Some People are Real Monsters
Most people are fortunate enough in their lives to never encounter aperson who is a real "monster"; however, the sad reality is that suchpeople really and truly exist among us today - and it appears that theyalways have. According to John Steinbeck, the debate over nature versusnurture simply comes to a screeching halt when it is applied to someunlucky people who are born so vastly different by virtue of a genetic flawof some sort that they are beyond any redemption from contact with humansociety. Steinbeck makes this point in East of Eden when he observes thatbecause "a twisted gene or a malformed egg" can produce a physical monster,it also has the potential to produce a "malformed soul." Will Rogers maynever have met a man he didn't like, but Will probably never came acrossKim Jong-Il or Saddam Hussein either. The fact is, though, that somepeople are real monsters by any definition, and the fact that they are ofthe same species makes them all the more frightening. Certainly, it would be a comforting thought to believe that everyhuman soul is imbued with a sufficient amount of
Hannibal Lecter-type character or the mincing transsexual JaimeGumm in Silence of the Lambs are terrifying characters because they arereal people who have either lost whatever it is that makes ordinary peoplehuman, or perhaps they never had it at all. Unfortunately,things do not work that way in real life and while a stake through theheart would likely stop most human monsters today, the fact remains thatscientists are uncertain how and why such people turn out the way they do. Monsters have been used in literature and the theater since theirinception, and monster movies and books are always on the best-sellerlists. Clearly, Steinbeck was right onthe money when he asserted that because a "twisted gene or a malformed eggcan produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformedsoul. In fact, many people evenquestion the existence of a god who could allow such people to exist amongnormal people and commit such horrendous acts (Adolf Hitler comes readilyto mind here). This isbecause contemplating these types of "monsters" living among them is toohorrible to contemplate. The monsters that appear to be the most entertaining in these casesrun the entire gamut from the megalithic enormous types such as King Kong,Mothra, et al. compassion and fundamentalmorality to be "reachable" to some degree, and that the spark of divinitythat is unique to the human condition would provide a path to redemptionsomehow. Many people just scratch their heads andwonder how one human could do such terrible things to other people, andthen they change the channels and try to think of other things. Unfortunately, history has shown time and again that some peopleare born sufficiently devoid of any socially redeeming values, judgment ormoral compunction that they are able to go through life committing allsorts of vile acts, many of them criminal in nature. This type of human monster isalmost inconceivable to ordinary people since the behaviors and actions ofthese individuals defies all sense of normalcy. For instance, the Frankenstein's monster,Dracula and Wolfman genre of movies are much scarier than the averageMothra-type production because there is still a spark of humanity left inthese latter unfortunate creatures. Monsters are, in fact, scary but some kinds of monster are alsoexceedingly popular even among very young children who may be scared sillyby them.
Common topics in this essay:
Saddam Hussein,
Silence Lambs,
Dracula Wolfman,
Adolf Hitler,
Kong Mothra,
John Steinbeck,
East Eden,
,
Hannibal Lecter-type,
human monsters,
twisted gene malformed,
gene malformed egg,
egg produce physical,
produce physical,
people born,
malformed soul,
ordinary people,
produce malformed,
malformed egg,
produce malformed soul,
egg produce,
twisted gene,
malformed egg produce,
gene malformed,
|