Why Are We Surprised When White Preppy Guys Turn Out to Be Serial Killers?

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Why Are We Surprised When White Preppy Guys Turn Out to Be Serial Killers?

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Blog. Posted May 6, 2009.

Philip Markoff is just like 85% of U.S. serial killers -- young, white and male. When will we get that these guys are the rule, not the exception?



(Handsome and clean cut, or creepy freakin' loner? If you're a news editor, the former; if you're me and everyone I know, the latter.)


The New York Times described alleged killer Philip Markoff as having led a "seemingly normal" life before he was arrested for killing a woman he'd met through Craigslist and for robbing at least two others.

The New York Daily News described Markoff as "clean cut" and "a high-achieving dentist's son." The Boston Globe also described the shaggy-haired Markoff as "clean cut" -- as did countless other media outlets. Politico.com called Markoff "all-American," while the Associated Press and dozens of others called him "handsome"; PR Insider said, simply, that "by all appearances, he had it all."

Over and over again, coast to coast, American media outlets told us how good-looking, smart and "normal" Markoff was, or should have been.

As I read and watched the media coverage of the 22-year-old alleged killer, I was stunned -- though not surprised -- by the fawning tone taken by the nation's reporters. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/139834/why_are_we_surprised_when_white_preppy_guys_turn_out_to_be_serial_killers/

[BlooInBloo]

1. Because our White Unity PR team is so damn good at keeping such things under wraps.

EDIT: I'll have to speak with the regional manager about this one - seems we had something fall through the cracks at some point, here.

[ShortnFiery]

11. Yeah, the ring leader in The Underworld is none other than ...

that nice, clean cut, white man .... Ted Bundy. :evilgrin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9aMUa40A7g&feature=related

[Buzz Clik]

2. Doncha love racial stereotypes?

Welcome to the big tent.

[marmar]

3. I think you're missing the author's point by a few miles, but whatever.

n/t

[imdjh]

5. I'm not missing it, and if I had, the second page would have made it clear.

She'd pitch a fit if a headline asked why we aren't surprised when Mexicans steal cars or blacks rob convenience stores. She tries to dispel the "man bites dog" aspect of middle class or wealthy white killers with hyperbole of 400 year old wars and social institutions. How desperate. It would also be rude to point out that Philip Markoff isn't a serial killer, he's a common criminal who killed one of his robbery victims. While still statistically out of place, it would make him more similar to most of the people in prison than the occasional thrill killer.

[TankLV]

39. Gee - I bet the idiot doesn't even fucking see their RACISM...!!!

[MrModerate]

4. Perhaps because 99.99 percent of preppy white guys . . .

are *not* serial killers? Which makes the ones who are rather the exception to the rule.

On another level, for someone to be depraved enough to serially kill people (which Markoff, incidentally, is not suspected of doing), we naturally assume that there's some dark story of abuse or madness in their past, which seems to contradict our perception of preppy white guys.

Hence we continue to be surprised.

Why such a high proportion (if that number is true) of serial killers *are* young white guys, I dunno, any more than I know why MSM crime reporters tend to fawn over them (unless it's because a preponderance of reporters either were or have been involved with preppy white guys and so identify with the breed instinctively).

[imdjh]

6. Perhaps because she's ignorant, or perhaps not very bright?

She likes percentages. 85% of serial killers are WHITE! Shocking when one considers that 75% of the US population is caucasian and that the list of serial killers spans a period in which that percentage only climbs as we go back in time.

She should have gone with the feminist angle. THEY"RE MEN! The stats are much more cruel by sex than race.

[Chiquitita]

8. have you ever lived in this country in brown skin as a woman?

Just sayin. I find her Latina perspective feels good on my ulcer.

[imdjh]

18. That's repulsive

The author trying to make something out of statistically insignificant niche in the criminal stats feels good on your ulcer? How is that not pathetic?

[Chiquitita]

28. The part in particular that hit me and made me feel good was

what the author says about poetry vs. media, the truth of poets vs. journalists. Hearing a strong and controversial voice question the media does make me feel good. She's speaking eloquently about something. I don't think that article is dangerous to anyone -- why try to discredit and silence her? Anyway, I have no negative feelings towards you or your comments about my like for the article. We don't really know each other.

[JenniferJuniper]

10. Perhaps it's a bit easier in our society for guys who look and sound like Ted Bundy

to a)Gain access to victims and b)Get away with their crimes long enough to be classified as "serial".

[ShortnFiery]

14. Bingo! Excellent insight JJ.

:applause:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVNmgHKweU

[MrModerate]

35. Maybe . . . but there are so many ways to access victims --

we're all surrounded by other people, after all -- that just about anybody who was determined to do so could arrange access. Similarly, the getting away part works about the same regardless of which community such a person might try to disappear into or maintain a "normal" existance in.

[Chiquitita]

7. Open minds to this article not in evidence here!

To those commenting on the thread I recommend reading the whole article and letting the author's perspective sink in. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean she is wrong. Just think about it for a little while without rejecting it. I thought the article was great especially when she mentions statistics of minorities writing for newspapers. Thanks for posting marmar!

[chimpyisstillsatan]

9. maybe minorities don't get the chance to kill again as often?

It's harder to kill serially when your demographic is the first suspect in every crime.

[imdjh]

12. Get rid of "serial killer" and substitute "multiple murderer"

Wiki defines serial killer as a person who kills three or more people in a period greater than 30 days with space between killings.

I think we have prisons full of such people. I could be wrong.

[ShortnFiery]

15. No our "privately run" PRISONS are full of people who got caught with recreational amounts of pot.

I despise those "Zero Tolerance" laws. :(

[imdjh]

17. Figure of speech

I agree with you that zero tolerance laws suck, but I doubt that our prisons are full of simple pot possession. Moreover, many of the cases we see on the news of serious crimes, these people have multiple priors. If a guy has 17 convictions for pot possession, he's guilty of a very serious crime- stupidity.

[nichomachus]

21. You also need to distinguish

Between people who kill people they know and people who target strangers for some different reason.

When a gang member or drug dealer kills other gang member or other drug dealer over some dispute, that's different in almost everyone eyes from some guy who targets a certain type of stranger.

Technically, they both fit your Internet description, but they are perceived differently by the public, the police, the courts, and potential victims. People who get involved in gangs and drugs know that the chance of being killed comes with the territory. However, if some guy is targeting nurses, for example, just because they're nurses, it raises a different level of fear and concern.

[chimpyisstillsatan]

37. does everything here have to be a pissing contest?

Serial= of, forming, or arranged in a series. Serially is an adverb fer chrissakes.

[Triana]

13. I've always known they are the rule...

...but maybe I'm just too "paranoid".

[druidity33]

16. it didn't surprise me...

In fact, when i heard who the accused was i said, "Figures..."

:shrug:

[Hepburn]

19. If they are members of the Young Republicans...

...then I am not the least bit surprised if one turns out to be a sexual pervert and/or a serial killer.

:shrug: What's the difference between "Young Republican" and "Evil?"

Edit for typo.

[MicaelS]

20. Death Penalty for Serial Killers / Mass Murderers?

Because I'm a middle-aged white male and my answer is YES absolutely. Some males are little more than two-legged predators. No amount of rehabilitation, or counseling, or therapy or rationalizations based on incidences in their childhood, is going to cure them. You either imprison them for life without parole or you execute them. The problem arises is some who have a Progressive mindset similar to the author's thesis are the same ones who oppose ALL executions or life without parole, especially life in solitary.

[Seldona]

36. I don't think I have ever met someone against life in prison.

Life in solitary is another matter entirely. We all need some human interaction, even the most depraved among us.

How we treat those we have rightfully had removed from society reflects more on us than on the offender imo.

[nichomachus]

22. The biggest flaw in this story

is that Markoff isn't a serial killer -- as far as we know.

He's a serial robber and he allegedly killed a woman when a robbery went wrong. However, there has been no evidence presented that he killed anyone else or that he was intending to.

So, to build a story about serial killers on the case of a guy who killed only one person is extremely flimsy.

Also, Markoff had an easier time -- as a white, preppy type, because had he been a down and outer or a person of color, hotel security would have been all over his ass from the minute he stepped in the front door. There's no way some guy from the "hood" could have strolled around the building as if he owned the place.

[imdjh]

27. Now there is something we can agree upon

I don't disagree at all about the existence of white privilege, I often find it funny in a sinister way how my being a fifty year old white guy with a military haircut, a slight limp, and a charming demeanor disarms people. I've often thought that I would be the perfect hitman. But I have gotten away with this all my life.

When I was a bit younger, I walked into an NBC building and as I walked past the security desk the guard started to card me. I waived him off, said, "Busy, be back in a minute." and go on the elevator. He just turned to the next person. I got upstairs to the studio where I wanted to talk to the host of a morning talk show, and she was startled (smoking a cig backstage) and asked, 'How did you get in here?" I told her "I just walked in like I own the place." She was not amused.

[nichomachus]

31. The funny/sad thing is

a black studio executive who was unknown to the guard couldn't do what you did. Being white gave you a huge advantage in breezing by the desk.

[progressoid]

23. Lame

[salguine]

24. Interestingly, it's also been shown that about 80% of serial killers had at least one

"fanatically" religious parent.

[DemBones DemBones]

25. She makes good points about racism and sexism.

"Sexism plays a part in the media coverage, too. That Markoff targeted women selling escort services only helped the media to see him as a good guy led astray by Jezebels."

"In her book, Virgin or Vamp: How the Media Cover Sex Crimes, Columbia University journalism Professor Helen Benedict beautifully illustrates the distinctions placed upon victims and perpetrators of sex crimes, depending upon the reputation, dress, race, occupation and economic class of the female victim."

"In cases such as the Markoff slaying and robberies, the underlying message in media coverage tends to be that the women were somehow asking for it. In presenting Markoff as "handsome," this mythology is underscored; after all, a handsome guy doesn't need an escort service. The women must have been asking for it."

"Benedict places the blame for this sort of media coverage on the fact that most editors, reporters and copy editors in the national media are white men who find themselves relating, at a visceral level, to the alleged perpetrators. Thus, the media's description of Markoff as "normal."

[imdjh]

29. There is a certain "damned if you do, damned if you don't" factor.

When that kid got murdered in Chicago recently- the article pointed out that he was a good kid with no criminal record, no gang affiliation, was actively resisting bad associations. He lived in Chicago and was latino. Had be been "Michael Warrenton" of Palm Beach, Florida would they have pointed out that he was not a gang member? Probably not. So is the author suggesting that because this is a Latino kid that he needs to clear his name in advance for him to be a sympathetic victim? Is the author anticipating the assumptions of the public? If he had said nothing about the character of the youth, would that be the way to go?

Some may argue with me on this, but let's look at Matthew Shepard. He was not the first young gay man who got killed for being gay. It had only been weeks (perhaps months) before that two gay men (one black, one white) were killed, one in West Virginia and one in San Diego. Neither of those men became a cause- and you can't convince me that it was not because those were "dirty" cases. Both of those men were engaged in illegal activity at the time they were killed. They were, in essence, discounted. People can believe that Matthew Shepard became the poster boy because he was an angelic caucasian, and that's certainly part of it, but it was also because his case was relatively "clean", ie he wasn't hooking, dealing, or soliciting in a park.

I don't know how the media should handle this. If you leave out the details, the public will pick up on it. If you include them, you'll be accused of blaming the victim.

[pipi_k]

26. I'm never surprised, really

because, like they say, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I suspect people who look too perfect. Too...."normal".



Anyway, I stopped being surprised when preppy white guys are involved in anything not so great about 25 years ago when I was at a club with a friend and there was a group of preppy white guys (suits and ties) and a group of motorcycle guys (leather, the whole bit).

Everyone expects the "dirty motorcycle guys" to start trouble, right?


It was the nice, neat, preppy guys in suits and ties who started a major brouhaha and ended up getting kicked out.

That's not to say that all preppy looking guys are sociopaths or troublemakers or that bearded motorcycle gang people are Mother Teresas on wheels...

But I'm never surprised when the "nice" people turn out to be rapists, crooks, general troublemakers, or killers.

[vinylsolution]

30. Every month, a new Patrick Bateman emerges....

... but don't forget, it's all Obama's fault! (or the unions, or immigrants, or gays, or single mothers, or...)

[Stuckinthebush]

32. I'm a white preppy guy

Uh oh!

[badgerpup]

33. The majority of 'creepy, freaky loners' ...

...are like that precisely because they wish to be left alone.

Either they can't/don't want to deal with the crazy-ass excuse for society that we have today...
or they don't want to inflict what they perceive to be their even crazier-ass selves upon it.

The vast majority of them don't go out and kill people in order to obtain their desired solitude; 'creepy-freaky-loner' is NOT the same thing as 'stupid', 'vicious', or even 'just not right'.



edit for (hopefully) clarity :blush:

[Gator_Matt]

34. Author makes a good point then goes too far

(I'm a white male)

I was also sick of reading about what a stellar character this guy was, but then the author attempts to extrapolate far too much and, in the process, reveals her own prejudice. Throughout history, people of all races have contributed to slavery and murder. Hell, Africans were enslaving other Africans and selling slaves to whites. I think she got her history lesson from "Roots" instead of a textbook. She sounds like she has a thing against white men, as if we're all "the man," when in fact the Dick Cheneys of this world represent a tiny minority of us.

[TankLV]

38. Could you be any more FUCKING RACIST?!!!

Le't talk about MEXICANS STEALING CARS and BLACK DRUG DEALERS.

Oh - you don't like that?!!!

THEN STOP WITH THE RACIST BULLSHIT!!!

[emilyg]

41. Thank you.

[emilyg]

42. Percentage of black serial killers

Experts say that the image of a white man as serial killer persists, in part, because there have been so few studies on the race and ethnicity of serial killers. What studies there are suggest that the proportion of black serial killers tends to mirror the percentage of blacks in the country's population.

''Blacks compose about 12 percent of the American population and there have been two studies of blacks as serial killers,'' said Scott Thornsley, an assistant professor of criminal justice administration at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. ''One study indicates that 13 percent of serial killers are black and the other says that about 16 percent of American serial killers are black.''

Some researchers say the tendency of police not to aggressively investigate homicides where the victim is black may have caused black serial killers to be overlooked.

''If you have body that turns up in street, and it's black, the cops usually say, it's a gang thing and not the victim of a serial killer,'' said Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Penn State University who has studied serial killers.

Dr. Thornsley said movies, television and novels focus on white serial killers like David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam killer, and Theodore Bundy. They seldom recall the black ones like Wayne Williams, convicted of killing five children and who the authorities believed killed more in Atlanta in the 1980's, or Coral Watts, who told the

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/us/hunt-for-sniper-assumption-undone-many-voice-surprise-arrested-men-are-black.html

[Quantess]

40. We don't know whether he is a serial killer or not.

It is yet to be seen whether that one known murder was a robbery gone bad, or if there are other unsolved murders.