FROM CARL:
Over the years of being bombarded with serial-killers in the media it began to dawn on me that due to the intense public interest the serial-killer enjoys, he seemed to be serving a social function. But what? And one day I wondered if these ghoulish and ongoing serial killings weren't modern examples of human sacrifice. That is I've asked myself if they are a modern media version of, say, the ancient Aztec or Druid death-priesthoods.Like the death-priests of old, our modern day versions serve a social function.Otherwise why would they be all over the media constantly, obsessively? Human sacrifice served a function in times of distress to bring good fortune, like a downpouring of rain in the middle of a drought. After the world wars, the invention of nuclear weapons, as well as the prospect of a possible global drought caused by global warming, aren't we living in a time of unbearable distress?
Of course there are great differences in the modus operandi of an Aztec death-priest who operated in full view of his congregation and a modern serial-killer who does his dirty deed in the dark. Yet, not all of them work in the dark like BTK or John Gacey. Certainly James Huberty or Cho sacrificed their victims in the full light of day.
Not to go on and on. It's just a line of thought I've been following to explain why serial killers became a kind of twisted culture hero since Charles Whitman's murder spree in the '60s. His act has been followed by one sickening serial murder spree after another. These days a new spree happens every few months.Are we seeing the rise of a new unofficial death-priesthood whose human sacrifices are being done unconsciously in the name of us all in age of unrelenting distress and anxiety?