Week 5 - Sabrina Gomez A01

Sabrina Gomez
A01

In his piece, "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence" Darrell Hamamoto explores the the complexity in human civilization that is violent death, or in other cases murder. I had personally never read yet alone researched anything close to an article on serial killers. Prior to reading this article, as it talks about one of the most infamous serial killers known as Ted Bundy, I had heard about him before as his reputation from as a charming and successful serial killer not too long ago. Alongside Bundy, I had also heard of the infamous killer Jeffrey Dahmer through media popularizing. However, as Hamamoto explores in depth the various angles to violent death, he exposes a lot of the topics that are otherwise not brought to the surface. Whether or not it not be as terrifying enough for movies or for other factors. These factors however, or in other words the motives behind serial killing I believe, are important to raise awareness to because if anything, identifying the motives and and then targeting them are the first step to then get our society to get in control of violent death and to protect more innocent lives. These factors such as economic instability, problems at work, or racism are all prominent issues in society and therefore is logical to be linked with an issue as terrible as violent deaths which has plagued mankind for decades. This article has not only been a wake up call to some extent, but is also a valuable step to begin to understand one of the most serious and terrible issues in our society.

Question: Can the government itself do anything to address the issues that could lead to the motives behind serial killing? Ex: Economic instability and resentment against minorities
Thoughts: The first step that the government can do address these issues is to first publicly acknowledge these issues through means of taking action. Raising racial awareness as well as attempting to compensate workers is one step, although difficult definitely.

References:

1) Hamamoto, Y. Darrell. “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence.” Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire, by Carl Boggs, Routledge, 2003, pp. 276-292.

2) "Young Jeffrey Dahmer". Derfcity Publications. 2012. Retrieved October 22nd, 2017. [Digital Image] https://waywardamericans.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/jeffrey-dahmer/