Yes and no. Again, my problem stems from the host and the writing. It delves into the details of disturbing crimes, but there's always some narration about "pure evil" or something like that. (I'm thinking in particular about episode 15). It's a very awkward mix of detailed reporting and sensationalism. I'm not trying to justify these horrible crimes, but I just wish the host was less, well, excited about outing these "monsters."
I just listened to episode 15 and I couldn't agree more. I found it kind of appalling honestly. He has a very unpleasant, moralistic, simplified look on things where these murderers are 'monsters' committing acts of 'pure evil', like they crawled out of some netherworld, and all we can do is lock ourselves up to avoid them, or call them scum. No, i'm not defending the awful crimes, but to understand and prevent these things from happening, you have to attempt to empathise with the person who committed them. Immorality is not born in a vacuum, these stories are so frightening (and fascinating) not because they are monsters, but because they are human beings and we wonder whether if circumstances had been different for us, could we be capable of the same acts?
But no, he wants to berate a police interrogator for being too kind to this monster, apparently.
At one point the murderer mentions something about not going to Thanksgiving dinner because he feels anxious around large crowds, and the twat of a host interjects with '...classic loner psychopath.' No, that's classic agoraphobia, which is not synonymous with psychopathy. Remotely. I swear this guy is one step away from classifying introversion as a classic psychopathic trait. It's irresponsible and mean-spirited to blur the lines between mental illness/eccentricity and being a murderer. Who is this guy? Does he have a degree in criminal psychology? At another point he ...basically mocks the murderer because he lives alone with his mother, again, as if
this act in itself is deplorable or suspicious. That's not unusual! In fact it's a kind of commendable societal norm for anyone below a certain economic position but he still finds a way to turn it into some sort of telltale sign of
EVILLLLLLLLL like it's a 666 birthmark or something.
I don't know. There's stuff to like in there for sure, the raw material is fascinating. But the way it's presented just kind of sickens me. It's tapping into that kind of insular American culture of fear, that you should be suspicious of the man with a stutter next to you on the bus cause he might stab your dog. Associating any mental illness with these terrible crimes so breezily isn't just fucking lazy and stupid, it's socially irresponsible. It perpetuates and exacerbates the problem.