“A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.”
Let’s get some obvious caveats out of the way. Technically, some people in the military or even in law enforcement could meet the criteria of being serial killers. It’s just part of the job sometimes and hopefully done for the right reasons. In this article I’m talking about people who kill for its own sake, or rather, to satisfy an internal need in the absence of external gain.
It’s now well known that the term psychopath is not used clinically. However, I think the use of it in popular culture makes sense. It denotes a person who is so lacking in conscience (for want of a better word) that they are simply different from the rest of us. The gnawing feelings of guilt, regret, fear and shame are so pervasive that those who lack them are almost akin to being a different species — one with a rather predatory relationship to us.
Is it possible for a person to enjoy both moral and immoral acts equally? Of course, all of us can enjoy things that are classed as immoral from time to time, but what if a person could derive an equal amount of pleasure from acting altruistically as they could from being sadistic - is this type of person even possible?
When describing psychopaths, or people of that ilk, we assume that malicious actions bring them pleasure whereas kindness does nothing for them. They must be faking their way through the niceties, wearing a mask of normality, but buried below is the true dark underbelly. Maybe psychopaths, or certain subgroups of them, enjoy both sides of the moral spectrum, but if this isn’t the case then we might need to invent a new category. Such a person would be bi-moral. Yes, I really couldn’t think of a better word for it, I’m open to suggestions.
The question I’m pondering is whether it’s possible to be both a good and bad person. Yes, that describes everyone, but can someone be equally good and bad at the same time with equal enjoyment of each side?
If such a person exists then they’d be able to help an old lady carry her groceries across the road (does this ever actually happen…?) then enjoy a good ol’ serial killing spree. If variety is the spice of life then this type of person would include moral variety in that too. It is, in some sense, a recipe for a maximally enjoyable life. Very little would be un-embraceable for such a person.
Serial killers..... i am so curious about them.. more about what unleashes that side of them that perhaps most of us have. Who are they when they are in the act of killing, dismembering, harming/unharming? What are they seeing in their minds? Who are they seeing in their minds?
Do they really enjoy the act or is it an itch they have to scratch? An itch that propels a physiologically, an act. Meditation seeks to bring awareness to such propulsion.
Perhaps they are transported into a different reality in their mind, in moments of "propulsion" to scratch that itch.
I had this in mind, a Venn diagram.. and all of us see ourselves as Disparate Venn Diagrams and occasionally crossing paths and having an intersection. (The symbol of an Audi car came to mind) Perhaps enlightenment is seeing that we are all overlapping Venn Diagram, we are the very same circle.
There is perhaps a Spark in Serial Killers that is kindness and love, that was dimmed some time ago. I believe. It just take too much effort to relight.
Great question. Since I have a preoccupation with psychopaths, I can say that I have never met or heard of a psychopath who was truly bi-moral. They all hate life and are basically very fearful, just like most people. Ted Bundy famously worked on a crisis hotline and helped little ladies cross streets even as he was stalking coeds. He was a loving boyfriend and diligent law student, earning the praise of the judge who sentenced him to death. However, I think it's possible, perhaps even natural, to be bi-moral, as you described it. My cats are bi-moral, but they are, significantly, peaceful. Why would they needlessly kill or harm another creature? Instead, they take every opportunity to lounge and cuddle...