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Born To Kill Preventable?
ThailandTom
Veteran
I am not one to put threads in the wrong place and get a slap on the wrist, but I really could not work out where this should go, so sorry if it is in the wrong place.
I have seen a few episodes of 'Born To Kill' which are documentaries about the lives of serial killers, it debates if they were 'born to kill' or if it is due to their upbringing/experiences, or even a mixture of the two. I have two questions to put here.
-Firstly do you think that certain people do have a certain genetic makeup where they are wired in a way that directs them to become a serial killer? Is it totally chemical or what are your opinions on this?
-Secondly these people have obviously gotten to a point in their lives where they are obsessed with fantasies, they all have certain traits about their personality and things have happened to them. Do you think that Buddhism could stop a serial killer in their tracks? I am not talking about a person who has killed out of lust or a split moment of fury, these are people who think things through and their lives often revolve around the desire to kill. Could they focus on their thoughts as they arise and take them apart, finding compassion and stability, basically from meditation?
I have seen a few episodes of 'Born To Kill' which are documentaries about the lives of serial killers, it debates if they were 'born to kill' or if it is due to their upbringing/experiences, or even a mixture of the two. I have two questions to put here.
-Firstly do you think that certain people do have a certain genetic makeup where they are wired in a way that directs them to become a serial killer? Is it totally chemical or what are your opinions on this?
-Secondly these people have obviously gotten to a point in their lives where they are obsessed with fantasies, they all have certain traits about their personality and things have happened to them. Do you think that Buddhism could stop a serial killer in their tracks? I am not talking about a person who has killed out of lust or a split moment of fury, these are people who think things through and their lives often revolve around the desire to kill. Could they focus on their thoughts as they arise and take them apart, finding compassion and stability, basically from meditation?
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Comments
I can only make assumptions here, I have no hard and fast facts, but if it's 'genetic make-up' wouldn't that imply that their close relatives are also inclined that way?
I don't know of many documented facts with regard to killers following their 'father's footsteps'....although evidence exists of continuity with factors such as domestic abuse, and drinking.... I don't know if many domestic abusers take it outside the home and start being serial killers.... It depends on their willingness, and if anything hits their 'lightbulb switch'.... Buddhism is not a destination, it's a path, and much as you can draw the map to the utmost accuracy, if they choose to step on it or not, is their option....
As for meditation, I believe that the path is the truth and has been laid before us all by the Buddha to help us realise what suffering is and that there is an end to it. However, some of these people have gotten to a point according to psychologists where they are unable to feel compassion on any level, they do not relate any kind of feeling to human beings apart from them being a problem or an object to be used for their gain, whatever that may be. So could some people be too far gone to even embrace the path if it was explained to them one day by a wise teacher?
I think it boils down to lack of free will. We are the products of our genetic inheritance and our experience (of which we have little or no control over). If we were born as a serial killer, if we had his/her genetic inheritance, if we had all their experiences, we would become serial killers.
I guess understanding this is a route to compassion for serial killers.
All to often we try and distance ourselves from others mal being. However compassion leads us back to our flaws and reminds us to encompass and be compassionate with victims, perpetuators and that most demonic manifestation (yes I am talking about me) . . . Ourselves . . .
I dunno if anyone has seen the recent movie Looper.. but part of the story is about this kid who in the future grows up to be this amazingly "evil" big time bad guy and there is a fight as to whether the child should be killed etc. It's an interesting movie.
Many serial killers exhibit above normal intelligence. The same is true for mass murderers. Predatory, serial, sexual offenders tend to be the opposite. Sexual crimes are pretty typically a result of desire for control and a perceived problem that makes them undesirable to their preferred sexual partner type. I think as a society we have a really hard time dealing with outliers, whether they are outliers for a positive reason (ie overly intelligent) or for negative reasons (ie mentally unstable). It's not uncommon for people of higher intelligence to struggle mightily in one area or another.
Few serial offenders don't have things in their lives that were quite questionable. Very few of them came from nuclear or stable families. But they do also seem to be more likely to succumb to these horrible things than other people. Clearly not every person who is abused, ignored, or has drunk or drugged out parents turns into a serial killer. They are not solely a product of their environment but it is usually part of the equation. Same with genetics, parent and family influences etc.
I've studied serial offenders quite a lot. They were the topics of almost every college research paper I ever did, and I worked in a sex offender treatment program for a time. In what I have learned and seen, they are definitely wired differently, mentally. If they were to have grown up in a loving, stable, Buddhist household would they be different? I honestly don't know. Some of them perhaps. There are very normal, stable homes that produce "monsters" of people.
Of interesting note, one of the smartest serial killers to exist was Edmund Kemper, from California. His story is pretty fascinating from a psychological point of view.
Serial criminals tend to exhibit signs that are recognizable from an early age as concerning. However, our ability in the western world to help these people even if someone recognizes the signs, are severely limited.
This inescapability of hell is one reason we don't want to slide down the karma mountain because we could become this too.
I also think as you seem to do that some of them may be able to learn compassion, but from what I have seen others are too far gone down their own path where they do not see people as people anymore, as I mentioned in my OP they are merely seen as objects for their own personal gain. So on that note I think the Buddhist path cannot help every human being, that is my opinion anyway.
I use to find things funny that nobody else would such as crippled people or just things that aren't funny as a kid, I was popular in school but then towards the end of school I kind of isolated myself away from social activity more and more. When I was maybe 15-16 me and a group of friends at the time were talking about random stuff and it somehow came about that I would be the most likely person to end up killing somebody. I couldn't really understand why they thought this as I was non-violent but they all seemed to agree.
My first change came when 2 friends bluntly told me at the age of 17 that I was very selfish and self-absorbed. At first I took this badly and even laughed at them saying things like "yea well we should all look out for number 1", but later I thought about it more and slowly things started to change. I soon came to find Buddhism and from there I have changed for the better. I myself can see how things could have gone down a way worse path. I am still seen as 'different' and so is my sister, but we both were popular and she still is very much so in fact. The only thing I can think of in my childhood is my dad leaving when I was 7, that seemed to hit me hard. But also that over time he has totally disconnected himself from me. If you have a loving dad and he dies, then that is not his choice, tragic yes but not his doing. My situation is where I had a loving dad who I had a close relationship with, but for some reason who has chosen to shun me totally now. I have dealt with that and gotten over it, a lot of that is thanks to Buddhism.