Do we glorify killers?

[kdet]

Why is there a market for these types of materials? Why do we need to fill our minds with these sorts of things?

Green River Killer Interviews Now on DVD



The grim details of the Green River killings were offered for sale Monday in the form of 109 DVDs containing video and text interviews with Gary Ridgway, the man with the most convictions of any serial murderer in U.S. history.

Ridgway, sentenced in December to 48 life sentences without chance of parole, told authorities in the interviews what he could remember about his female victims in a plea deal that spared him execution.

The disks include more than 400 hours of video and nearly 8,500 pages of transcripts, said Derek Dohn, CEO of Chameleon Data, which compiled the DVDs. They comprise 106 days of interviews that took place between June 13 and Dec. 16, 2003, and the retail price for the set is $2,220.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2004/feb/09/020908873.html

 

[Kelly]

Morbid curiosity? Perhaps we are trying to see what would drive someone to kill? Is it glorification though?

Glorify
1) Worship
2) To bring great distinction to by exaggerating the excellence of.

 

[SqueezetheShaman]

I don't think it is glorification in the slightest. Morbid curiosity yes. You yourself kitty enjoy reading all sorts of books by people such as Steven King. You should understand that.

 

[faerieevaH]

I think there's still a difference between reading a fictional story, however horriffic the genre, and indeed this morbid curiosity.
I wouldn't call it glorifying, but I would call it inaproriete and people making a cheap buck on the pain of others.

 

[kdet]

I think there's still a difference between reading a fictional story, however horriffic the genre, and indeed this morbid curiosity.
I wouldn't call it glorifying, but I would call it inaproriete and people making a cheap buck on the pain of others.

Thank you Since I'm ignoring the previous poster I was hoping someone would give her this answer....there is a huge difference in reading fiction and watching interviews with a serial killer. Now the question is why do we want to watch these things? I have studied criminal psychology and for me it is trying to get inside their mind and learn what makes them tick...after many years though I still have a hard time grasping the cold heartedness and the lack of feeling in these individuals. But what makes the average person want to subject themselves to this sort of thing for entertainment?
And does this inspire other killers?
And are we giving the killers themselves what they want by giving them more recognition of their crimes...just a few questions this moring

 

[SqueezetheShaman]

Aren't you able to respond to me without anger? If you want to comment about something I write, do it. Don't wait for another. /ot

back to topic. kelly said it. morbid curiosity. that encompasses a lot....trying to understand where they are coming from, why they do it, what could have made them like this....I do agree with you faerie, about it in a sense abusing the victims all over again...if that it what you meant...

and I do not agree that there is a huge difference between reading fiction and non fiction. I read both and the entertainment factor is there with both. Only sometimes with the non fiction, you get the addes bonus of either learnign about history, humanity, etc.

 

[Kelly]

Thank you Since I'm ignoring the previous poster I was hoping someone would give her this answer....

Wow, I know that you and STS come to blows once in a while but her response was pretty civil. When you post in this forum you are going to get answers all over the board. At least she has taken the time to remember you like to read about psychology/crime/etc. How different is a DVD from a book on the same subject? It's another form of media.

 

[Christi]

I have to admit that I love crime stories and stories of serial killers. I think it's because I try to understand how someone could do that, but I still don't. Anyway, I'm guessing I'm not contributing any useful insight to this thread........Christi sneaks outa here....

 

[kdet]

Wow, I know that you and STS come to blows once in a while but her response was pretty civil. When you post in this forum you are going to get answers all over the board. At least she has taken the time to remember you like to read about psychology/crime/etc. How different is a DVD from a book on the same subject? It's another form of media.

Kelly one is fiction, the other is not. I worry about how much attention we give these killers? one serial killer had a website online from prison where he described his horrific acts in detail..and the website was a hit. The poor mother of one of the victims finally got the site taken down. Imagine the horror of reading this man gloating description of how he raped and murdered her daughter and how she begged for her life.


Also I have no desire to discuss ANYTHING with the poster you mentioned...which is my right, is it not? She can answer to any posts she wishes but that doesn't mean I have to reply to her or aknowledge her existence

 

[kdet]

I have to admit that I love crime stories and stories of serial killers. I think it's because I try to understand how someone could do that, but I still don't. Anyway, I'm guessing I'm not contributing any useful insight to this thread........Christi sneaks outa here....

I do also Christi, but as I said I have begun to wonder about this fascination society has with these monsters.

 

[faerieevaH]

I did indeed mean that it is abusing the victims all over again. Now there is a difference between a genuine newsreport and looking for sensation, although unfortunately quite often those two get mixed these days in a form of 'infotainment'. I remember a documentary about reporters with the director always saying 'get the body in full view if you can' and 'get the blood on front page'. I fear sometimes that we get so used to blood and bodies on the front page it doesn't do anything anymore.

But... back to topic. Why do people watch this kind of material. I am a qualified social and cultural worker. I would read courtreports and witness testimonies to indeed find out what we can learn. Perhaps to prevent it in the future with others to come this far if it is possible. To learn from it. But I don't think this set of dvd's as advertised will offer that.
I think it's the same morbid curiosity that makes people stop or slow down when a traffic accident happened on the other lane. Not to help but to be able to say later: "I was there. I saw that. Oh man... you should have seen..." Perhaps witnessing it and not being part of it gives people a sense of relief. A form of confirmation that it didn't happen to them...

 

[kdet]

I did indeed mean that it is abusing the victims all over again. Now there is a difference between a genuine newsreport and looking for sensation, although unfortunately quite often those two get mixed these days in a form of 'infotainment'. I remember a documentary about reporters with the director always saying 'get the body in full view if you can' and 'get the blood on front page'. I fear sometimes that we get so used to blood and bodies on the front page it doesn't do anything anymore.

But... back to topic. Why do people watch this kind of material. I am a qualified social and cultural worker. I would read courtreports and witness testimonies to indeed find out what we can learn. Perhaps to prevent it in the future with others to come this far if it is possible. To learn from it. But I don't think this set of dvd's as advertised will offer that.
I think it's the same morbid curiosity that makes people stop or slow down when a traffic accident happened on the other lane. Not to help but to be able to say later: "I was there. I saw that. Oh man... you should have seen..." Perhaps witnessing it and not being part of it gives people a sense of relief. A form of confirmation that it didn't happen to them...

As I said for professional reasons you could see someone wanting to view these dvds and if they had been offered for FBI profiling I would be all for it...but why does your average joe need to see hours of interviews with Gary Ridgeway?

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I think we do glorify killers and I think that's one of the main reasons that so many high profile crimes (school shootings, the sniper situation, mass serial murder/rapes) are more and more commonplace.

 

[SqueezetheShaman]

I do also Christi, but as I said I have begun to wonder about this fascination society has with these monsters.

But isn't that exactly what you do, since you have been reading about it for years?? And I understand you don't want to respond to me, but I am truly interested. What is the difference? Why is it okay for you to be interested in it, but when others are, they are glorifying them? I am confused.

 

[kdet]

I think we do glorify killers and I think that's one of the main reasons that so many high profile crimes (school shootings, the sniper situation, mass serial murder/rapes) are more and more commonplace.

Yes! These people feel Godlike...giving them more recognition of their crimes reenforces that feeling in them.

 

[MsDe]

Thank you Since I'm ignoring the previous poster I was hoping someone would give her this answer....there is a huge difference in reading fiction and watching interviews with a serial killer. Now the question is why do we want to watch these things? I have studied criminal psychology and for me it is trying to get inside their mind and learn what makes them tick...after many years though I still have a hard time grasping the cold heartedness and the lack of feeling in these individuals. But what makes the average person want to subject themselves to this sort of thing for entertainment?
And does this inspire other killers?
And are we giving the killers themselves what they want by giving them more recognition of their crimes...just a few questions this moring

My take on why we want to watch these things: most people aren't killers, don't have a fascination with killing, etc.; and most people are curious about things they don't understand. When I'm flipping through the channels on TV and have a choice between two documentaries, one about heroes and another about serial killers, I'll usually pick the latter. It's part morbid fascination, part curiosity and part 'I know I will never understand the motivation but maybe this time some of my questions will be answered.' Personally I don't consider it entertainment, but others might.

Does it inspire other killers? I'm sure some killers do what they do to achieve the same or more notoriety. The movie Copycat is a good example of that.

 

[praying]

Why is there a market for these types of materials? Why do we need to fill our minds with these sorts of things?

Green River Killer Interviews Now on DVD



The grim details of the Green River killings were offered for sale Monday in the form of 109 DVDs containing video and text interviews with Gary Ridgway, the man with the most convictions of any serial murderer in U.S. history.

Ridgway, sentenced in December to 48 life sentences without chance of parole, told authorities in the interviews what he could remember about his female victims in a plea deal that spared him execution.

The disks include more than 400 hours of video and nearly 8,500 pages of transcripts, said Derek Dohn, CEO of Chameleon Data, which compiled the DVDs. They comprise 106 days of interviews that took place between June 13 and Dec. 16, 2003, and the retail price for the set is $2,220.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2004/feb/09/020908873.html

I don't think it is glorifing them, I myself love true crime stories, I would not go and buy a DVD but I watch that stuff on TV all the time, Forensic files, Autopsy Shows, it is very interesting to me.

For most I am sure it just trying to understand the motivations of an irrational mind or just morbid curiosity.

 

[SqueezetheShaman]

I don't think it inspires other killings MsDe. I am not convinced that they wouldn't commit the murders another way.

 

[kdet]

Good link here

John Wayne Gacy, who was executed in 1994 for the murder of 33 people, told a reporter shortly before his execution, "There's been 11 hardback books on me, 31 paperbacks, two screenplays, one movie, one off-Broadway play, five songs and over 5,000 articles."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/01/ING234I8FG1.DTL

 

[praying]

Also I have no desire to discuss ANYTHING with the poster you mentioned...which is my right, is it not? She can answer to any posts she wishes but that doesn't mean I have to reply to her or aknowledge her existence

Not to take the focus off the OP but that is not the most mature response. If choose not to respond don't but don't put the qualifiers in about ignoring posters because it does s three things, show you are not ignoring what STS says, and it is immature to pubilically say you are and it derails the thread.

Back to Topic

There is no difference between reading Kay Scarpetta and the details of autopsy and horrific crimes scenes descirbed by P Cromwell(?) or watching the reality of it. Where do you think fiction writers get there material true crime, DVD interviews, FBI interviews, Police Interviews, Crime Scene visits. so to say there is a difference I don't buy it.