CRIMINALITY

Theme Thursday – Booking Through Thursday
ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
With Thursday Thirteen items of news and views
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. I’m trying a couple of new
prompts – Theme Thursday, and going back to Booking Through
Thursday (will appear Thurs). For new readers, this is the magazine
post that grows through the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, my mini mag with fiction & poetry, or enjoy the lot.

WORDS ON RED

Red has an identity crisis. It is the colour of danger. We see red when
we’re angry and as the Red Planet it’s the god of war. Yet,
vulnerability is the red of a blush; love is symbolized by a red heart,
and what can we say of those ruby-red lips? Red is life, the blood
that flows thru our veins, so maybe it’s right that it’s all shades of us.

WINTER READ

The wind howls, the snow hems you in. The cold bites and the lights
go out. You sit by a blazing fire, shadows flitting with the candle’s
glow. So what to read? An anthology of horror, me thinks, taking me
back to Gothic times; to Poe, to Lovecraft, to Bierce and James; for
as you reach the fearful sweat, nothing warms like a cold chill inside.

CRIMINALITY

I’ve written a lot on crime and over the years a general theory has
grown. It arose by realizing that the conman and serial killer had
similar mind-sets. Both seem to use personas to express themselves
and have self-esteem issues, using their crime to be someone.
These two polarities of crime seem to have similarities.
If so, could all types of criminal fit into the pattern? In the main, crime
requires a lack of conscience. Such a lacking can be seen in both
animal and child, as if they run on instinct. Could what I call the ‘thin
veneer of morality’ be required through moral education to deter such
instinct? If so, then the liberal ethic that in our natural state we are
good is wrong. Studies of criminals suggest they can suffer from
negative blocking, in that compassionate concepts such as ‘love’ or
‘responsibility’ are not understood. This can lead to psychological
distancing which dehumanizes a target, allowing them to commit crime
so easily. This can be reinforced by transferring their own failings onto
the target – hence it is the target’s fault, not theirs. These are, of
course, fantasized realities. And with fantasies uppermost in their
mind-set, we can also see the reason for many of them being failures.
A sense of invulnerability can grow, leading to them becoming
careless. This kind of instinctual mind-set suggests the central
element of crime is a desire to satisfy needs as quickly as possible,
negating the usual processes of civilized society. And only in this way
can they feel fulfilled and successful.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Two recent
euthanasia cases. One jailed for
murder, one free. We need a court to
safeguard intent, no matter how harrowing.

BRIT NEWS: Could be cuts in affordable homes over
next 10 yrs. A society that raises price of house above
what can be afforded is wrong.

BRIT NEWS: Children living in severe poverty increased in last
4 yrs. Seems to come in line with measures to beat it. Obviously wrong.

BRIT NEWS: Amid placards saying ‘Bliar’, Blair has been to the Iraq
Inquiry. Any regrets? No. Anything new? No. Glad he’s gone? Oh, yes!

BRIT NEWS: Britain is out of Recession – just. With growth just 0.1%
its going to be a hard recovery – if such a flawed system can.

BRIT NEWS: Gap between average income & richest 10% still
increasing. So try to help the poor & create a new super
-rich. Is always thus.

BRIT NEWS: Report hints our roads are failing. Well,
when you have pretend affluence by not
servicing infrastructure what do
you expect?

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday
Sunday Scribblings

SINGLE AGAIN

Her grief was plain for all to see,
She even cried at the funeral tea,
Single life was hers once more,
With plenty of money in the bottom drawer,
But as so often is her way,
She met another – began to play,
Spinning her web until sucked dry,
And then the poison she would apply

THE WALLET

Fiction: He stole the man’s wallet just before he was shot. He just
stood there, stupidly, watching him fall. Once he realized the man was
dead, another revelation came to him. He’d seen the gunman, which
made HIM a witness. Consequently, he began to run – something he
was used to doing in his line of business. Looking back, he realized the
precarious situation he was in. The gunman was on his tail. He was
obviously after the wallet, he decided, and stopped, offering the
gunman his prize. If only he’d realized that he’d missed first time; or
the irony of him paying his own killer.

CRIME SCENE

Murderer’s footprint in the blood,
Tells so much of how he could,
Thoughts translate to actions true,
Leaving the police with all those clues;
A crime scene is a story intact,
Of how he came here, all the facts,
Read it correctly, you’re half way there,
To understanding a killer’s stare

FLASH 55 – END GAME

Fiction: Life just isn’t worth living – not with what I’ve done. I guess
I’m a coward. I invite four them to the meeting. Four people I learnt a
lot about. When I sit with them I smile. One of them is a murderer, I’m
sure. As I begin the blackmailing, he just doesn’t know it yet.

TARGET

I’m a mugger – I’m watching you,
Judging as you pass on through,
I’m looking for the weakest in the crowd,
Get it right! Never caught! I’m very proud;
That odor of fear is what I need,
Then I’ll strike! You’ll lurch and cede;
Frantic, people will pass you by,
I’ve got them spooked – don’t hear your cry

THE MESSAGE

Got a message in a bottle, over my head,
Poured over my hair, my scalp it bled,
I guess it’s my fault – I went astray,
Career of crime without delay,
I’m now in the circle, can’t get out,
At least, for a time, there was no doubt,
Until now, when I know I’ll soon be dead,
But I gave HIM a message – made of lead

A THOUGHT: It took the west
100s of years to develop democracy,
yet we expect Iraq & Afghanistan to do it
overnight. What fools we are.

TECH NEWS: Apple launch iPad to challenge Kindle.
Okay, very nice. Now, where’s my book? They’ll never
capture its aesthetic value.

TV WATCH: The Soap conundrum: Drama needs extreme situations
to work. So does a daily dose make normal social interaction extreme?

HEALTH NEWS: Dr Andrew Wakefield who fuelled MMR scare with his
research failed in his duties says GMC. Contrary research no
longer allowed?

MOVIE WATCH: Watched 2 films back to back – Sands
of Iwo Jima, about fighting for freedom, & Thelma
& Louise, where they get it. What irony.

MAD BRITS: A company advertising for a
reliable worker was pulled up for
discriminating against
unreliable workers.
Unbelievable.

© Anthony North, February 2010

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