THEY WALK AMONG US

There is a recurring theme that runs through folklore and oral history that has as its focus the idea that there are aliens among us or if not aliens plural then an alien species. Vampires, werewolves, reptiles - all feature as possible alien species. The thing that they all share, all these supposed aliens? A lack of guilt. That, and the fact that they pose a genuine threat to normal, run of the mill human beings: almost the entire human species is under threat from their very existence.

For reasons not entirely clear due to an excess of accreted personal history, and others that are questionable at best, we have, in this household, a deep knowledge of the literature of mass murder, mass criminal murder rather than the wartime kind. We have long been avid readers of the biographies and case studies of serial killers: British serial killers in particular. Of great interest has been the emphasis, in recent studies, of how these murderers share a singular absence. They all display a notable lack of empathy - the ability to put themselves in the place of others. And this seems to be the case too in European and American mass murderers or serial killers.

How do these two paragraphs mesh you might ask? And if you. like most criminologists and socioligists, were to believe that this lack of empathy is a symptom or indicator of psychopathic or sociopathic individuals then I understand your question. If, like us, however, you were to believe that psycopathic or sociopathic individuals were defined by this lack of empathy, or rather resulted from this very lack of empathy, were created by it, then I suspect that you may begin to see the light.

(to be continued)