Stop Making Murderers Celebrities!

Almost without fail, every mass murderer and serial killer, when captured, has admitted that one of the reasons he did it was that he wanted to "make a name for himself." As someone said, "In their warped minds, it's better to be a terrible somebody than a pathetic nobody."

The media has always been happy to fulfill this twisted need for fame at any cost. Charles Manson, who should have been shot behind the courthouse the day he was found guilty of multiple murders in 1971, is still alive and enjoying his fame. He has been interviewed multiple times, always smiling arrogantly while his victims' remain dead and their names fade from memory. Do you see something wrong with this picture?

To make matters worse, future killers, seeing the fame their fellow sicko's achieve, are encouraged to embark upon their serial killing career, or plan the mass murder that will make them famous, too.

Example: In 1966, a man who I will call RBS went into a beauty parlor, found five women and two children (girls) there, forced them all into a back room at gunpoint, made them lay on their stomachs, then shot them all in the head twice. Yes, even the children. Two miraculously didn't die. When he was arrested, he said, "I wanted to be known. I just wanted to get myself a name." He was disappointed because there were usually 40 women there at that time of day. When the police arrived, he "gleefully" confessed, anxious to begin his 15 minutes of fame. Asked later what he would have done if his mother and sister had been in the room, he said, "I would have shot them, too. I wanted to kill about 40 people so I could make a name for myself. I wanted people to know who I was."

We all want a safer world. One of the simplest ways to make it safer would be to stop making murderers famous. After killing children, I want them erased, if not by the death penalty they so richly deserve, then by deleting their existence from society. Basically, the exact opposite of what we're doing in the name of "freedom of the press." The press is already required to not release the names of minors. Not releasing the names of mass murderers would not inhibit freedom of the press. They would still be able to report all the gory details to titillate their viewers and satisfy their sponsors. The only thing that would be omitted would be the name and image of the killer, which doesn't matter to the story, anyway.

The blackout should go into effect the second any suspected serial killer or murderer is arrested so that they know they will not become famous, and in fact will lose their name and be issued a number for the rest of their lives (if convicted.) A black hood should be put over their heads to conceal their identities anytime they're in public. Do we really need to know their names or see their smirking faces, anyway? Every bit of notoriety they are given only encourages others to commit similar atrocities in the future, making our world more unstable.

There are those who will say we need to make murderers' identities known so we can study them and prevent future atrocities. However, I would argue that they can be studied with a number for a name just as easily. Their personal information can also be given without revealing their identity.

If we REALLY want these mass murders to stop, we must take drastic action. Business as usual is not working. Please sign this petition to make the world safer for yourself and everyone you love. We can do better.

Of course, there will still be mass murders occasionally simply because there will always be disturbed human beings, but at least we will know that we are not contributing to these events by granting the dearest wish of most mass murderers - fame. Someone said "Evil flourishes when good people do nothing." Signing this petition is your chance to do something - potentially something very significant - to prevent another mass murder. Or we can just sit by and passively watch it happen again and again and again, while the murderers laugh at us from our TV screens, and the news channels line their pockets in the most socially irresponsible and morally reprehensible way possible - with the blood of children and other innocent people.