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Storms and disappointed faces
July 6th, Kansas City: Our news anchors on storm watch. |
Tuesday, July 1st, severe weather crossed through the Kansas City area. As usual all TV programs were interrupted and we got hours of hours of repeats, warnings, wild exagerrations (there was damage to a parking lot and some vehicles including the total devastation of a fireworks sales tent in Lee's Summit, but the trees around were still there, and except for loosing some shingles, the buildings right where the news claimed "a tornado touched the ground" had still all windows and roofs) and well, more repeats. There was not that much to report actually, for the simple facts, the occasional alert message would have been entirely sufficient, but instead, we got the same, over and over again. And then, it happened, this time on Channel 5. One anchor asks the other one whether there were people injured and the asked colleague couldn't suppress the regret in his voice when he said "nobody was injured" and the asking anchor made a disappointed face, just for a short moment before he has his expression under control again. As I said, it was only a short moment, but it was in a twisted way a deja vu. We remeber when whole towns were devastated by tornados in the past years and yes, we also remember the unmitigated enthusiasm of news anchors reporting piling up numbers of dead and injured people.
Now, body counts count, obviously. Once, in a long gone era, the quality of news was determined by the precision and speed of the information. Now, the only measure is the body count. And if there is no body count, there will be disappointed faces from the anchors. Nothing to feed the bloodthirsty TV auditorium. Which brings obviously TV stations in the situation to pray for as many victims as possible because that is what makes the modern news. | When did this start? Nobody can say exactly. A long time ago and it was a sneaking effect, like a sickness slowly creeping up.
 Bad weather over KC
We all got used to burnt and maimed bodies at dinner time live in color and HD. We got fed with it. And to be honest, there is not one news outlet anymore that is able to resist the bloody piece de resistance in favor of precise information. What we get from the news are brutal eye pieces, not news anymore.
I wrote in the past in books and board discussions that I think, the term "humanity" is quite over-estimated. By all means we talk about a something that killed millions of our own kind in the past and is ready to do so again at a moment's notice. The positive notion, everybody feels in "humanity" is a cheating appearance because it covers up the atrocities humankind produces since thousands of years on an almost daily basis. However, this little moment in the weather tracking show, and that is what it actually was, showed, the beard is off, there is not even a serious attempt anymore to hide what we have become. We all, not only the news anchors. Those news anchors, they are an extreme symptom for the disease, not the root cause. But of course, they work as amplifiers.
We live in a world in which vicitms of crime, of accidents and last but not least severe weather, have been | reduced to body counts to sell news and by that the commercial blocks. You may have noticed, that there is no breaking news important enough to interrupt a commercial. All serves the God Mammon, right? And serving Mammon alone means to sell out the own "humanity". But then, that's anyway an over-estimated notion, isn't it? In a way, despite all technology, despite of all out "cultural progress" this little moment showed, what nobody wants to admit: We are slowly falling back to the ethic level of animals. We even invented a kind of news system that delivers the perpetual smell of fresh blood direct to our dinner tables. The question is, how much this kind of behavior will influence our future. In some urban areas, millions of people live together on a very limited space. Do you really think, systematically brutalization together with as systematically polarization is a good idea? Then think again!
-PB- |
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Tue, May 17, 2016
12:00 AM CT
Daniel Lee Siebert
Daniel Lee Siebert is now also in our serial killer collection. A more or less garden variety strangler type who got away longer than necessary bacause some big PDs dropped the ball ... and left it to smaller ones, to get the job done.
| Fri, Dec 18, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Christman Genipperteinga
THe legendary robber along the wine road Trier-Cologne made it finally into our collection. With a total of 970 victim, including six of them his own children, he is currently the most prolific serial killer in the Collection.
| Thu, Oct 22, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Gerard John Schaefer
The allegedly most prolific Florida Serial Killer, "Killer Cop" Gerard Schaefer, finally also made his way into out collection.
| Thu, Sep 24, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Royal Russel Long
Long was quite messed up in the investigation of the Wyoming Rodeo Murders, but details show, he was another kind of animal, y typeless pedophile serial killer. Now his file is in our collection.
| Mon, Aug 17, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Wyoming Rodeo Murders
A story of misperceptions and midnless cabinet cleaning by police authorities that ended up with someone getting away with at least two murders on young women. Now in our collection.
| Wed, Jul 15, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper
Now new in our collection: Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper. The first case, blood spatter analysis was used in a court trial world wide!
| Sat, Jun 20, 2015
12:00 AM CST
No new addition in June
Usually, we try to bring another case up in our serial killer collection every month, but this month, we simply had no time. Between working open cases and other activities, it was just not possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.
| Sat, May 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Beauty Queen Killer
New in the serial killer collection: Christopher Wilder, the Beauty Queen Killer. A case that shows how nonsensical the disctinction between serial and spree killers really is.
| Thu, Apr 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Burton W. Abbott
Abbott killed only one victim, a case that caused some public attention in 1955. But he showed all hallmarks of a fledgling serial killer and thus, we added him to our collection.
| Mon, Mar 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Darren Deon Vann
Ha is basically the usual garden variety strangler case if it wouldn't be for the early warnings statistical data cretated about serial killer activity in Gary/Indiana. Now he is in our collection.
| Wed, Mar 4, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Apologies!
Due to technical problems, the March article was up late. Take my apologies for this glitch.
| Mon, Feb 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Affaire of the Poisons
We have added the infamous Affaire of the Poisons to our collection. With more than 80 offenders, it breaks a little the format, but well, it's one of the biggest cases of "organized" crime ever, so how can we let it out?
| Mon, Dec 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Bryan
Once he made the FBI Ten Most Wanted list, now nobody remembers the case anymore. Nevertheless, the father of all allegedly schizophrenic serial killers has entered our collection.
| Fri, Nov 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Trailside Killer
David Joseph Carpenter has now become also part of the Serial Killer Collection ... complete with profile.
| Tue, Oct 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Vampire of Duesseldorf
Peter Kuerten aka The Vampire of Duesseldorf roamed the city at the River Rhine for more than two years and left behind a trail of bodies-
| Fri, Sep 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Grim Sleeper
Lonnie Franklin aka The Grim Sleeper has been added to our serial killer collection
| Thu, Aug 14, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Michael Lee Lockhart
... and with a little delay, another serial made it into the serial killer collection. Michael Lee Lockhart, not so much interesting for his "achievements" but because his case appears as if he became a psychopath only after a serious head injury.
| Tue, Aug 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
A Game of Daggers
Diane's new novel A GAME OF DAGGERS is now available at Amazon for Kindle. A story of murder, mayhem and political intrigue set up in the year of the Lord 1096.
Pope Urban II has called for a crusade, but this news has yet to reach Cornwall. And people there have anyway to deal with other problems from storms to wreckers on their coast and when some murdered men are discovered on the beach, nobody guesses, this is only the prelude to much greater events coming to the so remote shores ...
| Sat, Jul 5, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Ivan Hill
Ivan Hill, as the first of the many serial killers, who haunted Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s, is now added to our serial killer collection.
| Sun, Jun 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Raya and Sakina
The famous Egyptian serial killers have become part of our collection. And as so often, things are not as simple as the urban legend tries to tell us.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Dagmar Overbye
The infamous Danish baby farmer has been added to our Serial Killer Collection.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Djoser added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add a new pharaoh to our collection: Djoser, 1st Pharoh of the 3rd Dynasty.
| Fri, Apr 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Green River Killer
This month, we added Gary Ridgway to our serial killer collection, a case, not so much interesting for the profiling but for the lessons about case organization to be learned from it.
| Tue, Mar 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Manson Family
The "Manson Family&quo; has been added to our serial killer collection. Especially interesting for those who think, brain washing isn't possible.
| Fri, Feb 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Hans van Zon
Dutch serial killer Hans van Zon joined our serial killer collection. Not entirely voluntarily though.
| Mon, Jan 6, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Syracuse Dungeon Master
John T. Jamelske aka the Syracuse Dungeon Master has been added to our Serial Killer Collection. While not a seria killer but a serial rapist, Jamelske represents a similar psychopathology as some OCD type serial killers, for example Dahmer and therefore is some valuable object for studies.
| Thu, Jan 2, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Khasekhemwy
The last of the 2nd dynasty pharaohs, the man who re-united Egypt, is now also in the Egyptian collection.
| Thu, Dec 12, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Sekhemib added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add Pharaoh Sekhemib to the collection, the sixth of the 2nd Dynasty. So, with some luck, I can finish this year the 2nd dynsty, only one, Khasekhemwy is left.
| Tue, Dec 10, 2013
12:00 AM CT
The Riha disappearance
In 1969, Dr. Thomas Riha disappeared and in the subconsequent series of events, Gloria Tannenbaum was arrested for forgery and under suspicion of two other homicides. She plead not guilty by reason of insanity and got away with it. The case has now been added to our serial killer collection.
| Mon, Nov 4, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Richard N. Clarey jr.
Clarey is one of the lesser known serial killers, skirting the definition a little. Still, for some reasons an interesting case.
| Wed, Oct 2, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Now in the collection: William E. Cosden
A garden variety sexual predator, notable only because his existence shows, how wrong the idea of 1 monster at 1 time in 1 area is.
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