Have you ever had Sympathy for a prostitute or a serial killer?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801238#Comment_117801238

Where did I suggest she agreed to be raped?

I am saying its irrelevant as the adult version has a choice over their life. If a person wants to prostitute themselves and buy drugs it’s their choice.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801187#Comment_117801187

You can have both empathy and sympathy for somebody and still think they need to be in prison and a danger to others. There is no need to exclude the feelings and healthy thoughts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801181#Comment_117801181

That is psychotic. At what point of being 4 did she choose to be rapped? Say if nobody ever taught you to read or write growing up, would it be your fault you couldn't read or write at 16? Would it effect your choices going forward? Now apply that to any knowledge you should get growing up including sexual consent and self esteem

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801105#Comment_117801105

Of course it is an assumption. I didn't know him personally. but the manner of the murder suggests he was unlikely to stop after one.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798089#Comment_117798089

He killed that b*stard Hitler, but no one ever gives him the credit he deserves for that!!

I think we’re always in the pursuit of explanation of the human condition when faced with terrible crimes such as serial killing etc maybe we’re in a state of denial that such a thing could occur by “rational” human beings who hold down jobs mortgages even marriages - I guess the truth is human beings are capable of all sorts of terrible things- we use terms like “evil” but that’s because we’ve no other words to describe their actions.

As regards sympathy or empathy, I think these are strong words to use- I guess where a criminals background has been detailed and it’s been nearly as horrific as the crime they committed , maybe I’d stretch to “understanding” - it still doesn’t mean I think the perpetrator should walk free but I’m not a fan of “burn them at the stake” sort of approach some people are. I’d prefer to focus on how can we make society better, and how can we prevent people with potentially a predisposition to carry out “evil” acts to refrain from doing so.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801149#Comment_117801149

Well no, why? It’s still ultimately their choice what she does with her life?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801116#Comment_117801116

How do you know they messed up their life? Lets say that women was rapped by multiple family members from the age of 4 till 16 when she ran away from home and turned to drugs then prostitution to pay for her habit. Still no sympathy from you?

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798301#Comment_117798301

The title of your post says "prostitute or a serial killer" in other words you're asking 2 questions

"Have you ever had Sympathy for a prostitute"

"Have you ever had Sympathy for a serial killer"

What you probably meant to ask was "prostitue AND and serial killer" ?!? But still the prostitute aspect is irrelevant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798177#Comment_117798177

Genuine question and not meant as a challenge: why would you feel sympathy for someone who messed up their life and has to suffer the consequences? I struggle with that concept

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801017#Comment_117801017

nothing but an assumption

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117800739#Comment_117800739

The only reason he didnt end up as a serial killer is because he got caught after the first one. He would have found another vulnerable victim sooner or later and did the same.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117800739#Comment_117800739

Most serial killers are below average intelligence you have been sucked into the media made belief they are all super smart. They are as human as anyone else and that you can determine they are sub-human actually suggest psychopathy in you. The fact you can believe a person is damaged and don't care how they became damaged and how to prevent it happening to others suggests you lack basic empathy which again indicates psychopathy. You should look it up as it doesn't mean what you think it does as it doesn't mean you are a danger to others.

You can mistreat 2 dogs and one will be a cowering mess and the other vicious snarling beast. Both are victims of abuse one is just easier to have sympathy for and the same applies to people. Nice and easy to say lock them up and never help them especially if you arleady decided they are subhuman. It is the same excuse people have used for genocide and war.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798183#Comment_117798183

Serial Killers are placed into a special compartment in my brain. You have "ordinary" murderers, the likes of Graham whatshisface. People who kill a single person out of malice/hate/whatever and cover it up. The level of cruelty and detachment is huge, but at a fundamental level they tend to be "normal" people who have committed a murder for whatever reason. I have only disgust for them.

Serial killers though are on a whole other level. They cannot be considered "normal" by any stretch of the imagination. They can be insanely intelligent and socially aware, but the extremes of cruelty and detachment they display to their victims and to the rest of society as a whole, can really only be explained by the individual being badly "broken" at a fundamental level.

Do I feel sorry for them? Not in the slightest. But I don't really consider them fully "human". In the same way that you don't feel angry at a wild animal for killing someone or doing damage, you accept that this is just what they are. And you take whatever measures are needed to contain them and protect everyone else.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798098#Comment_117798098

Yeah, I only clicked the thread because I was shocked that someone would compare someone working in the sex industry & a serial killer. Serial killer will get at least one life sentence if caught. Call girl won't have any charges let alone convictions for her work

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798301#Comment_117798301

Serial killer job breakdown

Top 3 Skilled Serial-Killer Occupations: 1. Aircraft machinist/assembler; 2. Shoemaker/repair person; 3. Automobile upholsterer
Top 3 Semi-Skilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Forestry worker/arborist; 2. Truck driver; 3. Warehouse manager
Top 3 Unskilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. General laborer (mover, landscaper, et. al.); 2. Hotel porter; 3. Gas station attendant
Top 3 Professional/Government Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Police/security official; 2. Military personnel; 3. Religious official

https://neurosciencenews.com/careers-psychopaths-18055/

[Although, the logic of the breakdown is rather creepy in itself]

Strangely enough, prostitution doesn't seem to appear that much.

Although for female serial killers, there's no similar analysis, although I did find this (pages 213/214 caught my eye):

https://books.google.ie/books?id=PvBNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=female+serial+killers+jobs&source=bl&ots=s6ZqMPyiP3&sig=ACfU3U1xh-lG1c37_2vMy5NqrJAaRfj_wQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjkr9rR3cryAhXEiVwKHcOQCYQQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=female%20serial%20killers%20jobs&f=false

What a bizarre comparison OP. In fact I would go so far as to say it is bonkers.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798089#Comment_117798089

He was a gas man

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798084#Comment_117798084

The unibomber wasn't half wrong to be fair to him just his methods were a bit extreme.

AMKC

I was not trying to compare them. I just used both because this Women was a prostitute before she became a serial killer. She got death by lethal injection in the end. Not a nice way to die but I suppose after coldly shooting 7 men she deserved it. She had a horrible upbringing do.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058205563/have-you-ever-had-sympathy-for-a-prostitute-or-a-serial-killer

Being expected to have sympathy for either prostitutes or serial killers, or serial killers who engage in prostitution, is just not something I’m bothered to do tbh. I wouldn’t have sympathy for anyone who chooses to enter into prostitution, or kills anyone else, never mind several people, regardless of how they attempt to justify their behaviour. It’s an excuse, not a justification.

Using that rationale, it would stand to reason that anyone who experiences abuse as children is more likely to become a serial killer or engage in prostitution, or both, and it simply isn’t the case for people who choose to become either serial killers or people who choose to engage in prostitution, that they had any sort of ill experiences in childhood which led them directly to becoming either serial killers, prostitutes, or both.

Certainly I would have sympathy for anyone who experienced a difficult childhood, but using their difficult childhood to justify their behaviour as adults? I don’t think so.

I've never known any serial killers... so that's one thing I can't comment on. I've known a few prostitutes (female and male) over the years (both here and abroad). It's just a profession. Some people are pushed into it, others enter it with their eyes wide open. I'd have sympathy for street walkers, since they don't seem to be doing well from the overall thing.. and it's incredibly dangerous work.

The simple truth is that many people have differing perspectives on the importance, or can layer meaning when it comes to sex. Most of the prostitutes I've known would have very flexible perceptive's about sex.. it's one of the reasons why many prostitutes won't kiss (apart from the hygiene element), but to differentiate between sex and making love (with their desired partner). Then again, a few women I've known who have dabbled with prostitution have done it for their own kicks, or as an act of revenge on their existing partner.. and then there's the fact that it can be a very easy way to make money for some. I know an escort in Singapore and she's raking in the cash, expecting to retire completely before she's 40. There's not many people in standard professions who could make the same estimation for retiring.

OP, I can't see the connection between prostitution and killing. Prostitution should be completely legal, and accepted as any other profession, giving prostitutes the same protections, and taxing the industry properly. This keeping it in the gray area of society encourages abuse of all kinds.

I’ll never understand why people think that the ability to sympathise/ empathise is so important.

You can either feel it (so some extent maybe) or you can’t. Doesn’t change a thing at the end of the day though.

I would have sympathy for a prostitute but how could anyone have sympathy for a serial killer.

hatrickpatrick

One is an entirely victimless "crime" and the other is very decidedly not. Silly comparison in my view.

I met a prostitute two or three years back on my way home from a night out in Dublin City, during one of those very cold snaps we had a few Winters back. She was sitting on one of those triangular bridges over the canal around Charlemont or Leeson Street. I was walking home and she called out and asked if I was "looking for business", I replied that it was far too cold and that I didn't reckon she'd get any customers on that particular night as town was already fairly empty and it was so unimaginably cold (I was heading for a night bus but the vast majority of people had left the club and gone straight for the nearest taxi), and she shrugged and said I'd be surprised.

Definitely felt incredibly sorry for her though, soliciting clients at 4AM in sub-zero December temperatures must have been f*cking miserable, and it got me thinking how absurd it is that people like her aren't allowed to just openly advertise for clients from their home or work for a business which might have central heating and a roof for them to work under. Prohibition of prostitution is utterly ridiculous. By all means ruthlessly prosecute the non-consensual side of the business and stamp it out, but telling people what they can or cannot do with their own bodies is fundamentally immoral on the most basic level.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798106#Comment_117798106

I think it is more fundamental than that. Some people never learn deductive reasoning and are emotionally stunted on top and very likely to encourage the same mentality in their own children.

ShatterAlan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117798084#Comment_117798084

People who don't feel sympathy for someone's circumstances or more accurately vilify them are essentially frightened of the thought of exploring a deeper level of humanity. It terrifies them so they slam the shutters down and effectively engage in victim blaming.

CGI_Livia_Soprano

Prostitutes and serial killers aren’t equivalent to teach other. The perceived immorality around prostitution centres on human trafficking, sex slavery, lack of consent etc.

Serial killing is deeply immoral whereas there is nothing inherently immoral about someone being a prostitute.

Fann Linn

Hitler was a good man, give him his due.