This is very interesting. Why do you think that society glorifies serial killers and not mass murderers too? Why do you think we glorify either of these at all? I feel like all of the recent documentaries are contributing majorly to the glorification, however, I also see the value in watching them. I think they can teach us a lot, but unfortunately I think they shine a brighter light on these horrible crimes.

I really like this as it really brings up something that bugs me when people talk about how these people have no fame as there is no reason for it. People like this are idolized because they can get away with it and that they tend to get the girl in the process of doing so.
Specifically, there is a youtube video called serial killers aren’t sexy, which really annoyed me. Ted Bundy was able to do what he did because he was an all-American hottie (idk what else to call it.) He was charming, which is what I think people tend to idolize about these people, because they tend to be the most extreme cases of being charming and attractive because they were so charming and so attractive that they got away with it, not the crimes that they did. No one really idolizes someone like John Wayne Gacy because there isn’t much to idolize there.

Anna, This is one of my favorite things to read about I am obsessed with crime stories and I really thought I knew about all this but reading this I had no idea. I really did not know the difference between the two, I thought that mass murders were just someone that killed a bunch of people. Adding onto what Miriam said do you think that the movies and shows about murders draws too much attention and actually makes the problem of serial killers and mass murders worse?

Anna, I think this is a very interesting topic and I would love to hear more about this. I had never thought of the idea that the glorification of serial killers would have such a negative effect of the families, but that is a very important thing to consider. I particularly liked when you said that “Newspapers have killers faces on the cover, Netflix is creating television shows about them, and children are being raised in a world where they are worshiped.” Here is an article you might find interesting: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/10/the-grisly-all-american-appeal-of-serial-killers/381690/

Anna, I think that this was a super interesting area to research. You briefly brought up the idea of “glorification” which I think is totally true. If you were to look at the past few years in popular culture, there are movies about Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, serial kidnappers, pedophiles, and so much more. I think the increase in these types of works are due to the fact that there’s a disconnect with time and also human’s morbid perversion with deranged people. From now, I need to pay attention to how much I also glorify these people. This might be an cool source to check out. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201710/our-curious-fascination-serial-killers

Anna, I love the topic you chose. In general, society tends to glorify the violent most likely due to morbid curiosity. In addition to serial killers, we see this frequently in the news with horrific events such as mass shootings. When a mass shooting occurs the public immediately wants to know details about the person responsible, which results in glorification of the killer.

I never really looked at this perspective when it came to serial killers because of how society portrays them. I like that you shed a light on the victims families because they lost someone very dear to them. Society just wants to make money through shows and movies. I recently saw this through the upcoming movie about the zodiac killer with Zac Efron.

Anna I have already really enjoyed the topic you are researching and I find it interesting that people are often really fascinated by the terrible things they do as serial killers. I think i rings true very well especially like in the shows we often enjoy watching like criminal minds. I found this article that I think will help you in your research.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201710/our-curious-fascination-serial-killers

Hey Anna,
I really found your article to be very interesting. I know that personally, I find myself drawn to shows and information about serial killers, but I never really knew why. Many of these reasons that are things that I can definitely connect to. I would just wonder if there are any consequences to this new phenomenon, and if so, what can we do to prevent this? I hope to see more information from this topic from you.

This is very interesting. I personally know that I find serial killers and their stories very interesting and intriguing. It makes sense though now why many are drawn and it’s mostly because of the attention it is given on t.v, shows, and documentaries. You brought up the notion of that caring people always tend to ask and question why do such horrible things to someone. And I want to know if these people are interesting in serial killers too or do they just look for specific things in any case of a serial killer.

I’ve always been fascinated with topics like this, yet I did’t know why. Reading your article was really interesting to me, because I was unaware of the rationale behind people being intrigued with killers.

Anna,

I really enjoying reading your piece about gun violence and gun control. I like how you brought up a new side to the “is this unconstitutional?” debate, because while many argue that banning guns goes against the second amendment, we are also supposed to have the “right to live free of violence, discrimination and fear”, which is definitely not true now with the easy access to guns and many school shootings. I also like how you related it to your life and commented on the irony of people who say that teenagers don’t know much so they shouldn’t be included in the discussion, while in fact we are the ones being affected by school shootings and such. Lastly, I liked how you also clarified that weapons that were originally made for wartime are now being basically handed out because they are so easy to get a hold of.

In the end, I think you did a great job in writing an argumentative piece about how youths’ voices are important in issues such as gun violence and how teenagers should not be afraid to speak their mind. One article related to this topic is “Young people can’t change US gun law alone – but they can tip the balance”, which you may be interested in reading. I am looking forward to reading more from you.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/23/young-people-us-gun-law-florida-schoolchildren

So, you used a lot of subjective ideas and feelings in this piece. You used very clever wordplay by saying “semiautomatic weapons”, very clever. Unfortunately for you, pretty much all weapons legal for private citizens are semiautomatic. Including handguns. Handguns make up most of the gun deaths in America, excluding suicides of course. Rifles (“Assault” Rifles are not a thing) hardly make up any of the homicides according to the FBI. You’re 4x more likely to be stabbed to death than being killed with a rifle. Banning or regulating firearms is a very horrid idea. The number of gun homicides in America per-year is around 33,000, 11,000 if you exclude suicides. Now, compare that to the number of lives saved by guns each year, which is anywhere between 500,000-3 million according to the CDC. Banning or regulating firearms is an asinine idea that will only hurt this country more.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-4.xls

UPDATED: Mass Public Shootings keep occurring in Gun-Free Zones: 97.8% of attacks since 1950

Unpublished CDC Study Supports Claim Of Over 2 Million Yearly Defensive Gun Uses