"it's as if she was born blind"

[melanie2]

That is a line from the movie The Bad Seed..the seed skipped a generation and was passed on to the daughter..who began killing at a young age..a bad seed..born without a conscience..is that possible? We look at serial killers..Ted Bundy, The Green River killer, John Gacy et al...were they born without a conscience? were they considered bad seeds? Were they born blind?
_______

 

[sadi]

Some people are born with (or develop) an incapability of comprehending emotions: a psychosis, disorder? (can't see how it could be considered a 'disease' so... :unsure)

And thus, I'm curious as to whether or not any of the aforementioned infamous killers suffered from this mental malady of psychosis, or if they just progressively got twisted enough over years of bad experiences?

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

Well apparently Ted Bundy suffered from Manic Depression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy
http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/tedbundy.htm

all I could find on The Green River Killer was that he had a low I.Q but that doesn't really say anything.He apparently stabbed a boy and walked away laughing saying that he always wondered what it would be like to kill someone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway

I also couldn't really find anything on John Gacy other then the fact that his brain was taken out and studied but no abnormalities were found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

It is often the case with these sorts that they suffered really REALLY fucked up childhoods. I believe that in a very real sense, we as a society do indeed create these killers. Should this serve as an "out" for them at their trials? Hell no, but it is a sad and telling thing about us as a society. Expect more and worse sorts to come.

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

Yes,each one I looked up had a ''bad'' childhood

 

[Slaver123]

That is a line from the movie The Bad Seed..the seed skipped a generation and was passed on to the daughter..who began killing at a young age..a bad seed..born without a conscience..is that possible? We look at serial killers..Ted Bundy, The Green River killer, John Gacy et al...were they born without a conscience? were they considered bad seeds? Were they born blind?
_______

I've met some sociopaths (not psychopaths) in my travels. They are always charmers, but it's true; some people do NOT have a conscience. I've read that they don't view others as real people, so there's no need for conscience, guilt, or right and wrong.

It could be a birth defect, or a genetic trait (very handy for survival) or they're made that way from child abuse. A psychopath is basically a sociopath who commits violent crimes (murder etc)

 

[kopfhorer1]

I've met some sociopaths (not psychopaths) in my travels. They are always charmers, but it's true; some people do NOT have a conscience. I've read that they don't view others as real people, so there's no need for conscience, guilt, or right and wrong. ...

And we Americans live in a society where people like this are handsomely rewarded with status, money and power, at least in the upper echelons.

 

[Slaver123]

And we Americans live in a society where people like this are handsomely rewarded with status, money and power, at least in the upper echelons.

Yep. Not just at the upper echelons, you can meet sociopaths working in diners or anywhere else.

Didn't want to get into the Natural Selection angle, but screwing others over is a handy survival trait. Some birds will drop the piece of food they have to take a piece from another bird; homo sapiens do the same thing. In the corporate and political world it seems only the most vicious rise to the top; nature seems to favor the soulless....

Of course, part of the trade-off is this type of person can never have any real, healthy relationships. They can never be a full 3-dimensional Human Being, never have a real life-partner, or true companionship or know what trust is....