Psycho

I'm quite surprised to find myself watching and reading more news than usual. I don't really read or watch the news because they depress me, but with our office pantry TV eternally tuned in to CNN or BBC, and with my office browser homepage set to MSN, I can't help getting some doses of news -- and not just the entertainment kind. I even find myself more interested in watching the Today Show in the mornings instead of the usual MTV, Myx, or Channel V (LOL).

Political news never interest me, but I've been following the case of Jaycee Dugard and now recently the Annie Le case. I can't help wondering what goes on in the minds of people who commit these crimes. What could motivate them to do such evil things?

I got to read before the blog of George Sodini, the random killer at the fitness center in Pittsburgh, and he didn't seem to be a monster from his blog entries. He was just one very lonely man, and all his reasoning got twisted in the process, leading him to commit the crime -- a dramatic end from his perspective.

I was telling Infinite the other day that I believed all men were naturally good, that we were all born with goodness in our hearts, that it's as we grow that we turn into something else -- when hatred and anger or whatever else replaces the natural goodness. I wonder, is it just a case of something going haywire in the head?

Why are these people so sad and angry that they would take it out on innocent people whom they probably don't even know? Filipinos are a poor people, but I never hear of such heinous random crimes. Despite the difficulties imposed by poverty, I don't think that Filipinos see killing their fellow men as a solution to anything. Is it because of their religious faith?

Many argue the validity of religion, of Christianity in particular, but I think it's one that helps people stay sane. I think it does to the Filipinos at least. There's always that fear in a higher being that sorta serves as a fence between good and evil, and that fear usually keeps one from going over the fence.

When one doesn't believe in anything or doesn't have a strong set of morals, is that a reason why people go amok?