Murderers
[I haven't posted much lately, and here's another work-centric post. I'll post a real update soon, promise.]
In this line of work, I occasionally meet murderers.
Sometimes they are people who were actually convicted of a murder. Sometimes they are people who did kill someone, but had an excuse, like self defense, or accident. One guy I represented had killed someone while on a lot of LSD in the 70s, and was sent to a state hospital for like, 12 years, and then released. And then the guy I talked to today--apparently everyone knows he shot someone a few years back, but they were never able to prove it in court, so he's a free man.
Whenever I meet murderers, I think of M, the 1931 Fritz Lang film. [OMG did I do the link-thingy? Internet skillup!] Lang, at least from what I've read, was among the first to portray murderers as insane or "sick," rather than just evil people. He sort of began the trend in film to ask why a person becomes a killer--and what M really addresses in the end is how society is supposed to treat a murderer, if they do accept that he really is sick, not evil.
The guy I met today likes to hang out around the downtown area and chat with people. He seems to be very intelligent and genuinely concerned about social injustice. It was an interesting conversation. He was discussing the rash of gun violence among young black men in this city, and his efforts to keep young black men out of "an early grave or a human cage," as he put it. However, this is the one quote that stuck with me, especially coming from a [probable] murderer:
"I'm never afraid of someone for what they look like; I'm afraid of someone for what they think like."
I don't know, it looks kind of trite in writing, I guess you had to experience his general presence when he said it--he said it like someone who knows what he's talking about. But it stuck with me. What do you think like, Mr. -------------?
In this line of work, I occasionally meet murderers.
Sometimes they are people who were actually convicted of a murder. Sometimes they are people who did kill someone, but had an excuse, like self defense, or accident. One guy I represented had killed someone while on a lot of LSD in the 70s, and was sent to a state hospital for like, 12 years, and then released. And then the guy I talked to today--apparently everyone knows he shot someone a few years back, but they were never able to prove it in court, so he's a free man.
Whenever I meet murderers, I think of M, the 1931 Fritz Lang film. [OMG did I do the link-thingy? Internet skillup!] Lang, at least from what I've read, was among the first to portray murderers as insane or "sick," rather than just evil people. He sort of began the trend in film to ask why a person becomes a killer--and what M really addresses in the end is how society is supposed to treat a murderer, if they do accept that he really is sick, not evil.
The guy I met today likes to hang out around the downtown area and chat with people. He seems to be very intelligent and genuinely concerned about social injustice. It was an interesting conversation. He was discussing the rash of gun violence among young black men in this city, and his efforts to keep young black men out of "an early grave or a human cage," as he put it. However, this is the one quote that stuck with me, especially coming from a [probable] murderer:
"I'm never afraid of someone for what they look like; I'm afraid of someone for what they think like."
I don't know, it looks kind of trite in writing, I guess you had to experience his general presence when he said it--he said it like someone who knows what he's talking about. But it stuck with me. What do you think like, Mr. -------------?