The Thrill of the Kill: A Chilling Tale

[nottheone]

I have an old family friend who was a state trooper and he told me stories of police activities that weren't exactly sanctioned by society or law.

 

[Topher925]

Cops don't become cops to hand out traffic tickets. Haven't any of you see The Departed?

 

[russ_watters]

The thing about beliefs is they don't have to be unified, correct, or even based on anything. It's good to see you had yours reinforced by a thirdhand account that had no details on the emotions of the actual police officer.

Indeed! Ivan's account contained no statement about what the cop was thinking! And only inferences drawn about what the facial expressions of the person telling the story mean! Gee, is it possible that Ivan's preconceptions could have been reinforced too, and by picking an interpretation that fits with those beliefs? The thing about hardened beliefs is that you can make damn near anything you see fit them.

Ivan, did you ask her what she was so happy about?

These threads disgust me.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Indeed! Ivan's account contained no statement about what the cop was thinking! And only inferences drawn about what the facial expressions of the person telling the story mean! Gee, is it possible that Ivan's preconceptions could have been reinforced too, and by picking an interpretation that fits with those beliefs? The thing about hardened beliefs is that you can make damn near anything you see fit them.

Who said that I was expecting anything? Why are you rushing to judgement with no information. The fact is that I had no expectations. We were having what I thought was an innocent and pleasant conversation. Apparently this is how she introduces herself to complete strangers.

Ivan, did you ask her what she was so happy about?

No. It was clear that she found this all to be quite exciting. You might want to play word games, but I know what I saw and heard. I also made it clear that what bothered me was the implication of what it said about her fiance. I also stated specifically that the implication is just that - an implication - not a fact.

These threads disgust me.

I am glad that you are disgusted by an honest accounting of a personal encounter - in this case you should be! However, if you find this to be offensive, then stay out of it. No one twisting your arm.

 

[Huckleberry]

It was definitely disturbing to see someone so young, who apparently found the death of another human being exciting. But at heart I think I am bothered most by what it implies about the cop.

Whatever it implies it doesn't stop with the police officer. Cops serve the same basic function as the ego, they mediate between the primitive drives and needs of society. I wonder what the implications are for a free society that produces bloodthirsty enforcers. I think that in some way we are all a product of our environment as much as we are also influencers of it. Cops just get stuck in the middle of the worst of it. Their own imperitive for survival (not just avoiding death, but also quality of life) forces them to make some rather harsh adaptations.

I have an uncle who served for 2 tours of duty as a Recon Marine in Vietnam. He said that the first person he killed he felt afraid. He felt as if he had done something wrong, but it was either him or the other guy. One had to die. Then he said that he came to a point where he didn't feel anything any more. Then after killing several men he began to enjoy the experience. For some reason he kept coming out alive. It made him feel powerful. That was the adaptation he needed to survive and succeed in his environment. It's still a part of his personality to this day.

Individuals seem to point to the end of the line so often. It's always the gun, or the cop, or the criminal, or even society to blame. We destroy each other's lives with our own insecurities. Those who seek peace must be fearless, and that doesn't seem so common to me. As Frank Herbert says in his novel Dune, 'fear is the mind-killer'. Empathy is lost once we begin to fear. As a being that is the center of it's own perception of the universe it becomes tempting to brand it as one's own. As my Uncle recently told me when his wife, my Aunt, committed suicide, "My tears are all for myself". I think he is right. We push these problems as far away from ourselves as possible rather than suffer our own perceptions. That's the implication I get from it anyway. We distinguish ourselves from reality.

 

[devil-fire]

I think there are some people who are enchanted by the power wielded by someone who has taken a life without themselves having an intimate experience of how sad it is when a mother's son, or a daughter's father dies suddenly. It's kind of like when you watch a James Bond movie and bond is wasting tons of bad guys and it's great because the hero of the movie is getting what he wants and it almost becomes a profound experience of perseverance when so many people try so hard to stop him from achieving his goals and fail to stop him by going so far as to pay with their lives.

For a person to die is tragic, but to kill with purpose, for justice and for what is right, that is venerable. If you don't share the same sense of purpose though, it's just tyranny.




This is off topic and on the subject of gun ownership but I couldn't resist.

For everyone who has a gun (or guns) for home defense, how much money did you spend on it (or them)? how much time did you spend training to use it? How much money have you put toward securing windows and doors? How much time have you spend discussing a plan of escape from your home in the event of a home invasion? I ask because I think if If my home was being invaded I would want to avoid a confrontation between my self and the invader or the invader and my family. I think my first course of action would be to get in contact with family members to be sure they are OK and know what the situations is and try to get everyone out of the house.

The way I see it, the alliterative is to try to kill or maim the invader like I'm the Terminator defending Shawn Conner. I think realistically there are so many things that could go wrong in this situation. What if the invader has his senses more adjusted to the situation then I do considering I was asleep 90 seconds ago and he shoots me before I shoot him? The only people left in my house then is my oblivious family and a murderer. What if a bullet missed or ricochets off something and hits a family member or myself? What if in my sleepy stooper I only think my home is being invaded but really a family member just tripped and knocked a vase to the ground. What if it really is a thieving drug addict and I do shoot them through the head and I just have to pick bits of skull fragment from a 15 year old out of my carpet for my Saturday chores?

The last one is a vary best case scenario when it comes to the use of a gun for a home invasion. It is the scenario where my family was never really in any danger to begin with and where a minimum amount of damage was done to me, my family or my home and where the whole act of using the gun on the invader worked perfectly.