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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022Liked by Richard Hanania

Dahmer gets away with murders but I don’t think you can attribute that to his intelligence. The guy had his neighbor repeatedly complain about the smell, which was decaying human flesh. He seemed incredibly reckless. I am baffled by how he was able to do it 17 times.

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We know some things about serial killers like Dahmer, but these things are unlikely to be emphasized in such a series. Mainly, these people are motivated by unusual sexual interests, called paraphilias, including sadism and necrophilia (and related weird interests that require interviews and reasoning from crimes). Also, it helps to lack a conscience, if one wants to carve and eat innocent people.

These kind of series want to suggest they have insight, and emphasize things like weird parenting behaviors. But the kinds of weird parenting behaviors I understand Dahmer was subjected to are orders of magnitude more common than his weird motivations. (Reminds me of a popular book about Ted Bundy, that emphasized his preference for blondes and tried to explain his behavior and this preference via hatred of his mother.)

Serial killers are fascinating, but they are in some ways simpler than commonly realized, if one is willing to allow the influence of inexplicable sexual interests.

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It’s astonishing that the 13 year old went back after his brother was molested. That’s just inconceivable to me.

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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022

I think in one of the earlier narrative control episodes you discussed the fact that movies and TV shows were predisposed to environmental explanations of personality partially because it allows for telling an interesting narrative. This show at times entertains a hereditarian explanation for Dahmer’s psychopathy at times, which is interesting.

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