Mother put her baby into an oven

[Nathan]

Human depravity is endless. We really are monsters as a species. Capable of immense noble good and unbelievable evil.

Undeniably true. I have often wondered if mental illness is what mankind throughout the ages calls "evil", or if evil begets mental illness...or if there is really no connection between the two. Would be a good topic for the forum's Philosophy section. Oh wait, there is no philosophy section...

 

[Pepper]

@Nathan
'Madness & Civilization'
Michel Foucault

Read it, you'll never forget it. I read it as an undergrad. Interesting & so well written.

 

[Rose65]

Undeniably true. I have often wondered if mental illness is what mankind throughout the ages calls "evil", or if evil begets mental illness...or if there is really no connection between the two. Would be a good topic for the forum's Philosophy section. Oh wait, there is no philosophy section...

Some are born evil, others are plain stupid, some get evil through being badly treated themselves. Myriad reasons for crimes. Overall I do believe the truly evil are born that way and have no place in our society.

 

[Nathan]

@Nathan
'Madness & Civilization'
Michel Foucault

Read it, you'll never forget it. I read it as an undergrad. Interesting & so well written.

Madness & Civilization- sounds familiar, I may have read excerpts from that work in an abnormal psychology or social psychology class in college.

 

[Rose65]

Madness & Civilization- sounds familiar, I may have read excerpts from that work in an abnormal psychology or social psychology class in college.

I remember Foucault in social sciences study I think, a long time ago.
I must say putting one's own baby into an oven is a new low.

 

[911]

Undeniably true. I have often wondered if mental illness is what mankind throughout the ages calls "evil", or if evil begets mental illness...or if there is really no connection between the two. Would be a good topic for the forum's Philosophy section. Oh wait, there is no philosophy section...

You are correct. Some people are evil due to having a mental illness. There’s no denying that. Dahmer would be an example of that. But then you look at BTK and you see pure evil.

Some serial killers were found to be mentally ill, while others were just found to be evil. How the forensic psychiatrists divide them is beyond me. There was a forensic psychiatrist named Dr. Michael Stone. He is/was well known around the world as the man they turned to that divided these groups.

I “think” he died last year. Anyway, I attended one of his open forums where he was opened to our questions. I had asked him why he considered BTK only evil and not psychotic. His answer was that he wouldn’t say that the man didn’t have some mental issues, but he wasn’t driven to murder due to them. He was just a bad man. He derived pleasure from killing. It made him feel powerful and he thrived on power. He was divided on saying which way Timothy McVeigh went. Was he evil or just plain crazy? He wasn’t 100% certain, but he thought more evil than crazy.