Althouse: "You will presently discover that this work is not an apologia. Why should it? To whom should I apologize..."

May 17, 2017

"You will presently discover that this work is not an apologia. Why should it? To whom should I apologize..."

"... and what difference would it make to anyone? You contain me till death in a concrete box that measures only eight by ten and you expect remorse as well? Remorse is a purely personal matter, not a circus performance."

Wrote Ian Brady in "The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis," quoted in "Ian Brady, Unrepentant Killer of British Children, Dies at 79."

17 comments:

n.n said...: Choice(s).; 5/17/17, 2:49 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Why would anyone expect a man who murdered multiple children in cold-blood to somehow develop a conscience? There would be a good chance that his show of remorse would simply be yet another sociopathic attempt to manipulate those around him to his advantage.

What constitutes signs of remorse for a man who's in prison for life? To off himself out of shame & guilt for what evil he's done? I'd accept that. To have a turn towards a religious life, working what good he can in prison, & public acknowledgement that if there is a just God in Heaven or if kharma exists, he's gonna be in a world of hurt in the next world, whatever it might be.; 5/17/17, 2:52 PM
Quaestor said...: Sounds like an apology to me. Perhaps Ian Brady didn't realize an apologia is not a mea culpa, it's an I'm right and here's why.; 5/17/17, 2:54 PM
Kevin said...: Remorse is a purely personal matter, not a circus performance.

He's right, but it's not how it's played these days. We demand public mea culpas for things which were not even done to us.

As part of our transformation from a guilt-based culture to a shame-based one, the shame has become more important than the actual verdict.; 5/17/17, 3:06 PM
Kevin said...: And now you know why the relentless anti-Trump drumbeat must continue until the masses are sated. It's not an actual verdict they want, but for Trump to publicly admit that everything they know him to be is true.

in the meantime, they'll continue to call for the public remorse of everyone they know who helped put him in office.; 5/17/17, 3:09 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I am thankful that the United States still has the death penalty.; 5/17/17, 3:19 PM
JPS said...: Freeman Hunt:

By coincidence, I read this post while trying to cool down from an e-mail argument with someone dear to me, someone who's so disgusted by the death penalty I may be placing myself beyond the pale by saying I think some people deserve it.

That doesn't make it good policy. But I can't read of that ten-year-old girl crying for her mother and pleading to God, and truly believe it would have been wrong to execute this man and his accomplice girlfriend.

These jumped out at me from the Related Content article:

"The arrest was made a year after Parliament abolished capital punishment in Britain, so the worst sentence the couple could receive was life imprisonment."

"She [Hindley] came up for parole several times, and Lord Longford, a Labour peer famed for championing social outcasts and unpopular causes, worked for her release, saying she was 'a genuinely reformed person.'

“'She may have done evil things, but which one of us haven’t?' he said."; 5/17/17, 3:34 PM
jaed said...: Apparently today is psychopath day on Althouse.; 5/17/17, 3:40 PM
Quaestor said...: "She may have done evil things, but which one of us haven’t?" he said.

I wonder if anyone demolished Lord Langford by pointing out that Myra Hindley was not imprisoned because she did evil things.; 5/17/17, 3:42 PM
Quaestor said...: Apparently today is psychopath day on Althouse.

No, yesterday was psychopath day on Althouse. You haven't read Brookzene yet, evidently.; 5/17/17, 3:43 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Has anyone figured out yet what "Brookzene" means? Like benzene, but with brook?; 5/17/17, 3:47 PM
mockturtle said...: I am thankful that the United States still has the death penalty.

Me, too, Freeman! This guy should have been put to death 50 years ago.; 5/17/17, 4:25 PM
mockturtle said...: And the taxpayers of the state of California are still supporting Charles Manson.; 5/17/17, 4:28 PM
Mark said...: Someone get this guy a dictionary.; 5/17/17, 6:21 PM
Jim Gust said...: What was the total cost of keeping this monster alive for 52 years? I'd estimate $1 million, which is only $20k per year. Could easily have been double that amount. Wasn't there a much better use for that money? Of course there was.; 5/17/17, 7:39 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: What was the total cost of keeping this monster alive for 52 years? I'd estimate $1 million, which is only $20k per year. Could easily have been double that amount.

Gotta remember to do it in pounds.

Wasn't there a much better use for that money? Of course there was.

I don't know how British prisons work but over here you could have had him shanked for a carton of cigarettes.; 5/17/17, 9:05 PM
Skippy Tisdale said...: Obama has killed more children than these two people.; 5/18/17, 11:44 AM