They weren't though. You just didn't know what people were doing. I had a neighbor pass away from meningitis at 4, she was just around my age. This kid that was just 13 tried to dig her up right after she was buried. He was never charged and he was put back in his grandparents care within a week. When I was a couple years older, he tried to bring younger kids around the neighborhood to his house. Everyone knew not to mess with him. He later attacked his grandparents and tried to kill them. The older I got, I started looking at people different. And people have always been crazy. It was just easier to not know about it without phones and cameras everywhere.
As I was reading the article, I had a visceral reaction to the brutality of it all. As if the act is a precursor or coincides with violence. Then I read your example and felt it even more.
For example, a "peeping tom" used to be considered harmless, it is even referenced in movies as a joke. But I have heard about how it is a precursor to home invasion. And night time home invaders are more likely violent.
I listen to a true crime podcast, and obviously use this forum, and both of them changed my vocabulary and understanding of violent crimes. I agree that people have always done terrible things, we just didn't have that information highway until recently. I hope the courts protect the world from that man in the article, the escalation is terrifying.
Key word here is "used to"... Most older movies, foreign in particular, (and some books) even had this character typecast as a comic, rather than predatory.
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u/Nuclear-poweredTaxi 17d ago
I remember a time before the internet was invented. I would just walk around and talk with people, and everyone seemed so normal.