Why there are not more real life vigilantes?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Syzygys, Sep 15, 2010.

  1. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    In the movies, books there are all the bad heros, the vigilantes, doing what society can not do. How come we have very few of them in real life?

    I mean if let's say you feel like being a murderous psychopath, why not kill bad people like Dexter instead of weak and innocent people? Where is the challenge in that??

    I don't even remember the last time I read about a real life Charles Bronson (Death wish). What about all those people who lose family members to violent crimes, nobody ever take justice in their hands???

    I looked up in Wikipedia and the last guy who I actually remember reading about is the NYC subway vigilante Goetz, from 1984....

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Goetz
     
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  3. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    I don't know where you live, but my guess is that, if you live in a city of any size to speak of, you don't read/see/hear much about the news in your city. In the Dallas/Fort Worth region, there are killings (or attempts) all the time in what could easily be called "vigilante" justice.

    Are you sure you're watching or reading the news?

    And what about the terrorists of the world? Aren't they "vigilantes" in the true sense of the word?

    Baron Max
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2010
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  5. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    because inspite of what people say they actually do trust the police and the system, they do trust sociaty.
     
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  7. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    You sure don't mind posting a couple of links, do you? And I don't mean gangs' turfwar or so, but a nice average Joe taking out some bad guys...

    Wikipedia sure didn't hear about your town, because Gotz was the last famous vigilante listed and that was from 26 years ago....
     
  8. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    Poppycock....

    It is because average people are more affraid of the punishment, then the lowlifes, simple because they can lose more.

    Read the Gotz case, he actually went to prison....
     
  9. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    lets say your right, that doesnt mean im wrong, it actually means im RIGHT. Wether its people belive that the "bad guys" will get caught or they belive THEY will get caught they still belive the system works
     
  10. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    I'm guessing it's a combination of:

    1. Lack of vigilante targets. In real life you couldn't just go out and easily find a lot of crimes to foil. If the criminals were so easy to find, the police would already be arresting them. At best, you might be able to easily find people committing low-level, relatively victimless crimes that probably wouldn't be interesting or satisfying to stop. Usually movies/comics/etc come up with some explanation for why the vigilante is able to find enough criminals to keep the story interesting. Dexter works for the police and so knows the details of all the murder investigations in the city, Bruce Wayne lives in a city where the police are corrupt and apathetic so the criminals don't need to actually hide, Clark Kent has super sense that allow him to monitor the entire city at once in search of crimes, etc.

    2. Most people don't really get as upset over crime as they claim. If you asked random people which was worse, a bank robbery or spilling a jar of pickles on the floor, virtually everyone will say that the robbery is worse. But I'll bet you any amount of money that if they simultaneously hear about a bank robbery that has occurred and spill a jar of pickles on their floor, they'll be a LOT more upset over their lost pickles and the mess that they need to clean up. They realize that the bank robbery is worse in an abstract, theoretical sense, but they won't actually get angry about it because it doesn't affect them directly.

    As for the "Where is the challenge in that?" issue regarding serial killers, I don't think that most serial killers are looking for a challenge. They just want to have fun killing people in whatever way is safest and easiest for them (while still allowing them to have their fun). Dangerous criminals would probably be low on their list of people to go after, along with cops, karate experts, and special forces guys.
    Arguably not really a vigilante, since that was self defense. He shot four people who were intent on robbing him.
     
  11. jmpet Valued Senior Member

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  12. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    It isn't about foiling but repaying, vengeance or prevention if you like.

    And nowadays it is way easier with the internet, then 20 years ago. You can easily find vriminals who got awat easy and are getting out of prison. There you have your targets. Or who didn't even go to jail because of technicalities or witness intimidation or whatever.

    Your example is kind of silly because obviously if you are part of a bank robbery and being robed, you will get upset about it, I guarantee it.

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    Now there are so many injustices with the stupid US legal system that it is interesting that we don't hear about not even one vigilante.

    True but let's say you are a highly intelligetn psychopath with a killer urge, you might pick people who are worthy to kill...

    Well, there was a bit more to it. He was robbed before, thus the gun. He fired the 5th bullet into one guy saying something like: "You don't seem to be bleeding."
     
  13. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    Ah, I see what you're getting at now. I assumed you were talking about people going out and killing random criminals, but you appear to be talking more about people taking revenge against specific people who wronged them.

    Well, sure, you might. But again, I don't think most serial killers are in it for the challenge.
    This was widely reported, but false. Even the prosecutor at the trial admitted in court that he didn't say anything like that. The subway car was full of witnesses, and they all agreed that all five shots were fired very quickly over just one or two seconds, with no pauses.
     
  14. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    The best part of the Gotz case is to look up what happened to the assholes later in life:

    " In May 1985, Ramseur held the gun while an associate raped, sodomized and robbed a pregnant eighteen-year-old woman on the rooftop of the Bronx building where he lived, and in 1986 was sentenced to 8⅓ to 25 years in prison. Barry Allen committed two robberies after the shooting, one of them a chain snatching in the elevator of the building where he lived.[51] The second arrest brought him a sentence of up to four years for probation violation."

    ----------------------

    I guess in the US if the criminal is rather well to do, it is more fashionable to sue him in civil court than taking revenge, see OJ.

    There was one funny case of vigilantes when a town's asshole bully got killed and although 45 people witnessed the murder, nobody came forward seeing anything, and something like 20 people claimed that they hid under the same pooltable when the shooting started...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2010
  15. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    yes because someone who views people as tools and the way you view an ant crossing your path (a sociopath) actually gives a toss about "good" people vs "bad" people. All they care about is there own (probably sexual) gratification
     

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