Cruel Heart?

[Yothu]

As to this statement of Bastian's:


“The heart is capable of both great kindness and also great cruelty...”


I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact I’d even go so far as
to say that serial killers are operating on an emotional level
that stems from a cruel heart. Oh…did I also mention that I
have a tendency to state the bleeding obvious?

Not quite so obvious.

Please eloborate.

[Not a Lemming]

As to this statement of Bastian's:


“The heart is capable of both great kindness and also great cruelty...”


I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact I’d even go so far as
to say that serial killers are operating on an emotional level
that stems from a cruel heart. Oh…did I also mention that I
have a tendency to state the bleeding obvious?

Not quite so obvious.

Please eloborate.

What I assumed was obvious is that serial killers have cruel hearts.
When they torture rape and kill their victims it’s done on an emotional
level. As opposed to a Hit man who kills on intellectual level.

That’s not to say that serial killers are dumb. On the contrary most are
quit intelligent, but when it comes down to doing the act they driven by
the power they have over their victims. Pure emotion.

A Hit man on the other hand does it for money. It’s a job, and if they’re
good at it, it’s because they leave their emotions out of it.



It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
Walter Lippmann

[Yothu]

Dear Not A Lemming,

What comes to my mind when you mention "when it comes down to doing the act they driven by the power they have over their victims. Pure emotion."
is that there must be a bunch of stuck up emotions not expressed fluently and in a healthy way by the heart. For it has to come to such an explosion of emotion that has cruel impact on a murderer's victim.
This is my personal opinion.

Do you know if there are any papers available on the net which deal with this topic?
Where have you been inspired in the first place, Mr. Lippmann?

[Not a Lemming]

Dear yothu.

Well I’m definitely no expert in this area. In fact I don’t have much interest in
serial killers, but my wife likes to watch those “true crime” type tv shows. So
what little I do know I’ve picked up from those shows.

You may be right. It’s possible that this may be the only way they can release
these emotions, but I don’t think it’s like teapot that boils over. I say that because
I think they are sociopaths and they have no empathy. They’re not doing the act in
a fit of rage. In fact it’s quite the opposite. They’re usually in complete control.

The pure emotion that I spoke of was in the sense that the get a physical rush
off doing the act. Much in the same way a junkie gets a rush when the drug is
injected.

So I don’t think a release of emotions causes the serial killer to kill. I think the
act of rape, torture, and or killing causes the emotional release or physical rush.

This is just my opinion. As I said before I’m no expert on this.

The other night on Coast-to-Coast am, George was interviewing a reporter
named Philip Carlo. Carlo has interviewed several serial killers and written
books about them. Here’s a link to his website. Maybe you can get some
info there.

http://www.philipcarlo.com/


Good luck


NaL


As for as Walter Lippmann, to tell you the truth I’m not even sure who he is.
I just liked the quote.