Making Monsters into Celebrities

Fame, everyone wants it but only a few accomplish it. The recognition, the supporters and followers , the monetary rewards, what is there not to want? And of all the possibilities to obtain fame: sports, art, music, committing horrific crimes, acting, politics, military, you pick your poison. Committing horrific crimes gets you fame? Well we as Americans are inclined to treat criminals as a sort of entertainment, as long as we are spectators rather than victims. Giving them more recognition the more monstrous their crimes are.

Every famous person has an idol who they try to imitate, no matter what path they choose to reach celebrity status. So who do these serial killers and mass murderers take after, who are their role models? These individuals strive for stardom but most are just your average Joe, the kind of people you walk by everyday and don't notice. And that is all they want, to become a household name, one way or another.

The media plays a major role in occasions where shocking crimes take place. The B.T.K. killer in Kansas, for example, who from 1974 - 1991 killed 10 people, wrote numerous letters taunting the police. He questioned them as to why he did not have a name like other serial killers and why he was not getting any notoriety, though he never received much fame until his capture. Even though he killed 10 people, it was more than 30 years before his capture. He did not receive the fame of other killers therefore he killed less frequently.

For most serial killers, they not only want to emulate an idol of theirs, but be better at what they do. They want to be the most famous serial killer of all-time. Ted Bundy was a law student and a prominent up-and-coming politician in his community. After being captured and sentenced to death, Bundy would confess to more murders, sometimes right before his execution, prolonging his death. Ted Bundy was a handsome young man and had young female groupies watching his every move in the courtroom during his trial, along with the media. Eventually Ted Bundy was executed after almost a decade on death row, taking the exact number of murders he committed to the grave with him.

I agree that it is a moral obligation for the media to make the public aware of dangerous situations surrounding them. But what if the media would have paid more attention to the B.T.K. killer, would there have been more victims? Even though it is an advantage to know about these dangers,