Reading about Jack the Ripper, and one of the favorite suspects is Walter Sickert because he’s a painter who became associated with JTR. A painter-serial killer is a pretty grim combo, but I believe the theory was introduced in the late 70s and discredited.
But it got me thinking how you could live a seemingly normal life, maybe even be a random witness to a crime. But then some hack 100 years later will comb through the files and see if your name was ever the main subject, and if not, suddenly they got 500 pages dedicated to your life and shady behavior. Then it reaches the NYT Best Seller.
Investigators and researchers may dismiss it or even acquit you if the author is convincing enough. But still. Imagine your only legacy is showing up in the search results of murder or terrorist suspects.
remember when Reddit tried to find the Boston marathon bomber and identified the wrong guy
yep they saw the guy it actually was and were like “hmmm, must be this other muslim guy we know went missing. he must have went missing to plan it.” what’s worse is
CW:Self-Harm
the guy they accused actually comitted suicide months before the marathon and the heartbroken family was suddenly harassed by thousands of redditors
AFAIK this the shark jump moment of the “yay we did it reddit” meme phrase. Before the Boston Bomber, it was said regularly in a Le Reddit Fedora Atheist manor, but after this, we just say “yay we did it reddit” whenever something bad is accomplished.
This pretty much changed the perception of Reddit trying things within the website greatly. Before then, it was a “we’re the Internet, we can get shit done”. Now it’s “we’re SO bad at getting shit done”.
They did it reddit!
Reminds me of this alt history I read as a child from a generally pretty lib shit series called Time Riders or something like that where one of the characters goes back in time and kills Jack the Ripper and the reveal to the public that a rich nobleman is hunting working class women for sport kicks of a load of events that lead to a socialist revolution in Britain, then the freeing of their colonies and has the Democratic People’s Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK) leading their version of the Warsaw pact in the future
Wtf that kicks ass. I think I read those books but I don’t remember that at all, was this the series where they go to dinosaur times in the second book? And there was a pirate book, that was my favourite, and I think one in ancient Rome?
yeah, that series was cool af, i think the jack the ripper one was later in the series so that might be why you dont remember it-
time rider spoilers
also it ended with america starting a nuclear war and the DPRUK being destroyed so it was still pretty depressing in the end smh, still, it was surprisingly in favour of a socialist uk ngl, like i think i remember the irish character praising it as being a better future or something (at least before the nuclear war started)
maybe the author was pushed to the left while he was writing it, idk
Publisher stopped caring so long as the work made deadlines so they realizesd they could have fun with it. Which also is pretty much what happened to anamorphs so I assume the same here
Democratic People’s Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK)
why would it still be a kingdom lol, surely it would be like the democratic people’s republic of england (and wales, scotland, northern ireland/all of ireland maybe) if it got that far, or just like the democratic people’s republic of britain
On the other hand you can take this as an opportunity to be the greatest
trollenigma.
I try to associate myself with the periphery of as many brutal murders and serial killers as possible. I made sure to date Jon Benet Ramsey’s grand-aunt, I babysat Madeleine McCanns old classmate, I ate a burger at a diner near where the corpse of the I-70 strangler dumped a corpse, I visited London, I looked at a picture of the baltimore bridge before it collapsed, I borrowed a bullet to Bernie Sanders a few days before that JFK thing, I talked to Ted Cruz’ dad, I walked past OJs house, I gave Xanax to Casey Anthony.Some day some podcaster is gonna go insane from learning about me
how are you going to accomplish all these coincidences involving brutal murders and serial killers before they are caught without getting brutally murdered and serial killed without also intentionally creating brutal murders and serial killers?
“Going to?” Do you seriously think i would explain my masterstroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting the outcome?
I did it 35 minutes ago
Get as many photos of you sitting in an ominous-looking chair with a persian cat on your lap, clasping your hands together as possible, so True Crime podcasters think you’re the Big Bad, the ringleader behind every single serial killer at the time.
Lemme tell you about this asshole Ea-Nasir
who gives a fuck. if you’re dead you aren’t around to suffer any consequences of being suspected of a crime
Death to America
I care? Obviously. And so do a bunch of other people. It’s called a legacy. You don’t need to care that’s fine. but I would rather not have friends and family be plagued with random accusations for being associated with me.
Plus, I don’t want to be falsely accused of shit, alive or not. If none of it matters just because you’re dead then maybe we should just abolish justice organizations that turn up new evidence that acquit minorities falsely sentenced post-humously. After all they’re dead. There’s no reason to worry about whether they’re guilty or not.
True crime is a fantasy that if somethijg bad happens to you people will remember and care. In that way it is kinda like telling old stories around a campire. Nah, the worst thing about true crime is it never points out that it is the fault of structural inequality and police malfeasance. Like, 100% chance the cops knew what was up with Gacy and they approved of his work. That would be interesting ground to tread. I bet some of the good old boys placed bets of which of their frequent fliers he would handle for them.
If that’s the worst thing, eh
I’d say what’s worse is the True Crime people that casually doxx victims. Granted, those are the shittiest of an already cringe group.
For any future historians looking for clues, I’m making my confession here: I did it. I ate all the expensive pints of ice cream that were in the freezer. And by the time you find this, it will be far too late to do anything about it.
I ate all the expensive pints of ice cream
Was this with your comically large spoon?
If Jack the Ripper was a painter why did his tableaus consist of viscera? A sculptor if anything.
Fr though, nobody serious cares about true crime ghouls. Just lazy grifters cashing in on tragedy.
“What if I’m posthumously accused of being Jack The Ripper?” is objectively a funny anxiety you gotta admit
Eh, I won’t care if I’m dead. It’s becoming a suspect from True Crime types while I’m living that I’d hate. Like, I was maybe questioned by the police for a bit, they found it clear I didn’t do it, and the documentary leaves out the details that clear my name.
I don’t care, I’ll be dead. Accuse me of whatever you want, it literally cannot affect me.
That’s an after thought.
The worst thing about true crime is that it’s a disgusting cultural phenomena of libidinal obsession with serial killers that should not be socially acceptable but is for some reason. Being this “into” hearing about gruesome deaths and torture and SA isn’t healthy or normal or a cute hobby, it’s obscene and demonic. It’s a massive disease in society that reflects a diseased people.
It’s not about “self defense” or “learning about how killers work to protect yourself” that is pure true crime gooning cope. It’s a libidinal fixation and there are a million other more effective things to learn or practice if your own well-being was truly the concern and not getting off to drilling holes in skulls and pouring acid in or whatever the fuck. Hearing breathy, dramatized re-tellings of violent crime doesn’t help one learn from it in any way, that’s clearly not the purpose.
This is not the same as having some violence present in media, I’m not saying that we should pretend violence never happens. taking actually true stories, with real murderers and victims, and turning them into these public farces where millions of people are getting a libidinal hit is disgusting. At least with dramatized fictional violence there’s no actual underlying event that is being glamorized and immortalized and centered.
