Anonymous wrote:I think people have touched on two different points that are both true. One is that there are psychopaths in the world -- people who are "wired wrong" from birth, who actually are operating under a different set of rules and motivations from most other human beings because they have no empathy. Bundy is a clear example. Eric Harris is (probably) another. I find it entirely possible, based on the reports we have so far, that Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been one of these. But maybe not. Which brings me to my second point. There are a lot of people who commit criminal acts who are not psychopaths. For these people, they started out normal and went down a wrong path, made bad decisions, some impulsively (the Jovan Belcher case comes to mind as an example of this). Or, they come to believe in an ideology so deeply that it causes them to lose empathy for the group that is the target of the ideology (many German citizens during the Holocaust participated in unspeakable crimes because the ideology they came to believe said that Jews were less than human and thus undeserving of empathy).

It is fine and normal to feel anger toward people who commit heinous acts that cost others their lives and limbs. But it behooves us as a society to move beyond pure rage and to seek understanding of why the non-psychopaths end up committing crimes -- not to grieve for them but to try to prevent future crimes. Understanding how ideology can undermine empathy -- and how to stop that from happening -- is particularly important.

That said, I do feel some sadness for this kid. I just can't imagine how on earth doing this could have been worth forfeiting his life. Did he really feel he had nothing to live for? It is just baffling. Unlike Adam Lanza, who clearly didn't have anything to live for (in anyone's eyes, including, apparently, his). And yet, despite the fact that Newtown shook me to the core and I cried buckets for those kids and still think about those parents every day, I feel strangely sad for Lanza too. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent his spiral into darkness?

I'm sorry some of you feel too angry to be able to entertain these questions. But I refuse to be told what a "normal" response is to a tragedy or be called names because I'm not itching to kill the killers.

Anonymous wrote:I am NOT condoning Dzhokhar's actions but you do realize that George Washington would be considered a terrorist by the British. It is all a matter of perspective...

Anonymous wrote:I was just thinking the other day about poor Scott Peterson. That handsome, darling man who got railroaded into marriage and family by that little harlot. I can't help think about how we could have helped him. Where was the village when this poor poor man fell from grace?

Anonymous wrote:Ahh who is this lil' punkin?



Jeffrey Dahmer

and this lil' cowpoke?


Ted Bundy

And this sweet angel from high?



Ossama Bin Laden


If only we had been able to get to them sooner......

Anonymous wrote:And if the OP is still out there and hasn't slit her wrists by now, I would personally like to apologize for the ugliness on this thread. It was totally uncalled for for people to call her a sick racist, spit out how much they hate her, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I hate people like the OP. They feel sympathy based on their own limited experience (nice white boy = wasted potential = feel sad.)

This kind of crap is not a real commitment to social justice or equality. It's just emotional. And it's the same narrative trotted out to defend rapists (his life is ruined!) and the same reason why statistically African Americans get harsher punishments for the same crimes. They don't look as innocent.

The OP thinks she is some greater evolved being acting on some greater moral calling, but really it's just intellectual laziness with a dash of racism.

Anonymous wrote:OP,
You sound like you are a kind, thoughtful person and you probably try to find the best of every person you meet. I'm hoping that you are just naive and misguided, and not outright delusional.
I personally do not feel sympathy for the bomber, curious perhaps about what brought him to this juncture in his life, but sympathy? "A natural feeling of kindness and understanding you have for someone experiencing something unpleasant"
No possible way.

Please tell me that the apologists on this thread are not going to be taken in by some of the current claims on the internet that the young man who had his legs blown to bits is actually an actor and that the whole situation was staged.