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

[the-themiscyran.livejournal.com]

When I was younger, I was introduced to the theory that everyone on the planet is capable of murder; all it takes is the introduction of the "right" person and circumstance, and any one of us could be perfectly capable of killing that one other person. And that's normal. Most of us are fortunate enough never to meet that person and those circumstances at the same time, or at all. Which seems logical to me, so I pretty much agree with the theory. Serial killers seem to be wired to seek out that "person", and those circumstances, over and over again. Not so normal in my estimation.
I think Christopher Titus got it right in his stand-up routine where he talked about the fact that whenever they catch a serial killer, the news is always full of interviews with shocked neighbors who talk about how quiet the guy was, and how he kept to himself and never troubled anyone. According to Titus, if he ever finds a guy like that living in his neighborhood, he's "taking him out". 'Cos quiet, normal guys can't be trusted. :)