Rand, Hickman, Ramirez

[Ellen Stuttle]

Elizabeth,

This is a quote from serial killer Richard Ramirez. This is a statement he made before he received sentencing at his trial.

“It's nothing you'd understand, but I do have something to say. In fact, I have a lot to say, but now is not the time or place. I don't know why I'm wasting my time or breath. But what the hell? As for what is said of my life, there have been lies in the past and there will be lies in the future. I don't believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society. I need not look beyond this room to see all the liars, haters, the killers, the crooks, the paranoid cowards, each one in his own legal profession. You maggots make me sick-- hypocrites one and all. And no one knows that better than those who kill for policy, clandestinely or openly, as do the governments of the world, which kill in the name of God and country or for whatever reason the deem appropriate. I don't need to hear all of society's rationalizations, I've heard them all before and the fact remains that what is, is. You don't understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil, Legions of the night--night breed--repeat not the errors of the Night Prowler and show no mercy. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells within us all. That's it.”

You see, the man regards all of civilization as “evil”. Huh, but I am hardly morally or intellectually "paralyzed" because he does think that, and while considering himself beyond “good and evil.” Is this a man you would call “evil” without flinching and thinking yourself too harsh?

-Victor

I started a different thread for this query, out of respect for Elizabeth's difficulties, which I feel I well understand, in coming to grips with the incident at Virginia Tech.

Victor brought up as an example another person, "serial killer Richard Ramirez," about whom I know nothing beyond what Victor posted. My query pertains to the posted material.

Where is the difference between Ramirez and Hickman, by whom Rand was so impressed? She started a story based on her image of the way Hickman conducted himself. And, notice, though she did not complete that story, she used the basic scene -- as she imaged it -- TWICE in her following novels which gave her enduring fame, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, in both of which occurs a scene in which the lone person stands against the group: the trial scene in the first, the 20th-Century-Motor meeting in the second. Something about that solitary defier of the socially accepted views stuck in her mind.

Detail to Victor: he didn't say that all civilization is "evil." Read again; he spoke of the hypocrisy of representatives of "so-called civilized society."

Ellen

___

Edited April 21, 2007 by Ellen Stuttle

[Chris Grieb]

Ellen; I think the seeing herself as alone against the world might have led Miss Rand to incorporate in her novels. Btw, I think in many ways she was.

[Brant Gaede]

A moral lecture by a serial killer. I remember some of the things he did, like telling a woman she could submit to rape or he would rape her son. Unlike so many others, he let them live.

--Brant

Edited April 21, 2007 by Brant Gaede

[Victor Pross]

Detail to Victor: he didn't say that all civilization is "evil." Read again; he spoke of the hypocrisy of representatives of "so-called civilized society."

Ellen

___

Ellen,

I didn't say "he said"--I said "he regarded...". But, like you said, it's just a detail. :turned:

-Victor

Edited April 21, 2007 by Victor Pross