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Wetiko – Cognitive Infiltration of the Third Kind
Wetiko – Cognitive Infiltration of the Third Kind
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Infiltration Pyramid (Image h/t to WB7 @ http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/)
Just like millions of children before me, when I was young I would play imaginary games populated with scary monsters and evil space aliens. And of course I was always the courageous and handsome hero who saved the planet from certain doom and total annihilation again and again and again. I never tired of the game because the cast of characters and wacky scenarios I could play out was limited only by my imagination, thankfully a fertile garden at that time. In fact my mother still tells anyone who will listen that when I was an infant she could place me in my crib with a few scattered toys and I would be happily sated for hours on end. Such is the power of naval gazing and soul searching.
One of my favorite imaginary set ups was suddenly finding that while everyone around me appeared perfectly normal on the outside, on the inside they were ugly monsters or plague carrying mutants, most certainly something to avoid at all costs. Then I would spend the rest of the play period, sometimes for entire weekends, trying to avoid any physical contact with family, friends, neighbors and especially strangers in order to keep from being infected or consumed. Often I would entice a few select uninfected friends to join in the fun and we would craft powerful weapons to help us rid the world of the terrible pestilence.
This was excellent practice for a young mind to learn how to look and act ‘normal’, to fit in while living within an insane world, mostly because part of the game was to interact with the infected humans in order to dispatch them to hell or any available alien spacecraft orbiting above. If they saw you coming and suspected your intent, the monster within would suddenly spring forth and quickly devour or infect you. Since these inner beasts had eyes hidden in the back of their human heads, it was no use trying to sneak up on them because you would quickly be spotted.
So the best approach was always to act normal and walk right up to the human monster as if nothing was wrong, then quickly draw your weapon and gun them down. If we smirked or snickered or even wet our pants, we blew our cover and the jig was up. We always thought it was loads of fun, though I’m quite certain the adults in the neighborhood didn’t take too kindly to our antics. Then again, you would expect the insane and the infected to be that anyway. Ah, but to be young once again and not know what I know today. The good old days of blissful ignorance most definitely has its own compelling charm.
Today’s youth are much less likely to create imaginary worlds and then play in them, and much more likely to play within imaginary worlds already created for them a la video games and interactive 3D TV. There is a world of difference between these two applications of our imagination, though I will not be a hypocrite and declare that the imagination of my youth (or ‘yute’ as my cousin Vinny and I would say) was free from external influence. One cannot deny that my monster and space alien play things sprang from popular culture and that this has been true for thousands of years. So while the bogeymen might change from generation to generation, society’s cultural indoctrination and de-spiritualization does not.
But, and there is always a but in the way of our oversized ego, the one constant down through the ages has been that while the initial wisp of a play idea may have been supplied by our culture, the heavy lifting and finer details were generated entirely by our own powerful imagination, the only true reality creation device in the universe. That old saying about how if you aren’t creating your own reality, someone else will create one for you is frighteningly prescient. Will someone please stop this reality because I want to get off? Let’s just say I need to go pee and leave it at that, OK?
Today we are witnessing another giant (and possibly fatal) leap into the dark abyss of insanity begetting more insanity, only now our imagination is being held captive and molded by the use of artificially created computer realities on an ever increasing scale and velocity. Call it High Frequency Transcendentalism (HFT) only traveling ass backwards and rapidly accelerating. And we are talking about artificial realities, mind you, that 20 years from now will be indistinguishable from the ‘real’ thing. Though I bet I could successfully argue that anything created by our imagination is real in every sense of the word, which means our present day insanity is a product of……our………insanity. OK, now I really want to get off.
I’m not some old fart bemoaning the passing of yesteryear and the souring of today’s milk. Ok I am an old fart, but the real question here is do we even recognize the exponential increase of ever more insanity in our daily lives? And what would we actually do about it if we did? This is not intended to be a rhetorical question, but rather the springboard to a broader discussion, the details of which I will leave to Paul Levy in his new book “Wetiko, The Greatest Epidemic Sickness Known to Humanity”, (here) a book I urge you to purchase and read, either in paperback or electronic form. While I dance around the edges and act like I know what I’m doing (just like in my ‘yute’) Paul hammers out the ugly details and actually presents a recovery strategy. Well worth your time and Federal Reserve Notes (aka fracking fiat).
So how do we identify the infection within us when all seems perfectly normal on the surface? When I played the game, either I would bestow upon myself some magical powers that made the monsters visible only to me or I would just assume everyone was infected and blast away indiscriminately, the latter being the most fun. But my basic assumption was always the same, that I was infection free and thus perfectly positioned to be judge, jury and executioner. Such is not the case today, or should I say not in this particular reality. Because whether we care to admit it or not, we are all infected with Wetiko - The Insanity Disease.
I suspect we won’t need to worry about crafting weapons because the only effective antibiotic available to battle our insanity is the disinfecting power of conscious awareness of our own insanity. In a brilliant expression of cosmic karma, not to mention providing the last laugh for our alien Gods, we don’t even know how truly insane we are. I suppose a bright-side-of-life kind of guy might say that this alone saves us the staggering cost of intensive global psychotherapy, though no one has yet explained to me how the insane can cure the insane. But then again, what difference does it make anyway when we really don’t know what sanity looks like. Remember that all we know how to do is act the part, and all we have for role models is other insane asylum inmates.
In fact the only thing that separates you and me from those who are locked up in a mental institution is that we are the majority and thus we get to determine the rules of the game. Of course, this understanding then begs the bigger question. Are the evil space aliens all just members of an even greater majority and thus our collective mental institution is simply planet Earth? If this is the case, then Earth’s so-called leadership are simply Warden’s assigned to keep the inmate population so distracted and disorientated that we never become self aware long enough to organize a resistance and jump the fence. Oh, and they make sure we keep our cages clean and we are fed.
As humorous as this might sound, since we are all insane, I dare you to prove me wrong when your ‘logical’ explanation springs from the very same insanity that produces mine. The only reason yours might sound more reasonable is because it fits within the current insane narrative and thus is supported by the insane majority. By the way, your response at this point is to highlight my insanity by saying “But it is you who are insane, not me”, thus confirming for both of us the righteousness of our insane arguments. Who says insanity can’t be fun?
The only reason those we lock up in the mental institutions believe they are insane (and many do not) is because we tell them they are. Imagine that, the insane telling the insane they are insane and that the insane will cure their insanity. Makes you just want to kick back and watch your flat screen color TV for some more normalcy bias programming. Which brings us back to the future where the burning question in 15 months will be “Have you voted for your choice for Warden today”? I did and I have my red, white and blue sticker as proof, which means I am certifiably sane.
However, after careful thought and quiet deliberation, I’m beginning to see the wisdom of the majority who all pretty much agree that since we can never really tell the difference, there is little we can do about the problem and we might as well just break out the kegs and proceed directly to the party. This argument is not without merit since absent a disinterested third party (maybe a passing space alien volunteer?) who can quietly sort out the sick from the sicker from the sickest without anyone knowing, a sort of mental triage on the down low, that the best response is just to let our mental illness all hang out. But wait a minute, isn’t that precisely what we’re doing right now? Now I’m really confused. Damn you Cass Sunstein, get out of my head.
But wouldn’t you know it, just when the party hits full steam and the beer and projectile vomiting are both flowing freely, someone goes and blows the whole night by saying something completely and utterly politically incorrect, such as “Maybe our illness compels us to just give up and rut in the mud precisely so that the disease can not only survive, but even prosper. Maybe if we focused our conscious energy towards recognizing our disease and all its symptoms that it would almost immediately begin to recede and abate.”
Bummer dude, who invited him to the party and when is he leaving? Marge, I think next time I’ll handle the guest list, OK?
But what if? I mean seriously, what if? What if all this raving lunacy isn’t just human nature, at least not as it has been experienced for several thousand years? Suppose instead that humans are infected with a spiritual deficiency or corruption that has slowly rotted the humanity out of our spiritual being, leaving only the lying, thieving, cheating, sociopathic predator behind that was formerly balanced out and even suppressed by an inner guiding light? Could it be that all the ugly destructive traits we attribute to the human condition are caused by a treatable malady? And the only reason we don’t resist is because we are controlled by the disease in the same manner as some types of parasites compel the animal host to eat or drink substances that, while harmful to the host, feed the parasite?
<All at the party are dead silent as crickets chirp in the background and the grass continues to grow.>
Kidding, just kidding folks. So who’s ready for another round? Marge, where did you put the shot glasses and Jagermeister? Man, I’m gonna get bombed tonight or die trying. And maybe even both.
07-18-2011
Cognitive Dissonance
___________________________
Those readers who have been following me for some time, both in the general comment section and as I post essays, know that I rarely if ever recommend any specific reading material for a variety of reasons. I just don’t. But I am making an exception for an important work by Paul Levy; someone for whom I guest posted an article (here) back in January of this year that became part of his new book “Wetiko, The Greatest Epidemic Sickness Known to Humanity.”
I’ve know Paul for a little more than two years now, speaking often with him in private session. And I’ve come to greatly respect his process, knowledge and inner connections. When I talk about looking within and knowing yourself, I am in effect speaking about Paul Levy, who walks the talk and has done so for decades. However I am not alone in my praise for his new work, for no less than Catherine Austin Fitts wrote the Foreword and Sting contributed a ringing endorsement for the back cover, along with Dr. Arny Mindell, founder of ‘process-oriented psychology’.
At 152 pages long and in paperback format (as well as a .pdf downloadable version) this is not an epic read. But neither does this mean you’ll breeze through it in two hours on the beach. While the book might not be thick, it is chock full of penetrating insight though surprisingly readable considering the material. What I love about this book is that you can open up to any random page and just jump right in. Within a few paragraphs you are fully engrossed, but if you wish you can flip 30 pages ahead and start in all over again. And best of all for Zero Hedge fans, Paul talks about vampire squids. So what’s not to love about this gem of a book?
Please visit Paul’s web site, the only place at the moment where you will find this early release, and purchase the paperback or downloadable file. The price is extremely reasonable and the paperback includes free shipping in the USA. But best of all, the contents are absolutely priceless and highly recommended.
CD
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excellent hypothesis...plausible
Of far greater likelihood is that there are structural differences in the physiology of people like Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia (and Nicolas Sarkozy and Tony Blair, Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson... you KNOW the 'type')
Really?
So capitalism is a function of human nature, but these folks are "just to much"?
You should try to look at things from a less political starting point.
I think you have been reading too much Chomsky.
Depends on what you mean by 'capitalism'. If you're using it as a pejorative (the original usage of the word), then I disagree that capitalism in that sense is a function of human nature: in that sense (a corrupt nexus between capital and the political class) it is a part of human nature only in the same sense as slavery or wife-beating can be said to be part of human nature.
If you're using 'capitalism' as shorthand for 'unrestricted voluntary exchange of goods and services' (aka 'the free market')... then yes, that is a part of the human condition.
That said - nothing about the lives of the above-listed parasites remotely resembles that definition.
And anyhow - what do you mean by 'a function of human nature'? Given how unbelievably plastic the human mind is, that seems to me to be very much a moving feast. Human nature is proffered as a nostrum, shorn of any references to the depraved behaviour of humans (or at least, folks who LOOKED like humans) for millennia.
See, I don't believe there is such a thing as 'human nature' (or 'dog nature' or 'dinosaur nature'); there is empathy, of which all sentient beings are capable... and there is the absence of empathy - which is closer to the 'default' wiring of most predators. By default, empathy is very costly for a predator: if a lion paused to consider the harm he inflicts on his prey, he would be penalised; there is a level of exculpation that attends the biological imperative.
As members of advanced societies, we have transcended our biology for the most part: this very interaction is a decent example of that (I don't just stand at the window and yell, hoping you're within earshot). Our technology has enabled us to behave more empathically (if we choose to) towards 'lesser' animals - biological exigency no longer exculpates us if we fail (refuse) to consider the pain we inflict, be it on livestock, on other people, or whatever.
As to Chomsky - I'm not a big fan of the guy at all, coming as I do from the precise opposite end of the 'anarchist' spectrum. He, apparently, is an anarcho-socialist - whereas I am a kratoclast: I just want the State fucking GONE and don't give a shit what follows it, trusting as I do that in the absence of coercion, the market for ideas will yield a near-best solution.
And as I've made clear: the abovementioned list is NOT a list of people who have competed vigourously in unfettered free markets, and come up trumps (which is why Gates, Buffett and others are not on it: wealth per se is not the issue). No, rather it is a list of people who have accrued wealth by exploiting the force and fraud of the State - either directly or by taking advantage of excess returns engendered by State-imposed barriers to entry into certain industries.
There is no uninfected. Period. Full stop.
Agreed. It is hubris to suggest otherwise.
You said it all in these bons mots, CD: "Imagine that, the insane telling the insane they are insane and that the insane will cure their insanity."
Truer words were never spoken.
i likes
As so eloquently placed by the directors in the movie "Wall Street Never Sleeps 2". The problem isn't that we are insane but that we are becoming insane at the same time more often. We are becoming insane at the same time with an increasing frequency which is becoming an thee overriding phenomenon in the 3D World. Our insanity is magnified by the bandwidth of our communication devices. It feels as if the 'End of Time' is approaching and the transcendental object lays just over the crest.
You need a delusion to belong to, because once you see the rampant insanity, the individual and group narcisissm, and don't feel you can believe in any of the various cultural columns or societal memes you are nearly completely alone and you must smile and pretend and have the small talk about the sports teams or the politicians or the religion and you begin to feel like a bobble head trapped in someone's toy collection.
"But then again, what difference does it make anyway when we really don’t know what sanity looks like."
I beg to differ on this point. The rest of what you had to say is dead on, but people who don't understand that a benchmark for sanity exists have no immune response whatsoever against the dis-ease in question.
Craziness is simply fear as it affects our thinking. Fear is the handle on us that allows others to simultaneously manipulate entire populations. You knew this, of course... :)
Conversely, a sense of calm is home base. Want to cultivate sanity? Cultivate calm. I think they call that meditation.
:) Agreed.
I now suspect I should have used a few smiley faces or fun emoticons in this piece. Or at least a liberal helping of </humor> tags sprinkled about. I thought the humor was obvious, but I once again learn that humor is in the brain of the beholder.
I am working on an essay about fear. It's like a can of worms. I know without a doubt that no matter how long or short, how inclusive or exclusive I make the essay people will howl as they cry foul. And I know most of the howling will be coming from deep rooted fear, the kind the shrinks the ball sack up into it's holding station. So once again I will write it for myself and then share it with everyone else.
Most people have no idea that fear is the base motivator for so many of the emotions they express. And they will swear to your face you are crazy if you told them so. This is why so many people don't wish to look deep within. They do not want to know what is lurking down there nor to gaze into the face that looks back
does anyone have a light, please?
From a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, "cultivating calm" is a preparatory step; to me the interesting one is the second step, "discerning the real". Does NOT lead to calm in the short run; requires a good strong base to engage in such inquiry.
I just returned from assisting at a training course for a Western-grown method for helping those who want to gaze into that face within, without being turned to stone. It is called Somatic Experiencing, and is a body-based therapy for helping people recover from trauma. Highly practical, not conceptually based. Restores sanity. Sanity has more to do with the functioning of the autonomic nervous system than with the cognitive structures in our cortex. In other words, delusional cognitive structures tend to be based on fear/rage/numbness resulting from trauma, so usually can't be changed by verbal/rational means. This is why pretty much all the discussion on ZH, entertaining as it is, is highly unlikely to make any practical difference. You can't generally change a mind without changing the body.
http://www.traumahealing.com/
"You can't generally change a mind without changing the body."
perhaps the wisest comment on this thread. remember that there are parts of "you" much much older than the neocortex (the source of the "I"). our bodies have a memory that is always working even when we are off floating in our virtual fantasy worlds.
I agree about the wise comment. And this is some of what we discover when we go deeply within and shed all the things we 'know' for a deeper knowing. DNA can be considered information of an extremely complex nature, nature's basic input output system or BIOS.
The mind reels when we begin to abandon our hubris and assume we know next to nothing, but are capable of learning it all.
I don't want to go on the cart....
I feel happy.....
I feel happy.....
"Or at least a liberal helping of </humor> tags sprinkled about. I thought the humor was obvious"
Are you saying this whole article is a joke? I failed to grasp it.
"Most people have no idea that fear is the base motivator for so many of the emotions they express."
FYI, in praxeology it is the "removal of felt uneasiness" which is sought. I haven't seen any work in praxeology studying the sowing of fear, though I suppose it's possible.
Excessive intellectualization. You haven't seen any work studying the sowing of fear? You should read Mein Kampfe.
To the extent that there are shadowy cabals who (attempt to) influence the zeitgeist, I get the feeling that at least one of them is at work in the recent welter of "scare pieces" - from "Falling Skies" (typically Spielbergian dreck... although thus far without a single Holocaust reference!) to "Warehouse 13" to "Fringe" to "Supernatural" to "V", we are practically inundated with material that exhorts us to fear invasion by external or paranormal agencies or entities... when in fact the greatest threat to the livelihood of the average person is the parasitic vermin that occupy the palaces of power throughout the world (by which I mean not just Parliaments, but also the Central banks, IMF, World Bank, UN, CFR, and so on and so forth... basically, anyone who shows an interest in Davos is an enemy of humanity).
To my way of thinking, this also constitutes a form of cognitive infiltration - misdirecting the imaginations of the viewers such that they're more alive to xeno-threats than endo-threats.
That said, I guess a TV series or movie in which politicians are parasitic shitbags who connive to rip people off would come across as redundant... who on earth would watch a TV show about Cheney and Pelosi being Cheney and Pelosi? I guess in scenes where Cheney was actually eating his daily brown baby heart or Pelosi was injecting her Mickey-Rourke-esque 'face' with fresh plastic, it might be interesting.
Very good points.
And yet we have "reality TV" in all it's sordid manifestations. One could even argue that the NotW/NewsCorp phracking meltdown is an example of reality programming come unglued.
I suspect the reason we don't see a "The Uncensored Cheney" show is because Cheney doesn't want it. If you tried to produce it using look-alike actors he would have you killed. Or at the very least, see to it that your personal economic prospects become severely eroded. Ha.
I think the theme of selling xenophobia goes back a long way. Back to when we had active predators, probably. We fear the dark outside the tent, for a reason. So things inside the tent must of course be palatable. Simple approach/avoidance dilemma.
I don't want to see Pelosi doing anything with her face up close. Oh God please.
I think people watch the reality TV?stuff because it's an expose of people whom the viewers feel to be below them in status. If they watched people who society perceives to be above them in status act as they really do, there would be a revolution tomorrow after people finished vomiting over their (diminished) prospects for the future.
Prajna Paramita. Get beyond yourself.
Better yet, get beyond 1st century BCE.
journey from self to save ones self
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
"We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality." - Ayn Rand
We are all contaminated. Hard to be in the sewer and not get some of the detritus on oneself. We are all affected by the time and society we grow up in, and those marks are born out through us, as is the nonsense that we are taught as children to make us better "citizens". But that's the thing when one is contaminated they can't be uncontaminated. All a self aware person can really do is survey the perceived damage to oneself and society. For the majority the contamination will be rapped up in the core of who they are or at least who they perceive themselves to be. So not only is there no cure for the majority (or likely even the minority) the majority who are unaware of the contamination will grow to love it as they love themselves.
I suppose the only real way to deal with the contamination would be to have it cut off and a societal reset, purged like one would an infectious disease. Both of which are unlikely. So it seems best that each person learns to live in the sewer as best they can. To live in the world but not be a part of it.
If I reverse-troll you on this site is that okay? :-) Because pretty much every one of your comments here need to get locked down due to the amount of wisdom in them.
So it seems best that each person learns to live in the sewer as best they can. To live in the world but not be a part of it.
Agreed.
From Levy's site --
"This universe is a mass shared dream that all six-and-a-half billion of us are collaboratively dreaming up into materialization. When we realize this, we can put our lucidity together so that we can co-creatively dream a much more grace-filled universe into incarnation. This is nothing other than an evolutionary quantum leap in human consciousness, unimaginable until now."
We need visionaries, but I can't say much for this writing, and don't see much thinking here either. Sounds like a dreamer in an MBA school who thinks he's thinking "Outside the Box."
Levy is certainly "outside the box", however there are concepts that are at least possible.
The idea that our consciousness, sub or otherwise, may be connected to the universe through "quantum entanglement" is possible.
QE information moves faster than light.
His materialist position, in my opinion, keeps the grants flowing but fails to address the real issue.
The real question is the one of "free will".
He seems to claim free will exists, while maintaining the materialist's dogma, which states free will does not exist. This puts him outside the box.
Grants flowing? Rants maybe, but Levy receives no grants. :)
I am an expert in making assumptions, false or otherwise, given a limited set of facts.
Levy's proposition, as posted here on ZH, is enough for me to determine his scientific materialism and seems as the basis for his theory.
As I stated, "free will" puts most reseachers outside the box.
I still have my own questions regarding free will, but they don't require scientific materialism.
Levy's proposition? Do you mean that one paragraph blurb taken from his web site?
And I honestly don't know where you are getting "his scientific materialism" from. What scientific materialism?
To judge Levy's entire life's work by a one paragraph blurb is not fair and it indicates a closed mind and someone who is quick to judge. You do not know this man or his work, yet you have no problem completely dismissing him.
What writing can't you say much about? The paragraph you quote? What thinking do you see missing? The 'thinking' in the paragraph? Did you read any of his articles or his prior book? This is a fair question that I ask.
>To judge Levy's entire life's work by a one paragraph blurb is not fair and it indicates a closed mind and someone who is quick to judge.
Being quick to judge and throw out nonsense is the best way to avoid "cognitive infiltration".
arrogance, is a form of ignorance
dup
Someone with a real vision worth contemplating would never emit something this poor. This is a sufficient basis for assessment, especially considering that Levy has chosen to make this quote quite prominent at his site. CD, I also see here what must be a strong influence on your own prose stylings, so it's not at all surprising your enthusiasm. I suggest you educate yourself a little more before making any further attempts at educating others. Your writing is among the worst at this site, and I can't fathom why it keeps reappearing. This is the only time I've dissed someone here, and you really merit it.
Psychobabble, meet philosobabble!
I came to a similar conclusion awhile back after being encouraged to visit Levy's site. It does have a heavy Jungian, Chopra, new agey feel to the prose. I stumble over it as well. In my mind, the idea of human consciousness being the dreamer/creator of the Universe is extremely humancentric and ego driven. 'We are God', or our thoughts are magical and powerful and all that jazz. Having been familiarized with Jungian ideas, which I personally abandoned, I didn't explore much further either. It has become a modern day religion to many. To cast it in a negative light elicits strong reactions to the faithful. Still I try to find embedded nuggets of insight that may broaden my mental horizons.
Put an animal in a foreign environment and they will display insane behaviour. We are caged animals in a faux environment and to make matters worse we are conditioned to believe this is progress. All the while, deep down, our core is crying. This emptiness reveals itself in our conduct.
Now aren't you glad you got that out of your system?
Sometimes when you've eaten spoiled food the best course of action is not to wait it out in a misguided hope that it will settle. Rather you should just seek the nearest body of water, reach your fingers as far down your throat as possible to initiate the gag reflex and free yourself from the offending material. Once the projectile vomiting has subsided you usually feel much better.
Thank you for playing the Zero Hedge home game. We have some nice consolation prizes that will be promptly mailed to you once we have your home address and a credit card to cover shipping and handling.
.
Your prose is all slack. You need to be taut.
Well played, sir.
Metaphors are not concrete. I think.
That said I have some fiction that might pop your cork. If you are into being killed and eaten. Or being eaten first and then killed, or set on fire, or being turned inside out and rotated into nonexistance.
But I can't recommend it, even though I wrote it.
No I think you are better off with the colorful dreamers and their pretty worlds. They might not be right either but at least you can sleep soundly after.
"My goddess would devour me outright if she caught me doing that."
"That said I have some fiction that might pop your cork. If you are into being killed and eaten."
Are you a vorarephile? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorarephilia
Besides -- and not to hijack the thread -- I would have hoped that a commenter named after a famous blood fiend would have had an immediate and positive reaction to the idea that there is a place in the world for homicide in the pursuit of nutritional satisfaction and ultimate survival.
I at least stay in character. Though I'm not sure which character it is.
>I would have hoped that a commenter named after a famous blood fiend
It's just a silly name. And in real life, he was no kind of "blood fiend" but simply a brutal defender of his realm, living in brutal times.
>would have had an immediate and positive reaction to the idea that there is a place in the world for homicide
There is a place. The word simply means "man-killing" and it's necessary and good in some cases (for example, when stopping someone run amok http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok). Those who commit it as a crime face the social apparatus of compulsion, viz. the police. Putting a murderer to death is certainly just: the murderer by his own actions is estopped from objecting.
Furthermore, someone who acts like a predatory animal and obtains nutrition by killing people, will be treated like a predatory animal. I wouldn't morally condemn someone so mentally deranged any more than I would morally condemn a lion; the result will be the same in any case.
Now see, you ruined my attempt at humor.
It's all fiction. None of it ever happened. Nothing we read in the news ever happened just that way. Nor in any historical account, nor any Wiki, nor any personal conversation we ever had. Nothing we ever see or hear with our own eyes and ears was ever real, only reflections of our own fevered imagination desperate for meaning and equilibrium. We see what we want to see. Hear what we want to hear. Even the ruler of memory is bent by our own desires. It is all shadows of shadows, we will never chase them into their corners and capture them for the corners keep turning away and becoming new walls, devouring their secrets in the process of flattening and becoming rigid. The active corners of the mind are just that -- corners at the intersections of thoughts. Some corners are more interesting than some others. I sense that some of them are more truthy than others but I probably have no way to determine this.
The predator hunts for shadows in the shadows, using rare glimpses and chance rustlings to determine true from false. But nothing among the shadows is real until it is -- and then it's called dinner.
From the corner called dinner, all other things are then resolved. And so, to another day.
It is beautiful exactly because it is simple. Any horror is but a manifestation of the fevered mind.
I am simply a brutal defender of my realm, living in brutal times. But don't call me beautiful. :)