Society to Blame for Serial Killers

Convicted Kenyan Serial killer Philip Ondara Onyancha.

A serial killer is a very frightening person. He/she is said to be a person who has killed three or more people over a period of more than a month but taking short breaks in-between the murders. Since time immemorial, the world has been shocked and dismayed by the sordid tales of these human beings who totally lack respect for the sanctity of life. They kill without remorse whatsoever, sometimes for reasons better known to them.

Over the years, serial killers have grown younger, bolder and thirstier for human blood. According to criminologist Jose Sanchez, “the young criminal you see today is more detached from his victim, more ready to hurt or kill…the lack of empathy for their victims among young criminals is just one symptom of a problem that afflicts the whole society”. It’s apparent the society no longer has control over its own, and a serial killer is just but an exposed sore thumb of a badly rotten hand that is our society.

The guardians of morality have badly failed our society. Kenyan serial killer Philip Ondara Onyancha was introduced to a satanic cult by his high school teacher. Contrary to the common expectation that a teacher ought to guide a student in a path of what is right and proper, this female teacher went against the grain by introducing a student entrusted in her care to the dark world of secret cultism. By the time of his arrest, going by his own confession, Philip, then a 30 year old security guard, had killed 19 people mostly children and women whom he considered “the weaker sex”. Such machismo is definitely a by-product of an incorrect upbringing.

Regardless of how you look at it, a broken home always impacts negatively on a child. According to authors Ressler and Shachtman, a missing proper father figure is a common feature manifested in almost every serial killer’s childhood. Stewart Wilken was a horrendous South African serial killer who abused and killed children because he himself had been abused as a child after he was abandoned by both his biological parents. To paraphrase an anonymous author, apparently, fantasies find especially fertile soil in the tortured and the isolated. If only parents could consider their children more before parting ways, sometimes on the flimsiest of reasons, somebody somewhere could be saved the unnecessary pain of losing a loved one in the most scary of ways possible to imagine.

Nowadays the society is more tolerant to a foul mouth than ever before. Furthermore, a violent culture is now welcomed and celebrated. Some call it emancipation while others are of the opinion that it’s a clear highway to self-destruction.  American serial killer Ted Bundy cited a pornographic and violent culture as an influence to his nauseating crimes, and Ed Kemper confessed to idolizing actor John Wayne. It goes undisputed that our media content has grown more graphic, a situation that clearly exacerbates moral decadence. Our obsession with murderers is clearly reflected in our films and books. And this informs the need to kill, especially famous personalities so as to become famous as was the case with singer John Lennon’s killer. The media equally made Jean Harris famous for killing her celebrity boyfriend, cardiologist Herman Tarnower, famed as the creator of the Scarsdale diet.

In his book titled Gangster, Lorenzo Carcatterra blames the society for a cycle of violence in which children of criminals become criminals as well because the society doesn’t treat them any better. It should be understood that being born of a criminal parent doesn’t automatically qualify one as a criminal. Crime is an individual choice that has nothing to do with genetics. By pointing fingers and ostracizing children from criminal households, the society only tends to push such unfortunate children into the murky waters of crime, because regardless of how good they become, the society will always remain blind and accusing. However, it should be noted that children tend to be very imitative and can sometimes easily take to the life of crime because somebody they hold in high regard, say a father, is involved in the same.

Serial killers unlike ordinary people tend to be more pleasant, gracious, charming and sometimes quite attractive. So what turns such a person into a killer? I think people become mean because they are hurt. And most of us tend to be indifferent to the pain of others. Different people react differently when hurt. Some bolt the pain inside them and blame everybody for how they feel while others try to share. But then again, sometimes, this pain explodes because there is nobody understanding enough to talk to and listen. Most families have become dysfunctional and brooding grounds for future perverts because every parent is obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder to the top, at the expense of their children’s well-being. Clearly, the society is to blame for serial killers and unless people tone down a little bit, care and treat each other much better and courteously, then our society is headed for harder times.