Overheard regarding BTK

[mapsedge]

Gotta love talk radio:

The fact of the matter is, serial killer or no, he's just like me.  He's just like you.  He's just like each of the callers.  He had a job.  He bought groceries.  He had a family, went to church, had Sunday dinner, watched TV, and listened to talk radio.  For all anyone knows, I'm a serial killer with a dozen notches in my lead pipe, and would the girl who rings up my gasoline know that to look at me? 
 
What really gets under folks' skin is the thought, "Jesus...that could be ME."  The denials fly, we hotly proclaim that we could NEVER do that, and should someone have the temerity to ask "Yeah, but haven't you ever said, 'Damn, I could just KILL that guy...'" we explode into a righteous rage and shout, "There's a big difference between saying it and doing it!"
 
Is there?  As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.  What we don't understand is that it's a reaaaaaaally short walk from soapboxing to hitting, from hitting to hurting, from hurting to harming, and from harming to killing."

Comments

[fantomas71.livejournal.com]

A nitpicky point, perhaps: Yes, we are surrounded by killers. Many of us are one step away from killing, given the proper stimulus. But I think that even guys who are in prison for murder are pretty far from serial killers. They're really a breed apart, and even within their own ranks defy taxonomy. I don't have the context of your radio guy's argument, but BTK is a completely different creature than most of the rest of us.