60 replies to this topic

[Detective Mystery 2013]

We read articles on mass murderers and serial murderers, as well as spree murderers. Experts blame their crimes on all sorts of things. Some people mention guns. Some blame violent entertainment. Others bring up abuse and/or neglect during the killer's childhood. A few point to psychotropic drugs, and a few point to sick pornography. Do you agree with any of these explanations, or do you, like me, think that something else has to be involved? My guess is that there's more to it than the aforementioned reasons.

[CrimsonKing]

Detective Mystery 2013, on 18 February 2013 - 04:38 AM, said:

We read articles on mass murderers and serial murderers, as well as spree murderers. Experts blame their crimes on all sorts of things. Some people mention guns. Some blame violent entertainment. Others bring up abuse and/or neglect during the killer's childhood. A few point to psychotropic drugs, and a few point to sick pornography. Do you agree with any of these explanations, or do you, like me, think that something else has to be involved? My guess is that there's more to it than the aforementioned reasons.

I myself do not see any of these as the reasoning for people just snapping and hurting others even people they do not know for no reason at all.If any of these could be a reasoning i would go with psychotropic drugs because the effects they can have on a individual brain can be unknown.

[_Only]

I think it's long running and deep rooted psychological issues. I've had my own and witnessed their effects on my well being, as I'm sure we all have. Some people just react differently than others to their problems, and end out in this way. That's what I think. You can have your psychological problems lead you down a bad road. I think the random killing spree perpetrators have seen the far side of that psychological road.

[AsteroidX]

Theres one thing that wasnt mentioned and thats acceptance. We see these all the time now. If not in America then elswhere. The wholesale killing and murder of people is big business in fact.

As for the sick psychotic version of this story I can only say I believe demons live among us and are born from the womb just as any other Human being. Thats what I believe today. I didnt or wouldnt have thought that 15 years ago.

[Detective Mystery 2013]

CrimsonKing, on 18 February 2013 - 04:44 AM, said:

I myself do not see any of these as the reasoning for people just snapping and hurting others even people they do not know for no reason at all.If any of these could be a reasoning i would go with psychotropic drugs because the effects they can have on a individual brain can be unknown.

I think that psychotropic drugs played roles in many recent murders. Brain damage played a role in some murders, past and present, too. Look at Charles Whitman. There's even a "psychopathic structure" in some brains that supposedly predisposes certain people to commit crimes. All of that said, it almost always comes down to choice. There's an X factor at work behind such choices. I think that this variable is what's behind evil. Most people, despite many harmful variables, don't decide to hurt or kill large numbers of other people.

[AsteroidX]

Why does the average person understand that this is wrong and unable to entertain the doing of such acts. It seems beyond human nature to me.

[Detective Mystery 2013]

_Only, on 18 February 2013 - 04:49 AM, said:

I think it's long running and deep rooted psychological issues. I've had my own and witnessed their effects on my well being, as I'm sure we all have. Some people just react differently than others to their problems, and end out in this way. That's what I think. You can have your psychological problems lead you down a bad road. I think the random killing spree perpetrators have seen the far side of that psychological road.

That's true in many cases. More than a few serial murderers had horrible psychological disorders. Many of them were caused or worsened by abuse and/or neglect during their childhoods. Still, most people, with those traits, don't murder people. They don't even think about it. In fact, some mass murderers and serial murderers had idyllic lives. They showed no signs of mental problems, and some of them were seen as "winners". These might be the most disturbing murderers of them all.

[Detective Mystery 2013]

AsteroidX, on 18 February 2013 - 05:15 AM, said:

Why does the average person understand that this is wrong and unable to entertain the doing of such acts. It seems beyond human nature to me.

It's the X factor. Maybe the trait that vexes you is the trait that they all share.

[CrimsonKing]

Detective Mystery 2013, on 18 February 2013 - 05:13 AM, said:

I think that psychotropic drugs played roles in many recent murders. Brain damage played a role in some murders, past and present, too. Look at Charles Whitman. There's even a "psychopathic structure" in some brains that supposedly predisposes certain people to commit crimes. All of that said, it almost always comes down to choice. There's an X factor at work behind such choices. I think that this variable is what's behind evil. Most people, despite many harmful variables, don't decide to hurt or kill large numbers of other people.

I myself am not a spiritual person,but i am a believer in positive and negative energy.Can these energies manifest themselves into something?Im not sure but i do not doubt it can

[Detective Mystery 2013]

AsteroidX, on 18 February 2013 - 05:08 AM, said:

Theres one thing that wasnt mentioned and thats acceptance. We see these all the time now. If not in America then elswhere. The wholesale killing and murder of people is big business in fact.

As for the sick psychotic version of this story I can only say I believe demons live among us and are born from the womb just as any other Human being. Thats what I believe today. I didnt or wouldnt have thought that 15 years ago.

You sound like you believe that there really are bad seeds. Some recent research supports this. Some people have brain structures that might make them more likely to hurt or kill people. One researcher discovered that he had that characteristic.

You raised another intriguing point. Who's to say that a lot of the most powerful and villainous individuals in world history, as well as their supporters, weren't just mass murderers and serial murderers when you strip ideology from the equation. Adolf Hitler was Ted Bundy as a ruthless tyrant. It's all murder when you get right down to it. How many sick and twisted killers would do what Stalin did if they had the chance? How many people would murder people if there was no way that they would get caught? Would some people really destroy other countries or cultures if they could do so with the flip of a switch? I've always wondered about the morality of the "nuke (fill in the nation)" crowd.

[_Only]

Detective Mystery 2013, on 18 February 2013 - 05:13 AM, said:

I think that psychotropic drugs played roles in many recent murders.

While they did and do, I don't think they can really be used as a reason in themselves, because they basically trick the brain into states it is supposed to naturally experience at some point in its existence. Any effect I can think of that a drug does can be experienced naturally to varying degrees. So for whatever reason can be attributed to drugs, there has to be an accompanying 'real life' reason that would cause this reaction in the brain, as opposed to being forced, or tricked, through a substance.

[AsteroidX]

I think I believe in the bad seed. But it is the environment that makes the seed grow.

[_Only]

Detective Mystery 2013, on 18 February 2013 - 05:20 AM, said:

That's true in many cases. More than a few serial murderers had horrible psychological disorders. Many of them were caused or worsened by abuse and/or neglect during their childhoods. Still, most people, with those traits, don't murder people. They don't even think about it. In fact, some mass murderers and serial murderers had idyllic lives. They showed no signs of mental problems, and some of them were seen as "winners". These might be the most disturbing murderers of them all.

You might be making the mistake of trying to pin one potential cause on every case.

But I've learned that we wire ourselves to a degree, psychologically. Like I mentioned that road, it has branches all over it. Some decided to follow it to where it led them. Just because others chose different routes psychologically, positive or negative, doesn't mean the path is still there, be it chosen.

Edited by _Only, 18 February 2013 - 05:41 AM.

[Detective Mystery 2013]

CrimsonKing, on 18 February 2013 - 05:23 AM, said:

I myself am not a spiritual person,but i am a believer in positive and negative energy.Can these energies manifest themselves into something?Im not sure but i do not doubt it can

It likely depends on which one a person decides to embrace. Do they embrace the dark side or the light side? Embraces need not last forever, though. That's why choice is so important. We all decide to accept or reject a side each moment of our lives. We can choose to move from negative energy to positive energy. The reverse is also true. There are times when it seems difficult to change direction, though, which illustrates why decisions, in the now, are so important.

[Detective Mystery 2013]

_Only, on 18 February 2013 - 05:38 AM, said:

While they did and do, I don't think they can really be used as a reason in themselves, because they basically trick the brain into states it is supposed to naturally experience at some point in its existence. Any effect I can think of that a drug does can be experienced naturally to varying degrees. So for whatever reason can be attributed to drugs, there has to be an accompanying 'real life' reason that would cause this reaction in the brain, as opposed to being forced, or tricked, through a substance.

The drugs help some people. Unfortunately, psychopharmacology does anything but benefit the biochemistry of some individuals. It creates or worsens problems, and it causes some people to go off the deep end. How many killers took psychotropic drugs?