Getting Away With Murder
Posted: December 6th, 2004, 7:11 pm
When I was locked up, I did an informal survey. It was not good prison etiquette to inquire into the nature of the crimes that had brought one to the institution, but with patience and tact I was able to interview a number of inmates, particularly concentrating on the murderers.
I found that they fell roughly into two categories. The first category was crimes of circumstance and chance and passion. Someone was drunk or had their back against the wall or was at the wrong place at the wrong time. These people usually had great remorse for their crimes and their victims.
The other category I called the "Iwouldakilledthebichagain" category. These had no remorse.
One of my best friends and workmates was John Kohler. He was a big, fuzzy bear of a man. He reminded me somewhat of Mickey Mantle. He was lovable and great to be around and work with. He was caring and fun loving. We lifted weights together. He could lift three times what I could. If trouble broke out, he stood between me and the trouble. He had a great heart and I was glad he was my friend. Also, he was a cold-blooded murderer.
I don't mean a one-shot deal, a crime of passion. John had killed perhaps a dozen people. He was an executioner. He did it for money. It was his job. He didn't have the slightest regret about killing those people. In his mind, they needed to be killed. They had welched on a bet or ratted out a dope dealer or had stolen money. They deserved it. He would kneel them down and blow their brains out. Necessary. Humane.
He was just doing his job.
John was a blonde, blue-eyed Jew. He was just a soldier doing his job, not unlike the young men and women who are just doing their jobs in Iraq, or the young Nazis who were just doing their jobs in Germany.
With the proper indoctrination, an impressionable young person can easily be convinced that a person of another race or religion or nationality is something less than human. Their is no disgrace in killing the enemy. After all, they deserve it.
I love our soldiers. I don't blame them any more than I blamed John Kohler.
I found that they fell roughly into two categories. The first category was crimes of circumstance and chance and passion. Someone was drunk or had their back against the wall or was at the wrong place at the wrong time. These people usually had great remorse for their crimes and their victims.
The other category I called the "Iwouldakilledthebichagain" category. These had no remorse.
One of my best friends and workmates was John Kohler. He was a big, fuzzy bear of a man. He reminded me somewhat of Mickey Mantle. He was lovable and great to be around and work with. He was caring and fun loving. We lifted weights together. He could lift three times what I could. If trouble broke out, he stood between me and the trouble. He had a great heart and I was glad he was my friend. Also, he was a cold-blooded murderer.
I don't mean a one-shot deal, a crime of passion. John had killed perhaps a dozen people. He was an executioner. He did it for money. It was his job. He didn't have the slightest regret about killing those people. In his mind, they needed to be killed. They had welched on a bet or ratted out a dope dealer or had stolen money. They deserved it. He would kneel them down and blow their brains out. Necessary. Humane.
He was just doing his job.
John was a blonde, blue-eyed Jew. He was just a soldier doing his job, not unlike the young men and women who are just doing their jobs in Iraq, or the young Nazis who were just doing their jobs in Germany.
With the proper indoctrination, an impressionable young person can easily be convinced that a person of another race or religion or nationality is something less than human. Their is no disgrace in killing the enemy. After all, they deserve it.
I love our soldiers. I don't blame them any more than I blamed John Kohler.
