Week 7 Journal Response
Week 7 runs Monday 11/28/2017 to Friday 12/1/2017
This week we are studying “Real” monsters. For this week, I want you to consider what makes a “real” monster? Serial killers, mass murderers, spree killings, slasher films, etc. How do we create real monsters? How do we use monstrosity to separate us from those we do not want or understand? How is monstrosity used to “other” people?
Consider Monster Thesis 4 this week. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference. We as a culture push out people/groups/others out of our group to make them monstrous. The monster originates within.
Any kind of alternity can be inscribed across (constructed through) the monstrous body, but for the most part monstrous difference tends to be cultural, political, racial, economic, sexual (Cohen 7).
Look for examples where we make someone or something different from us into a monster.
Comment below with a link to the text and your summary and response.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/serial-killer-dating-websites-stephen-port_us_58399f94e4b000af95ee4cf0?utm_hp_ref=serial-killers
For this week’s journal we are crossing the pound to London where a man is being accused of being a serial killer. Stephen Port was found guilty this week of murdering four gay men that he met and murdered. Port was accused of murdering four victims between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five whom he is believed to have drugged before the killings took place. The male victim’s bodies were found at a graveyard near Port’s residence.
Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield called Port “Port is one of the most dangerous individuals I’ve encountered in almost 28 years of policing”. This may be based on the way Port meet his victims and the way he killed. It is reported that Port meet his victims on dating site via internet and gave each one of them a lethal amount of date rape drug.
Why did he feel the need to rape and kill his victims if they were possibly willing to have sexual encounters with Port based on the fact that they did communicate with Port and willing met up with Port? Was Port gay and wanting to keep it under wraps? That could be one possible theory nut is unknown. Whatever the reason for the killings Port is now serving a “whole-life” sentence meaning he will never be offered parole. In total Port was formally charged with “four counts of rape and six counts of administering drugs in relation to another seven men”. Fifty-eight cold cases involving date rape drug in London are also being re-examining to see if there is any connection to Port.
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A monster is defined as “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening.” Typical monsters include vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. Creatures that are likely to not exist in real life. However, another definition of a monster is “an inhumanly cruel or wicked person.” This would include serial killers, mass murderers, spree killings, slasher films, etc. These are people who are not physically monstrous, but due to their mentality, have done acts that are considered inhumane or outside the social norms. Throughout history, humans have used the term ‘monster’ to refer to people and beings that are ‘different’ from them. ‘Different’ could be in the sense of cultural, political, racial, economic, or sexual differences. In modern day, xenophobia, homophobia, and racism are ways people alienate certain types of of people in fear of those that are different. Donald Trump and other white supremacists are constantly being accused of being xenophobic, as seen in the responses to their proposed ban and Mexican border wall. They paint immigrants are some sort of ‘monster’ that wants to steal jobs and kill people. Trump has been known to accuse Mexicans of being ‘rapists, drug abusers and criminals’. Not only that, he plans to deport undocumented immigrants, similar to how people want to get rid of a monster out of fear. The majority of people in America are from a family who were immigrants or are immigrants themselves. Yet now, there are people who regard immigrants as some ‘other’, some monster that is a threat to their well being.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/26/trump-immigration-border-detention-migrants-catch-release
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https://www.biography.com/people/zodiac-killer-236027
I found a little biograph over the Zodiac killer, who we still to this day has not been caught. The Zodiac Killer is responsible for the deaths of several people in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first two people were shot to death near their yet police never had enough evidence to know who it was. Around six months later the killer committed his second attack by firing multiple shots at a couple sitting in their car. In August 1, 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald both received a handwritten letter confessing to the crimes and threatening to kill more people if they did not post a note that was written in code on the cover of the newspaper, this is where he became to be known as the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer killed many people and is still yet to caught. When one of his notes was depicted because they were written in code one of them read, “I like killing people because it is so much.” There is no hiding there that he is a monster when he is just killing for fun. The Zodiac Killer can be related to thesis VII: The Monster Stands at the Threshold…Of Becoming. The Zodiac Killer was never found and yet there are still mass murders that always come up as we progress through history.
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https://nypost.com/2017/11/30/suspected-florida-serial-killer-faces-judge-for-first-time/
Monsters are sometimes things that we as a society create because we give them so much attention that some people start to idolize the ideal of something so horrible like murderers and serial killers. A real monster are people that cause fear and terrorize you. Real life monsters make you feel unsafe and you feel worries and stress because you don’t know who these monster are or how they are going to act. A few weeks ago in Tampa Florida a serial killer was on the loose, the people of the city were terrorized because these people were getting murdered and the police didn’t have any leads on who this person was or why these people were getting murdered. The people of Florida were told to not be outside at night and that they had to stay inside their homes and lock all their doors and windows. Just two days ago Florida police finally arrested this serial killer and it turns out he is former St. John’s University basketball player. The whole Florida state was living in terror for 51 days and today this serial killer met with judges where he was being held without bond and is being charged with four fist degree murders. His name is Donaldson and he is a 24 year old Mc Donald’s employee but for some reason he is a real life monster because he is evil for killing these innocent people who were literally just walking on the street at night. The police found him after he gave one of his coworkers a 40 caliber glock and he told him he wanted to leave the state. He will be kept behind bars until his official hearing on December 5th.
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https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/30/567468685/new-north-korean-missile-is-a-monster
A global monster exist with nuclear tension between North Korea and the rest of the world. The seriousness of the threat that North Korea grows with every missile test they initiate. The amount of test that they are doing is also very concerning since they are building more missiles that means they are getting better at building them and have an over-all goal. The monster in North Korea is an uncontrollable dictatorship who suppresses and uses the population to his will. With no regard for laws and freedoms North Korea is pushing the limits of global restrictions since they are not allowed to run such nuclear test. And since these test are getting more serious the rest of the world need to decide how to combat this threat.
The United States needs to be the leader in dealing with this threat since it is the most taunting to this treat. Although China holds probably the most responsibility and the restrictions that have been placed on them. So this monster is restricted in power but it’s trying to break out and gain more power, so how do you stop this monster and keep it contained. And is that the best solution for this monster or should the world be trying to seek a better way in combating this monster. This is the real world we live in and should not take these threats lightly and not allow them to grow, and right now we are allowing this monster to break out of its boundaries and that is the real danger.
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Theodore Robert Bundy was a notorious American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, burglar and necrophile who assaulted and kill many women and girls in the 1970s. He was also know as Ted Bundy who had the looks and the charm of an angel but the soul of a demon. These aspects gave him the perfect disguise to made him monster. He was a deadly monster to woman he targeted that never saw it coming. Ted would use his charm and fake an injury to lure women into his monstrous intentions he had planned for them. Gaining women’s trust that he was a good looking man who had a disability and was in need of help was the initiative evil master plan he had in store. After he would gain their trust he would over power them and do what he pleased with them. He confessed to 30 murders and the rest are unknown. What makes him even more monstrous is that he had a wife that was unaware his evil actions. His wife must of been very special for him not to kill her and marry her. Ted is considered a monster to me because he did inhumane things to innocent women for his sexual self pleasured. Therefore that monstrosity separates him from us. It isn’t normal to decapitate 12 women and save 7 heads as mementos. Nor is it normal in society to groom and have sexual altercations with a corpse. This monster that he has become definitely dwells at the gates of difference. The representation and creation of the monster Ted created is without a doubt outside the realms of culture on conformity. The actions that he preformed make him a monster that women fear. Now that he is gone from this world his history of his monstrous acts will help women avoid other monsters like Ted.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/ted-bundy-9231165
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https://www.biography.com/people/charles-manson-9397912
For this week’s journal, I looked up serial killer Charles Manson who never personally murder anyone, we orchestrated them. Charles, being the master mind behind the plan got many young and impressionable girls who began to believe he was Jesus and and they believed in his prophecies of race war. Charles group was known as the Mason Family cult, one of their most gruesome crimes was the murder of actress Sharon Tate who was nine months pregnant at the time. Charles directed four of his obedient followers, all young girls, to e house of Sharon Tate where they brutally murdered her and three other victims. Many people wonder why Manson would plot such a plan, in Cohen’s seventh theory, he explains how monsters are our children. When Manson was young, he had a rough childhood, he mother sold him for a pitcher of beer. He was a young delinquent, constantly Im and out of jail, he had to learn how to survive ok his own and he did that by stealing cars, robbing stores and casinos. His uncle, how was a crooked thief, he became an apprentice of his uncle. We use monstrosity to separate us from serial killers by deeming them as outsiders, not part of an organized society because they cause disorder and chaos. We cannot understand the minds of a serial or mass killer therefore we cannot connect to what we do not know. We are creatures of compassion and humanity so when we hear of such killings, we cannot understand which causes us to want to explore the minds of criminals to understand what possessed them to do what they do.
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Victor Frankenstein is the real monster behind the movies of Frankenstein. The creature that Dr. Frankenstein created is the innocent in the movies. The Whole movie started with Dr. Frankenstein lost something that he really loves in his love, and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen again, and that is what motivate him, but eventually he lost his moral, he eyes was covered by his angry or his fear, and keep lying to himself that if the experiment success, he can totally change the situation in the real world. And it happened so often in the real world. Many times, if there is really have chance to obverse serial killers or some attack that happened, they would just look like Dr. Frankenstein. Sometimes, for many people that can’t understand that why they must do terrifying things to express their love. Dr. Frankenstein is kind of best example to explain what is the real monster, Victor is not a bad guy, he did something that feels right for him, but during the process he hurt lots of innocent people in order to achieve his goal, the creature is just like innocent people in the real world. Because victor lost his control on his experiment and the creature is one that who will take responsible for victors actions. The real monster, is that you did something bad and let others take the pain for your action.
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http://abc7.com/10-year-old-commits-suicide-after-alleged-bullying-incident/2722045/
As of this past Wednesday in Arapahoe County , Colorado, a 10 year old girl, Awshawnty Davis, lost her life due to being a victim of bullying. After facing endless ridicule and backlash for reasons that were undescribed by her bully, this including the fight that pushed her over the edge, Davis finally chose to take her own life through hanging herself. However, this method did not work immediately–as she was later sent to the hospital, in hopes to save her life. Unfortunately, after two weeks of intensive care, Davis was unable to make it and passed away. Davis’ parents, still in shock, have continued to speak out on the incident and are trying to further investigate the situation. As well as this, they are remaining persistent while they share the video taken of the fight, off the app Musical.ly, as a way to bring awareness. Despite Davis now being gone, her parents are making it their statement to hold the school administrators accountable and figure out/implement a reliable anti-bullying program that will actually work.
The part that continues to shock me when reading up on this situation was the fact that Davis’ parents had said that the request was made to meet and speak with the parents of the other child (the bully) and the child herself, all while the administrators were there to monitor; however, administration had apparently denied that request and are now denying that the request was ever made. I do believe that it is very possible that the school is trying to cover their tracks, which is a sad sight. I am also curious as to how the girls went about being punished. In the article that I found, that specific information wasn’t provided. I do want to find out more background in general on the situation because a lot of it was left out. I am assuming though that Davis was indeed the victim in this situation, and has obviously been mistreated for quite some time. In this very case, Davis was most likely looked at as an ‘outsider’ or ‘different’, making her a target and susceptible to being bullied–resulting in the final fight (her standing up for herself). Even though she isn’t quite the type of monster as we defined in class in this case, people most likely did pin and label her as a ‘different’ and ‘weird’–making her appear as a ‘monster’ of some sort. The people who go outside the realms of ‘normalcy’ and conformity altogether tend to be look as a ‘monster’ in society’s eyes in general. We, as a society, like the idea of sticking together and being a unit. Anyone that strays outside of those lines or boundaries are odd to us. Furthermore, Davis didn’t fit the criteria of being ‘cool’ or ‘normal’, as implicitly stated by the other kids at her school, resulting in her being outcasted and looked at as a ‘monster’. This concept has always been ridiculous to me because the reality of the situation is that the bullies are in fact the monsters–in all cases. They thrive off putting other people down, based off their own insecurities and wanting to be on top. What makes things worse is that there’s another crowd and spawning of monsters in this scenario as well–the spectators/bystanders. How many kids were subjected to viewing this fight on the sidelines, yet not doing anything to stop it; but instead, chose to record it? The concept of this has always baffled me–I understand that the bystander effect is a real thing and does happen, but all it takes is one person to have tried to intervene. That alone could’ve aided in saving this young girl’s life. I am aware of there obviously being more factors at play here–this including her home life and much more, but the matter at hand is this girl being bullied and going to unfit and unsafe school environment, everyday, probably terrified of what would happen to her next.
Let it sink in one more time: a 5th grader attempted to commit suicide, didn’t die immediately, and ended up suffering for two more weeks before dying. That statement breaks my heart, even just typing it out. I understand that this is just one event in a big sea, with lots of similar or worse events, but the issue of bullying this remains and is prevalent as ever with social media thriving. Everyone needs to be dialed in, including parents and schools, and remain pro-active and consistent with anti-bullying programs. Monsters are truly alive and real, and even inside 10 year olds–a scary thought and sight. Be aware.
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https://www.biography.com/people/hh-holmes-307622
H.H Holmes, a real american serial killer. A very smart man, went to medical school and graduated from the University of Michigan. He became a pharmacist in Chicago. Created a home , which later was named as “Murder Castle.” Killed 20-200 people in this castle. We create these monsters, as a form of a Tv series or movies. For example in the series of American Horror stories, shows “Hotel Cortez” as the murder castle. We use monstrosity to separate others we don’t want by picky at characteristics that seem odd or out of place to us. Monstrosity is used to other people as placing fear within, people label others as monsters if they can’t identify themselves with that particular person or quite understand the habits of others. An example of people we as a culture push out are these serial killers, the reasons being that we don’t understand what they went through, if they suffer any mental disease, or anything about them just the murders they committed. We judge without knowing and I believe as a culture we fail at actually getting to understand the reason, it may be absurd to think this but in all honesty, maybe we are the ones that create these monsters because we don’t accept who they are and what they are. We don’t take time to help, when another fellow human being needs help. Monsters are created by what goes on around them.
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TURNING HUMAN BEINGS INTO MONSTERS.
https://buchanan.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/turning-human-beings-into-monsters/
What do we mean when we talk about ‘monsters’? The word conjures up figures from gothic horror, such as Frankenstein or Dracula, classical images of exotic people with no heads or grotesquely exaggerated features, and the kinds of impossible chimerical beasts inhabiting the pages of medieval beastaries. The etymology of monstrosity suggests the complex roles that monsters play within society. ‘Monster’ probably derives from the Latin, monstrare, meaning ‘to demonstrate’, and monere, ‘to warn’. Monsters, in essence, are demonstrative. They reveal, portend, show and make evident, often uncomfortably so. Though the modern gothic monster and the medieval chimaera may seem unrelated, both have acted as important social tools. Simultaneously, however, monsters represented the wonderful diversity of divine creation, a playful ‘Nature’ that could produce a multitude of strange forms. Exotic beasts brought to Europe for the first time in the 16th century, such as armadillos or walruses, were often interpreted as ‘monstrous’. More accurately, they were made into monsters: things that did not fit into the accepted natural categories. This article is from the New York times dated back to 2007 after publishing the first photos documenting the systematic abuse, torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. The Bush administration and the American military worked hard to establish “the few bad apples” explanation of what happened. Eight low ranking soldiers were convicted, and Sgt. Ivan Frederick II, who was found guilty of assault, conspiracy, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of detainees, was half way through his eight years prison sentence at the time. It was being argued that the manner in which these men behaved was within good reason and they did what any normal human being would have done if placed in a similar situation. To justify this assumption an experiment conducted back in the 1970s by psychologists at Stanford university was used as reference to fully understand why they did what was considered to be monstrous acts. Normal college students were used in the experiment to play prisoners and guards, the aim of the psychologists was to strip them of their individuality so as to see what the situation could produce on its own. After six days the experiment was put to a stop after seeing what the results were. The students who were prisoners had emotional breakdowns, started crying and screaming whereas the ones who played guards became aggressive, acted sadistically and found pleasure inflicting punishment on people who they knew were completely blameless. So it can be seen that these innocent college kids aren’t monsters but they behaved monstrously because of the situation they were in. Their action was more about social patterns and it’s influence rather than about the character of the individual. Overall this is not saying that these soldiers are innocent by no means, it’s trying to explain that anyone could become a monster or behave monstrously when put in a compromising situation. These soldiers however deserve every bit of punishment they get because they went overboard, when they stripped these prisoners, hooded them, deprived them of sleep, put them in painful positions and threatened them with dogs, handcuffed them to their doors while wearing female underclothes, electrocuted them, stomped on their hands and feet, forced simulation of sexual behavior etc. These acts are all monstrous and may not only be influenced because of their situation but it also have a lot to do with those authorized above these soldiers and allowed these practices to become commonplace. At this point the more the soldiers mistreat the prisoners the more they saw them as less than human and even more worthy of that abuse. Worse of all these soldiers are a part of the white house who have completely clean flawless records, no mental issues or disabilities, no temperament or disposition, which makes one realize that just about anyone can be turned into a monster, and perform all sorts of monstrosity depending on the situation, even myself.
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Journal 7
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-jonestown-massacre-1779385
This article is about a man back in the 1970s who convinced a whole village to commit suicide including himself. This guy name was ‘Jim Jones’ he is a monster to people because he killed over 900 people in this jungle called Guyana. When he went from the United States to Guyana he started to do things that were not acceptable in the United States. This “monster” manipulate people into thinking that the place that they lived in was better for them. He blackmailed people by saying if they went back to their families in the United States that he would reveal personal things about them that would have their children taken away from them. Jim Jones would pretend to have poison the town’s people with kool aid and pretend to have people in the jungle to pretend to kill people in order to prepare for the actual time when that day came on November 18 1976. The way people indicates him as a monster was that he scared people into committing suicide and if they didn’t he had his guards shoot them. We see this portrayed in different tv shows like s episode of ‘Family Guy’ where they show in a skit where one of the main characters get invited to a party and they tell her they are going a happy place and they try to get her to drink the punch but she ends up leaving and they show all the kids drink the punch and they all drop to the floor. The also do it in “‘American Horror story” in the episode about cults and even music videos like ‘Lady Gaga’ in her paparazzi video at the end when she poisons her boyfriend. We characterized this as a real monster because he appeared as having magical powers and using himself as high Authority to control a large number of people and to threaten to do things that will ruin their life. People want others be aware of joining a religion cult because they are real so they just create a person can use their words of speaking positive and make it believable through television shows and movies.
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A “real” monster is based on how society views you in a negative way. Society may feel as if your a threat to them. However, regarding Jeffery Dahmer, that wasn’t the case in his earlier years. This guy could fit in any group of people and you would never know how crazy this guy really is. He fantasized about everything in his own little world and hardly engaged in social activity. Many thought he was psychotic by his egregious behavior that he exemplified to his peers. This monster was created by not only the circumstances of his parents divorce but in addition to his lifestyle of isolating himself when his mother left and had the home to himself for awhile. Since he never gave into social activity, he would fantasize about life and go deeper and deeper into the depths of the vindictive mentality because that’s what amused him the most. He had no close friends throughout school and everyone that he was a weirdo because of his behavior. He was quite mysterious growing up in a small town and no one had any idea to what was going through his head which made things a little more weird about him. Because of his blasphemous circumstances, his malicious behavior was on the rise. It was only a matter of time before he became a real monster. Dahmer was one who wasn’t born to kill but have had the fascination of bones and blood as a young child. Monstrosity is used by infringement. Society will do anything possible to avoid the presence of monstrosity because it’s such a apprehensive feeling inside.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/static.theintercept.com/amp/you-shouldnt-blame-islam-for-terrorism-religion-isnt-a-crucial-factor-in-attacks.html
In this article it talks about a terroist attack that occurred in london, one of the worst since 2005, and how officials were quick to blame a Muslim, when he had nothing to do with the event. The article also talks about a study that was done in Britain showing that two out of three “Islamism-inspired” terrorist attacks were done by people who were born and raised in the UK. This caused controversy between the people and trumps Muslim ban becuase the prepetrator of the London attack was actually born & raised in the United Kingdom, saying that he, who is an actual terrorist, would not be affected by the Muslim ban which trump had made it clear it is “because of terrorism.
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http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/us/sandy-hook-adam-lanza-unsealed-docs/index.html
Adam Lanza is a “real” monster because of all the actions and killings he has done in this culture. Not only did he kill people but he killed innocent lives of children and adults. According to cnn, they say that Adam was addicted to mass killings and spree killing. Never in the right mind would a human be so addicted to other people’s killings. Since Adam was so into mass killings there was no question that he was going to be the cause of the next one.An act of a monster is to cause harm and terror to society and Adam Lanza did exactly that.The thoughts in his minds that he kept in for so long came true when he finally decided to take action.The amount of horror and traumatizing things he has done in that community will scar the nation forever.
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