Don't get me wrong. I think that all brutal dictators and serial killers are monsters. However, when I sometimes hear about their early experiences, I find myself pitying them. For example, I heard that Saddam Hussein's mother tried to miscarry him when she was pregnant. Also, Adolf Hitler's father was abusive. Not only that, but Gary Ridgway still wet the bed when he was past a certain age and his mother would afterwards clean his genitals in a strangely intense manner. All that being said, though, their experiences don't excuse their behavior and there are plenty of people who have experienced worse who didn't turn into monsters.
2007-08-23 07:18:48 · 11 answers · asked by tangerine 7 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
I would have to say Yes AND No.
My father liked philosophical sayings, and one that I remember really hits THIS nail right on the head:
"Those who are cast into a furnace of affliction are either burnt to bitterness or refined to gold."
It is certainly true that happy, well-adjusted people don't do these sorts of things, so we know right off the bat that they are NOT happy with their own lives. A traumatic childhood may fan the flames, but if the coals were not already simmering, there could be no fire.
There is something within the makeup of the person, themself, that determines which way they will go - bitter ashes, refined gold or some gradient in between.
Whatever they experienced in childhood, they are out of and away from it - it is WELL over and gone - by the time they assume their destructive adult roles in life. So for that I do NOT pity them the least little bit!
What I DO pity is what they will have to confront when their destructive lives are finally over! Those who have gone through what we have come to call "Near Death Experiences" (as well as those who have been hypnotically regressed through a former life and into a former death) all report that one of the first things that happens upon entering the "afterlife" is that we re-experience that life from the viewpoints of everyone else we interacted with. We experience first hand all the joys, sorrows, pains, pleasures and traumas we have caused others to feel.
Each of their victims only experienced his or her own death trauma ONCE, but the perpetrator will experience it for EVERY one of his/her victims! Imagine, being brutally murdered 20 or 30 times instead of just once!
LIFE may not be fair, but the "afterlife" IS!
2007-08-23 12:04:34 · answer #1 · answered by monarch butterfly 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can't go as far as saying I pity them but I see where you are coming from: understanding (or trying) to understand someone's appalling behaviour can be confused with sympathy or pity. I think it's important to understand and wonder if not for those experiences would they have still become monsters, but I agree that your last sentence says it all: many people have experienced worse and turn their lives around.
2007-08-23 07:43:02 · answer #2 · answered by sorradic 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. I never feel pity for serial killers or brutal dictators. So what if they had a bad childhood. Who didn't? I'm sick and tired of seeing child rapists and killers use "I was abused as a child" as an excuse for anything. The bastards deserve what's coming to them.
2007-08-23 07:37:48 · answer #3 · answered by jill48 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Have you ever watched the movie Dead Man Walking? its a great film, it shows how it is possible for someone to pity a killer and the victims families at the same time. it shows how someone tries to make sense of the chaos created, yet being sympathetic for the killer as well.
i do feel sympathetic. maybe more than i should. but people have been accusing me of being sick and mad so u shouldn't follow my example.
2007-08-23 16:15:41 · answer #4 · answered by Sasha 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, I pity their victims. As you said, we've all had bad experiences in life. It doesn't excuse their crimes. Everyone is accountable for their own actions.
2007-08-23 07:25:14 · answer #5 · answered by Beckers 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't pity them at all. Many of us are dealt bad hands in life, so what?
2007-08-23 07:29:09 · answer #6 · answered by BAnne 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
well i do pity them their is a reason behind every crime...
wont u hate ur brother if he is irratating u..... i mean som1 must have done something terrible things to them that y they turn out to be like this... COMMON DNT HATE THEM...
2007-08-23 07:33:39 · answer #7 · answered by ANGEL 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nope, not at all.
As a matter of fact, I think they should be guillotined in the public square.
2007-08-23 07:48:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
It was their decision to kill, or their desire to destroy. I have no pity for their decision, it was theirs. I wouldn't have a connection to their destruction.
2007-08-23 07:23:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your last sentence says it for me.
2007-08-23 07:24:13 · answer #10 · answered by picador 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋