Week 5_Annalisa Dailo_A02

In this week's reading, Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence by Darrel Y. Hamamoto, he explains muder in depth of the different types there are. The most interesting parts of this article was how he talks about the characteristics of Ted Bundy and other murderers. One of the big factors that some of these "successful" murderers share is their charismatic nature and their ability to have people fall head over heels for them. When Ted Bundy was put to death, a group or women were in distress, as if he had some sort of "fan club." Likewise, Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker, was also charismatic in some cases. Although, it was not brought up as much as Bundy's case and that he broke and entered in multiple homes, two women fell head over heels for his affection meanwhile being a part of the jury duty involving his court case. In a jailhouse interview (A Conversation with Richard Ramirez-- The Night Stalker- Reported by Mike Watkiss) one of the series of questions that really caught my attention was:
"[...] Do you have any emotions, Richard?"
"No comment."
"Tell me what kind of emotions you have going on for you right now."
"I'll tell you what, I gave up love and happiness a long time ago."
"Why?"
"[...] Let the quote stand for itself."
This small bit of dialogue really caught my attention because the rest of the interview just sounded scripted on Ramirez's end, with his plea of innocence on account of thirteen murders.  Aside from that, it kind of put me in perspective with where his mind is currently at.

After reading that article, it left me feeling very uncomfortable such that evil individuals have a mask that everyone would adore. It's scary how they use their intelligence and charisma towards easy manipulation.

Question: Since most of the murders in the article were upon people of color, wouldn't the hatred be more directed towards their suffering rather than pleasure?

References:

Hamamoto, D.Y. (2003). Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence.

Watkiss, Mike, director. A Conversation with Richard Ramirez--The Night Stalker--Reported by Mike Watkiss. YouTube, YouTube, 27 Nov. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5huwZoPZA.

Image:https://www.listeningpartnership.com/insight/master-manipulator/?locale=en