April 19, 2007
Nothing to be learned from the rant of an evil man
I was eating breakfast in the chowhall this morning as the idiots on NBC's Today Show tried to justify the airing of the videos made by the Virginia Tech murderer, with Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera ever so serious, their hushed, somber tones and mournful music leading into the break.
Lauer gazed sincerely into the camera as he told me that it was a difficult decision, but NBC thought the public would be well served if it learned something about the killer's motivations.
I liked James Lileks' thoughts on what is a sociopath, and what can be learned from listening to a man without a soul.
There is nothing to learn from listening to the killer. From looking at him or reading his writings or poking through his background or sticking mikes in the face of anyone who saw him across a cafeteria.
Maybe it’s just me, but when I first heard of the case I thought: sociopath. A modern word for the man without a soul, the man who either had it stolen by deed or smothered in the womb.
I think you can make a sociopath, if you hurt them early enough in a way they can never get their hands around.
Others are simply bad seeds from the womb on up, I suspect. No matter what you do, you get a vacant Narcissus with an infinite supply of masks, a clever manniken who cannot apprehend the humanity of others.
He could only feel empathy for the object in the mirror, and it’s hardly surprising this example spent his last hours posing for the camera. It was the only thing that understood him, and accepted him for the glorious, tragic creature he knew he was.
I may well be wrong, but I don’t think there’s anything more to it than that.
That's a great description of the emptiness at the core of an amoral killer.
As to the videos, I can't help but think that NBC gave the killer what he wanted: immortality, fame infamy, a face and a voice that millions will remember; how many of us have any idea what the victims sounded like, how they looked?
We should burn the murderer's remains and scatter the ashes over a garbage dump, erase him, and forget his name.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 19, 2007 02:56 PM
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