Sunday June 19, 2005
Who would say that to their teenage daughter as she headed out the door to a social gathering? Would you?
My mother did. Verbatim and repeatedly. Though I never dared respond out loud, "backtalk" being a sure way to trouble I worked hard to avoid, my immediate internal response was:
... and what exactly do they look like? You know, just so I'll be looking for the right things...and if all you've got to tell me is to "watch out" then the whole idea is ludicrous: watch out for people who look like everybody else but have sinister intentions. Right. I'll get right on it.
(You can see why I didn't open my mouth. The stuff that would have come out would cause a premature heart attack in my maternal parental unit.)
What brought all this to mind today was the National Post. There I was, minding my own business, walking around Bank Street and right there, in a newspaper box was a headline about an Alberta "serial killer". My memories were triggered by the following statement:
The police warned the public that a profile of the killer pointed to an ordinary guy-next-door, who drives a pick-up truck or SUV and does not fit the Hollywood image of a monster.
Good information. A guy who lives in Alberta and drives a truck or SUV. That narrows it down nicely. Oh, and what exactly would the "image" that this person does not fit be? Surely they jest. How many images can a person not fit? More than he or she does fit certainly.
People (not just guys) who are known to be creepy or monstrous should have identifiable markings installed. Think "scarlet letter" only more permanent and for more dangerous transgressions. Not completely permanent, like branding or mutilation, because we know sometimes the system gets mislead, but definitely hard to conceal and impossible to remove without the proper authorization and tools.
How about flourescent green paint? A new kind that doesn't wash or wear off. Maybe it has to be reapplied once a month or something but that could be handled. Until genetic diversity caused such a skin colour to appear naturally in humans, this would allow non-creepy folks to avoid the monsters.
In fact, it would enable the creepy people to recognize each other. They may be induced, by the avoidance strategies of non-creepy society (as we like to believe it exists) to form another, separate society, hopefully somewhat geographically distant.
Not a club and not a government operated institution that punishes the tax payers as well as the creepy folk. No. A self-supporting and separate social and economic unit - of green (or orange or purple - watch out for the Purple People Eaters!) people.
I like it. Now back to defining what a monster is. Right...
0) { ?>Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" described a balkanized justice system that was more interested in expulsion than reform or imprisonment, so they'd just tattoo whatever you were responsible for on your forehead and throw you back over the wall. The villain had a tat that said "Poor Impulse Control"
Posted by: Mike Hoye at June 21, 2005 10:23 AM