never actually killed anyone himself, I don't think). Every single one of the was described by people as 'nice' or 'charming' or 'normal'.

Frankly, I'd be more shocked if they interviewed the neighbors who promptly said 'he was as mean as a snake and I'm not at all surprised.'

EDIT: For anyone interested, Sarah linked this thesis on serial killers in a comment on JustCara's blog. I've only skimmed it, but it seems interesting (not in the LJ 'like' way, in an intellectual 'learning' way).

Comments

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Ted Bundy was supposed to be 'just the nicest guy.' Or something like that. Many sociopaths (or is it psychopaths?) have the ability to be very charming and very likable to most of the world.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

There's a difference, but I'll be arsed if I can keep them straight. I think a psychopath appears crazy, and is, while a sociopath seems normal, but isn't. Or something like that. I only took one semester of psychology in college a long long long time ago!

Most serial killers are 'nice, normal guys'. Really kinda creepy, when you think about it.

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

Every day on the news, that's the FIRST thing the neighbors say. Every time. Every where. "He was just a nice, quiet guy." "They seemed like such a nice couple." As if they didn't just hear OTHER neighbors say that on the news the day before. Students too. "He was such a nice kid. I thought he was just kidding when he said he was going to do such and such." Even though another student did the same thing last week, or last month? WTH?

I'm over that. I'm courteous to neighbors, but you can bet your @ss I'm watching them out of the corner of my eye because these days, you don't know WHO you're living next to. B'lieve that.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yeah, I'd forgotten about the students that 'snap'. They're almost always good kids with good grade from stable families and no one can believe it. I guess the recent guy was an exception, he was a bit weird, but still - people 'couldn't believe' he'd been so violent. Weird, yes. Violent? Noooooo, wouldn't hurt a fly!

I'm socially polite and amiably chatty to my neighbors, but, yeah, I'd turn them in in a heartbeat if I thought they'd done something wrong. Suburbia does not have the 'honor code' of some of the inner cities. We snitch! (It's a big deal in KCMO right now, the whole 'don't snitch' campaign by some people to keep the residents from talking to the police. Sad, really, but it's a whole different world, since most of it's gang violence and they have their own retribution. It's amazing how different it is when you live in a small town vs a suburb vs a 'city'.)