Why Are We So Obsessed With Serial Killers?
By Onyx Hunter
Serial Killings are among the most notable and heinous crimes human beings can commit, so why are we so obsessed with the killers?
Serial Killings only account for one percent of murders in the U.S. so roughly 150 murders every year. Murder in general which is 15,000 can barely eclipse car related deaths at 38,000 a year.
Image: FBI
As a result of very high media coverage for serial killers, they often do it for fame and recognition. Ironically society’s awareness of the issue creates the issue. Serial Killers are so far embedded in our cultural zeitgeist that a character from the Marvel movie Spider-Man: Far From Home’s MJ who is portrayed by Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman has a character trait involving interest in the Black Dahlia Killer. Even an entire podcast called My Favorite Murder is themed around the mystery and intrigue of murders and other morbid histories, and seems to be nearing it’s 350th episode.
This isn’t a condemnation of intrigue in all that is morbid, I’ve been eyeing up the Dahmer Netflix Series for a little while now. It’s a question of reality, why on earth are we so obsessed with the Black Dahlia Killer, Dahmer, and now the so-called Duck-Walk Killer.
It’s because we’re scared. We aren’t totally separate from serial killers. Their majority is not made up of strange creatures who have “Murder” tattooed on their foreheads from birth. Murderers often kill because it makes them feel control when their lives have none. Hearing about murder, hearing that your agency to go on with life can be taken away is among the scariest concepts people can be told in plain conversation.
But lacking control is not a virtue to our society, taking back control is.
The true issue arises when murders cease to be about the victims. When the so-called Duck-Walk killer was caught my thoughts weren’t with the identities for those who were killed, the TV stations were clearly not either.
The evening the killer was revealed I went to a diner with family and the only thing on the TV’s by the dimly lit bar was the Killer’s face. Condolences are saved for those close to the family’s of those killed. The public never weeps for the 38,000 car crash victims, only their families can.
Instead of giving the killer recognition he does not deserve, I will instead recognize the victims, the people who had no choice, the people who should be seen by the public.
Douglass Watts.
Eliyahu Moscowitz.
Paul Alexander Yaw.
Salvador William Debudey Jr.
Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez.
Juan Cruz.
Lorenzo Lopez.
These are the people who deserve to be seen, empathy cannot cease to exist for the victims of such heinous acts.