Our virtual, parallel universe
Should we be surprised to hear that Joseph E. Duncan, III blogged his struggle with right and wrong before kidnapping Shasta and Dylan Groene from their Idaho home? His blog can be found right here on Blogger entitled, Blogging the Fifth Nail.
Just as one meets all types of people on city streets, the blogosphere is filled with all types as well. The difference in cyberspace is one generally judges blog authors by the thoughts they publish, not their physical appearance. When I am walking down a city street I keep my eyes open to avoid anyone who appears to be acting in an unpredictable or questionable manner. Likewise, on the internet, I typically read the first few entries of a blog and make decisions about whether or not I want to continue. I don't spend much time reading about the sex lives of others, nor do I take much interest in blogs filled with anger or hate.
I struggled this morning with the idea of giving Joseph Duncan's blog attention, fearing that blogging it and providing a link would give him additional focus and notoriety. Just as I don't watch shows like Jerry Springer or reality TV, I don't think Joseph Duncan's blog and story should become a movie of the week. I also do not want to show sympathy for him. He is obviously an extremely sick man. I am sure if someone like him ever so much as laid a finger on one of my children, I would want to kill him myself, but that is not what I want to focus on here.
Since his blog was discovered, there have been thousands of comments posted on his website, and for every comment, you can bet there are thousands more, like myself, who have chosen to not publish a comment on his blog.
So then why am I blogging this?
This entry has less to do with Joseph Duncan than it does my reflections on the society we are living in today.
Yes, I went to Duncan's blog. I read some of the entries. But, I read more of the comments. And just like the real world, the blogosphere provides us with comments ranging from, "Bang. No more pervert," to "Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart...", and so on and so on, thousands of them. Most of the comments are filled with anger or encourage Duncan to pray for forgiveness and seek God's help.
But most of them are reactionary.
How can we have a serious dialogue about managing the problems of pedophilia if we never examine and address the causes of such monsterous behavior?
After reading some of the comments on the front page of Duncan's blog, I searched the archives. Duncan started his blog in January 2004. You will find very few comments there, but what you will find are the thoughts of a man who is terribly sick, one who I believe was asking for help. The very act of blogging indicates that Joseph Duncan wanted to get caught again, to save himself and victims like Shasta and Dylan.
But nobody was listening.
It reminds me of the people you see on the nightly news after a teenager has murdered his family. "He was such a quiet young man, kept to himself...."
Even in cyberspace, why are we blind to the warning signs until it's too late?
Duncan repeated wrote about asking God for help, yet was unable to take responsibilty for his own actions. Think about it. If a person has no desire to kill, is there really a need for a commandment against it? God and demons are Duncan's scapegoats. Therefore, no amount of religion will save him. He has never learned to take responsibility for his actions, and probably never will.
What happened to Joseph Duncan to make him act this way? Are children born evil, or does our society change them into sick adults like Joseph Duncan? Is it biological or psychological? In this case, and many others, why is religion so often mixed with hate, anger, and violence? Compared to the crime rates of other countries, why is America so violent?
Duncan's blog entry from January 29, 2004 begs the question, "I suspect sex crimes are up, especially the violent stranger type.....I could never guess why. What would ever make a person behave so angrily toward another completely innocent person? Could it be that that innocent person somehow represents society, and the violation is some kind of attempt to regain control...I'm no psychologist, but I do know ignorance never solved anything."
As images of Shasta and Dylan Groene float around my brain I struggle to imagine how the two children could have possibly represented our society to this man. It is incomprehensible, especially, when my current view of our society is represented by the War in Iraq, the Al-Qaida bombings in London, and religion used as a Weapon of Mass Deception. Can my view of society and that of Joseph Duncan's be at all similar? I don't see how two innocent children could represent our sick society.
Perhaps it seems too great a task to understand and treat pedophilia, and so, it is easier and cheaper to react with hatred and violence. But, doesn't immoral behavior breed immoral behavior? (Even the idea of "moral values" is questionable these days.)
What I do know is our current system is not working, and I have to agree with Duncan in saying "ignorance never solved anything." If we never examine and treat the root causes of this type of violence, there will always be more victims like Shasta, Dylan, and their family.
posted by -W @ 10:08 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
There is no CURE for these type of crimes, except the death of the perpetrator-PERIOD. They do a crime. They go to jail. They go into a holding pattern-they are released-they strike again...The only solution is the death penalty, so hopefully eventually we can stop breeding these monsters. I wonder if a CURE would be so high on your list of priorities for these monsters if it was your two children who were murdered, and another two sexually assaulted repeatedly. His blog was not about asking for help-it was about lies and deceptions, and a big fat pity party for the poor sex offenders. If they did it once-they COULD do it again, and that is a risk that we as a society should refuse to take!
I can respect your feelings but what Wilma is talking about is that we as a society should look at what caused his behavior rather than simply say "kill him." Unfortunately, sex offenders have been around since time began so punishments, including killing them, have not yet solved the problem. His actions are truely unthinkable; however, I have to agree with finding the root cause rather than reacting with further violence and hatred.
Interesting post, Wilma!
I will have to read more of his blog. It seems pretty long. Thankyou for concentrating the mind. You make some good points. Paedophilia is a mind-set and probably can't be cured anymore than hetrosexuality can be 'cured'.
I am unsure of the specifics of what this story is about but guess he has done something really bad. Can you point me towards a news story if there is one?
Good post
The title of this post is hyperlinked to the news story, but since you're in the UK, you probably don't have a membership to the NYTimes. In a nutshell, Joseph Duncan, who was a convicted sex offender, kidnapped two children and killed their mother, her boyfriend, and older brother in the process. The little girl was found when a waitress at a Denny's in Idaho recognized her and called the cops. The remains of the little boy were later found in the mountains of Montana. Both had been repeatedly molested.
His acts are dispicable, and I certainly do not think Duncan can be 'cured', any more than I think our society can 'cure' its love and fascination with violence. The first commentor missed my point entirely.
I was disturbed by the reactions of violence and bible thumping, and I was simply blogging the questions that were roaming around my mind the morning this news article appeared.
Six Memos for the Next Millenium, Invisible Cities.
Thats 2 of the Calvino´s books I like more.
It was amazing writer and must be beutiful reading it in italian.
What about MSN Spaces? What happen?
I don't see why you have to think about what society has done to create people like that. It's passing the problem from the asshole to the society. It's his fault not society's fault. And when it's a disease it sure isn't society's fault. I also don't see why questioning America. Here in the Netherlands people started questioning and complaining years ago. Now the land is chaos. Because it's always wrong, and where never sure. In my opinion you could better run fast the wrong way, than sit still and questioning everything.
Thanks for the intriguing post. I think it deserves saying that the "bible-thumping" is a point in the right direction. A society that is more demonstrative with love, compassion, and mercy will yield more people who love each other, show compassion and offer mercy.
Here I'm not talking about "saving everyone in prison" but rather - the exhibition of a society of human beings to truly care for itself.
It's also very interesting to note that the other extreme is execution - a survivalist mentality. (See cave man)
Religion and values and the society that share them are at a crossroads in the US for two main reasons. One is because more people are waking up to the violence inherent in the system. This is violence and oppression that is in direct opposition to the values that created the system - basic rights, taxation of owned property, etc.
The antagonistic survival psyche (evidenced by the prison industrial complex) of personal ownership versus the compassion and teachings of all Religions but especially Christianity.
The perversion of religion of course has led to a glorification of violence, vanity, and greed instead of the glorification of God and the message of Jesus Christ. Bill McKibbon writes an excellent essay on this subject.
So in response to the question, I believe there are a growing number who see moral hypocrisy in our leadership but the realization has not yet reached a critical mass (in part due to media complicity) there are many false prophets who have led our brethren sheep astray - when one decides to become like a wolf - the shepherds are often too busy protecting their own flock.
Even within the Christian denomination - there exist almost adversarial relations between sects (plainly evidenced by the Protestant and Catholic troubles). This division in the body of God could prove fatal - the idea is love each other despite our differences. Read more...
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