Whose side are you on?
Over the weekend I watched a 2007 movie, ZODIAC. [Here's what I wrote about that.] I googled around for mug shots of the killer and found my way to Richard Kuklinski, a ruthless predator of men. Dubbed, the Iceman [for freezing bodies to disguise the time of death], Kuklinski became one of America's deadliest, most diverse and most efficient killers. He killed for money, for the mob, often for 5 figures. He killed over a hundred people, he claims, using cyanide, lethal injection, sawed off shotguns etc. What interested me was not so much his stock and trade, but what he was doing when he wasn't murdering people for money.
The answer is that he was keeping up a home and a family in the suburbs. In other words, he was killing to support an image. The image of the successful businessman, the breadwinner, the father, the family man.
Recently I also saw a brief newsclip on Yahoo, which demonstrated how men's minds basically short circuit around beautiful women. Men, the clip pointed out, are suckers for beautiful women. But isn't the same true for women? Aren't women suckers for handsome men? Yes, but mostly no. Women are more attracted to power and wealth. And Kuklinski and Madoff and others are the sick manifestations of this. Women - some women I should say - could care less who you are, or what you stand for. Money, for them, speaks volumes.
Hence the lyrics posted in the SHOOT banner above. Because in the coming times, men and women are going to see power and wealth whittle away. And then what?
It is interesting that Kuklinski's wife says: "It wasn't real to us. We just had a hard time dealing with what was in the press; and I kept saying No way, and I don't believe it. But when I actually heard his voice, in court, you know [admitting to the murders] it was still very hard to believe."
There it is again: IT WASN'T REAL TO US.
Authorities described Kuklinski as one of the most dangerous criminals they'd ever come across. He would eat dinner with his victim, then sprinkle cyanide over the person's food when he went to the bathroom. Or he would douse someone in a bar with cyanide [mixed with beer] and over a period of time, it would sink into their pores and they would die.
In the interview [see below] conducted with Kuklinski he over and over again explains that due to circumstances, he had no choice. He's not to blame, you see, society is. He had no choice. He had a wife, three children, he had a grade 8 education, he simply couldn't look after his family. He turned to selling pornography and petty crime, and then discovered he had a talent for killing.
Kuklinski says: "I've never felt sorry for anything I've done, other than hurting my family." He goes on to say that he isn't looking for forgiveness and he isn't repenting; all the while clenching his mouth in an attempt to disguise an emotional response suggesting otherwise. Then he says, deadpan, but nevertheless his version of overwrought: "No I'm wrong; I'm wrong. I do want my family to forgive me...Oh boy...I feel for my family."
You may think this is an extreme example. A guy who murders dozens of people, goes home to his wife and pretends to be a good man, is by all accounts a loving husband and doting father. It's not as exotic as we'd like to think though. In South Africa, we have someone less monstrous, but nevertheless serving the same God, and they call him 'The King of Bling'.
Poor plead for ‘King of Bling’ to be free.
The recent slew of Ponzi schemers didn't murder, but they ruined lives by the lorry load. Ordinary corporations and businesses often benefit, that is to say, profit, at the expense of consumers, that is to say, people. This is to the ruin of thousands, if not millions. I'm referring to the sale of products that aren't good for people - from cigarettes, to pharmaceutical products, to Coca Cola. Next year, in 2010, cancer will be the #1 killer of human beings. Guess who benefits? Pharmaceutical companies, doctors, medical aid schemes. It's not health care, it's disease care.
Kuklinski though is wrong. It is not our circumstances that shape us. I am in a situation now where I feel sometimes inclined to curl up into a foetus. That may be a normal response, but is it helpful? Is it helpful to lash out? No, the answer is that it is not our circumstances that shape us, it is not our circumstances that are to blame. What matters are our choices, in the face of those circumstances. Are we brave and humble, or are we pretenders, pretending to be powerful on the shoulders of ill-gotten gains, on the rubble of lies and ruined lives?
In District 9, a movie I saw on Friday, I recalled a fear I have and it is this. The future will increasingly be about a standoff between the haves and the havenots. The haves will be very few, but very powerful. The havenots will eventually include the middle class. Do not be too quick to dismiss or despise the poor. Because we may soon be part of the human tide of misery and desperation that is their lot. But whether we are or not, we always have a choice.
Watch the video below for Kuklinski's comments on his family and forgiveness.
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