Thursday, September 9: Femme Fatale
YOU DID A BAD, BAD THING
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
Left on my front door were a bundle of pamphlets published and distributed by a religious sect (you can guess which one). The cover caught my attention with the words Why Do People Do Bad Things? Being a mystery/crime story lover, I decided to see what the author had to say.
The writer listed five key reasons why people act inappropriately even when they realize what they’re doing is wrong.
- As a solution to hardships and injustices
- Greed
- Absent authority
- Temptations
- Bad associations
As a mystery writer, I can agree these reasons are bare bones of reasoning a character may have to commit a crime.
Many of what criminals believe to be a reason they “got into trouble” in the first place was due to a hardship in life and where others seemed to live a golden life and it all seemed unfair for a nameless entity to have tons of money when they didn’t. Why not rob a bank or scam an insurance company “who has all the money anyway”? If they can reach a certain celebrity with the public while doing so, that makes it even sweeter. The infamous Butch Cassidy, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger pulled off this feat. The same phenomenon also occurred during more recent times with D. B. Cooper, computer hacker Frank Abignal, and criminal-turned-Secret Service-informant Albert Gonzalez.
Under what circumstances would a regular ol’ Joe decide to commit a crime? Think greed is something most of us wouldn’t be susceptible to? Ever cheated just a bit on taxes? Walked away with extra money that didn’t belong to you when a cashier gave you too much in change? Thought about keeping the money from the wallet you found in a taxi? Two movies, “Wall Street” and (one of my favorites), “Double Indemnity,” showcase criminal greed in action.
English philosopher Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.” If authorities are not watching, people sometimes ignore speed limits, cheat on tests and take things that don’t belong to them. Anyone who has seen videos of looting during riots has witnessed people doing things they probably wouldn’t have if police were evident and not outnumbered by lawlessness. Mobs and their lack of control by law enforcement are a foundation of criminal activity.
Except for the singing group of the 1960s, Temptations aren’t a good thing to experience. Why are we tempted by things we don’t have? Human beings are imperfect. One man’s temptation is another man’s lost desire. One may be tempted by a stellar collection owned by another (okay, so I envy Steven’s collections of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock magazines, but not enough to steal them. Someone else may, so keep them safe, Steve.) I own collections of Native American Kachina dolls, antique quilting patterns, and too many books. I doubt anyone would covet them enough to risk jail time to take them from me. It all depends on what something is worth. Many a crime has been committed due to a link to passion. What better temptation than lust?
Aesop’s Fable: The Ass and His Purchaser
A man wished to purchase a donkey and decided to give the animal a test before buying him. He took the ass home and put him in the field with his other asses. The new ass strayed from the others to join the one that was the laziest and the biggest eater of them all. Seeing this, the man led him back to his owner. When the owner asked how he could have tested the ass in such a short time, the man answered, “I didn’t even need to see how he worked. I knew he would be just like the one he chose to be his friend.”
Moral to the story: You are known by the company you keep.
If we’re keeping “bad company,” it is more likely we will start to see life as “they” do. If they don’t think it’s wrong to lie, steal or cheat, we probably will soon rationalize and agree. Characters in mysteries are much the same.
As members of society, we are hopefully nice, law-abiding, good citizens. But for those of us who live a bit vicariously through the stories we read, let us be aware, we’re still supposed to root for the hero even while we may empathize with the villain.
So true. So true. Yet I do love it when a character tries to lure the good guy and he stands up to them for what is right. Kinda gives me hope in mankind.
Well…..guess that clears up a lot about me!! LOL!!
By coincidence I watched a bit of a show on Animal Planet about animal cruelty officers. One of them said, approximately “the good thing about bad guys is that they ARE bad guys. They keep doing bad things, so if you don’t catch them on one you can catch them on the next.”
I hadn’t thought about it before but, just as detective stories feature amateur and professionals, crime stories do to. The bad guy who does it for a living, and the good guy who is tempted or gives in to rage…
Ah well, the devil made me do it. 🙂
I’m going out on a limb and just admiting that I usually only have myself to blame for all the bad things I do. I do them because I want to.
Who else can I blame?
I’m just not pc enough I guess to place the blame. LOL
In my experience as a policeman, I’ve found that most people who get arrested are not criminals per se, they just did something criminal. Why?–Mostly ’cause they wanted to at the moment. And mostly ’cause they were under the inluence of alcohol, drugs, or both, or highly incensed about something that seemed terribly, terribly important just then–not so much after the arrest and when they’d sobered up.
‘Career’ bad guys are few and far between, but I have known one intimately. He was my uncle and liked to rob banks, and sometimes shoot people if it seemed appropriate. I know, ironic isn’t it, a career cop and criminal in the same family. What I learned from my uncle was that he did what he did because it was exciting and the idea of doing anything else just didn’t cut it. It was like a drug and he had to have more. If he ever felt bad about anything he did, I never saw it.
I have a question. A bit off subject but not totally.
Jehovah Witness scripture states that only 144,000 people will get into heaven.
My questions is why do they keep coming door to door to recruit more competition?
I think (and I could be wrong on this) that they believe the 144,000 will go to Heaven and the rest of the believers will reside on earth which will become a heaven on earth.