Why are we so fascinated by the evil that men do, so much so, viewers can’t get enough of the grisly, often unsettling, hour-long crime documentaries and cheap questionable made-for-cable-TV movies of the week on Lifetime. The stories about such real-life villains from Bernie Madoff and Alex Murdaugh to mass shooters and serial killers have been rehashed several times over. What new information could one say about these no-good pieces of shit that wasn’t already revealed when they first happened years or decades ago.
Is it to introduce a new generation to their atrocities so their tales of committing one, if not all the seven deadly sins live on in infamy? Or God forbid, inspire them to commit the same crimes?
I asked myself such questions after viewing the 2016 documentary, “77 Minutes”, which explored the mass shooting at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California July 18, 1984, that left 21 people dead and 19 injured before the gunman was taken out by a SWAT team sharpshooter.
Is it to introduce a new generation to their atrocities so their tales of committing one, if not all the seven deadly sins live on in infamy? Or God forbid, inspire them to commit the same crimes?
I asked myself such questions after viewing the 2016 documentary, “77 Minutes”, which explored the mass shooting at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California July 18, 1984, that left 21 people dead and 19 injured before the gunman was taken out by a SWAT team sharpshooter.
Ironically the time it took for authorities to get the go-ahead to stop the gunman’s rampage forty years ago is the same amount of time police in Uvalde, Texas got the order to engage an 18-year-old mass shooter who during those same “77 minutes” gunned down 19 students, two teachers and wounded 17 others May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School.
Not only are the comparisons eerily similar in law enforcement's failure to immediately engage both gunmen, let alone the time the massacres began to the time they ended, but the number of dead at Robb Elementary was the same number of those killed at the McDonald's.
The mass shooting, like so many that came soon after the past four decades, was another case where evil ALWAYS triumphed over good and though the good succeeded in eventually stopping the perpetrators, or the shooters cowardly took themselves out before battling police, the damage had already been done. Lives are forever ruined. No one from those who were there who lived to tell about it to the viewers who watched the aftermath on the news or on YouTube would ever be the same.
The unspeakable tragedies stay with us long after they’ve become distant memories we hope to never look back on.
The mass shooting, like so many that came soon after the past four decades, was another case where evil ALWAYS triumphed over good and though the good succeeded in eventually stopping the perpetrators, or the shooters cowardly took themselves out before battling police, the damage had already been done. Lives are forever ruined. No one from those who were there who lived to tell about it to the viewers who watched the aftermath on the news or on YouTube would ever be the same.
The unspeakable tragedies stay with us long after they’ve become distant memories we hope to never look back on.
In a perfect world the minute these no-good pieces of shit departed there’d be no more retellings of their despicable life stories much to our personal glee. They’d be doing their time in the fires of Hell prior to their meeting with the Grim Reaper and being denied entrance to the pearly gates by Saint Peter and the Almighty.
The reasons why we can’t seem to get enough of hearing about these perpetrators could be numerous. Perhaps it’s because just when we thought we’d seen all the crimes various individuals have committed against society that we question if not admit being a little fascinated looking for answers on what makes someone go off the deep end? That a person with such a hatred for the Hispanic community whose victims ranged from eight months to 74-years-old could, we hoped at the time, would only be an isolated incident. In 1984 perhaps the devil was telling us “normal” people who have a respect for human life, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
I haven’t dwelled on the McDonald’s massacre since watching the documentary in July nor have I bothered to look up the life stories of other infamous mass murderers the past four decades.
All these monsters are the equivalent of Satan and we’re Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden being enticed to eat the forbidden fruit. I just know crime enthusiasts are salivating over producer Ryan Murphy’s next 10-episode series called “American Sports Story” chronicling the rise and fall of football star, Aaron Hernandez, which airs on FX Sept. 17.
There’s no stopping the entertainment industry and the media from churning out what’s mostly regurgitated often times over sensationalized tabloid trash.
The question is how many curious viewers can keep themselves from a taking a bite of that big rotten apple.
©7/24/24
The reasons why we can’t seem to get enough of hearing about these perpetrators could be numerous. Perhaps it’s because just when we thought we’d seen all the crimes various individuals have committed against society that we question if not admit being a little fascinated looking for answers on what makes someone go off the deep end? That a person with such a hatred for the Hispanic community whose victims ranged from eight months to 74-years-old could, we hoped at the time, would only be an isolated incident. In 1984 perhaps the devil was telling us “normal” people who have a respect for human life, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
I haven’t dwelled on the McDonald’s massacre since watching the documentary in July nor have I bothered to look up the life stories of other infamous mass murderers the past four decades.
All these monsters are the equivalent of Satan and we’re Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden being enticed to eat the forbidden fruit. I just know crime enthusiasts are salivating over producer Ryan Murphy’s next 10-episode series called “American Sports Story” chronicling the rise and fall of football star, Aaron Hernandez, which airs on FX Sept. 17.
There’s no stopping the entertainment industry and the media from churning out what’s mostly regurgitated often times over sensationalized tabloid trash.
The question is how many curious viewers can keep themselves from a taking a bite of that big rotten apple.
©7/24/24
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