Netflix’s Dahmer A Rude Reminder of an All-too-common Reality
Serial killers are seldom born, and most often raised
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Most of my initial success in writing came from true crime. As intriguing as it all may have been, it took an invisible toll on my mind and made me feel just that little more hollow inside after each story.
There is something about dark stories that fascinates the human mind — even more so when the stories aren’t fiction.
Netflix’s Dahmer is the latest such true crime story that has got the world hooked on it. It smashed the record for Netflix’s biggest-ever opening week for a new show. Nearly 200 million hours of viewership in the first week alone — and quickly rising in the charts of most-watched shows ever.
A colleague and friend of mine, like many others, couldn’t unwatch it after he’d binge-watched the whole series.
His words to describe the show summed it up quite well:
“I’ve seen many crime thrillers but don’t know what was it about this one…like the movie Exorcist in the horror genre, this one left a lasting negative and scarring effect in my mind. I couldn’t unsee the images for a few days after — and probably in some part of my mind, never will.”
I didn’t need to watch the show to know about the gruesome realities of the infamous serial killer. I’d written a piece about him long time ago.
It was about how a shy boy had turned into a serial killer — the Milwaukee Cannibal, a nickname given to Jeffrey Dahmer.
From all my research and true crime writing, one thing I realized was that serial killers and the worst of criminals are never born ugly — they’re often raised in hellish environments that turn them into demons.
Examples of it are plenty — but I’ll stick with some of the most well-known ones to understand the reality behind the statement.
Most often, it is parents that create killers
Parenting is as commonplace a thing as any in nature’s construct. Many people end up becoming parents more by default, and less by design, as if that’s a natural progression in life.
