Serial killers; A Cultural Phenomenon of the US?

[Fishteacher73]

In the wake of the BTK arrest I was think about the phenomenon of serial killers. This seems to be predominantly an American past-time (Aside from Jack the Ripper and Andrei Chickatilo). Is this an American cultural phenomenon or just another sympom of America being blind to the rest of the world? If it is particularly an American crime, why? Any ideas or suggestions?

[C1ay]

I think I read somewhere that up to 85% of the world's serial killers are in America. It seems that most of them are also caucasian men. The only woman I can think of is Aileen Wournos. I wonder if science should begin to catalogue the genomes of these individuals so that future generations might understand them better.

[orbsycli]

let's put ourselves in their shoes...if they have any.
i would have a lot of free time, and this would give me wayy too much thought about how, when, why, where, who, and what.
in a nutshell, if we were all struggling to survive, there would be no one that would stalk the grounds at night and sever the hands of his victems along with carving glyphics into their chest with toothpicks.

[orbsycli]

also, since 85% of them are american, as c1ay pointed out, maybe they all influence each other in the nation, and they start by getting ideas from the past. and the media here is all over the place. everybody knows the news all of the time no matter what, it's everywhere.

it probably has something to do with the way every single thing is.

[pgrmdave]

Where are the studies that show that it is a mostly american phenomenon? I think it may be more that our media glorifies them, while most other culture's media do not.

[Killean]

Interesting that you would bring up the topic on serial killers. I actualy have a book called Encyclopedia of Serial Killers with information on 86 different killers. It gives details on what they did, how many they killed, and where it had been done. A majority of the book covers killers in the US, most of them the cause of their abhorant behavior is from morbid facinations or cracked under the pressure of their rotten lives.

Of all the men and women in this book, the most grotesque one would be the crimes of Albert Fish. His cause was reported to be a family history of mental illness. I doubt that I could go into any details of what they have done, but I'm sure if I re-read over it I can report some of the causes. Stay tuned.

[orbsycli]

Where there's billionaires, there's serial killers. that's what i (don't really) always say.

[Fishteacher73]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

in a nutshell, if we were all struggling to survive, there would be no one that would stalk the grounds at night and sever the hands of his victems along with carving glyphics into their chest with toothpicks.

Sort of along the grounds of the requirements for art and science to flourish.....

[orbsycli]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

Sort of along the grounds of the requirements for art and science to flourish.....

i suppose in tribes there always at least one who was the "medicine man" and one who sort of didn't belong and painted with berry juice in caves. either i'm close to what you are thinking...or so far off i look like an idiot.

[Fishteacher73]

To a degree. What I was speaking of is a anthropological concept that for things like art and science (things that are great, but not really absolute for survival) are usually put rather low on "the list of thigs to develop" whan you are spending your time stuggling for survival. If you are hungry and cold, you tend to want to get warm and eat, not write haiku.

What I was thinkng was that in the US the available "free time" is at pretty much a high(I know that many European countries actually have shorter work weeks) this allows for the "mental expansion/experiment time" with a volitile mixture of our idolization of media and fame that provides very fertile gound for this development.

Perhaps it is just the hype provided by american media that exploits this form of "entertainment" for ratings that labels these things as "serial killings". Perhaps the "text book" definition of serial killers are everywhere, but in other media markets they are treated as criminals and not sensationalized or "named".