I’m definitely feeling much more human today. Over the past weeks while sick I hadn’t done much garden maintenance except for watering, and I have a lot to catch up on. A few of my tomato plants are falling over from their wild growth and the weight of all the fruit – I need to get those propped up and pruned soon. The deer came through within the past couple days (I think it was Sunday evening) and grazed the leaves off my cucumbers and took out a few tomatoes, but I still had enough to harvest and had my first BLT(E) of the season today (I added an egg since I had it for breakfast).
There is nothing quite like a perfectly ripened, home grown, heirloom tomato – I can’t wait until I have my greenhouse built so I can grow them year round.
While we were sick, my wife and I watched a lot of TV, and started binging through the different Dexter series’. They are all (Dexter, Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and the currently running Dexter: Resurrection) currently streaming on Paramount+, but if you don’t have that, I’m sure they are easy to find while sailing the high seas. If you aren’t familiar with the premise, the protagonist, Dexter Morgan, works for a police forensics team as a blood spatter analyst, but at night he is a serial killer who targets criminals. Most are those who have escaped justice, but sometimes he is torn between the legal system and his desire to get to feed his “dark passenger.”
I’m not going to delve into the storylines, but rewatching the series’ had me wondering how our current society would receive an individual committing crimes like this. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Luigi Mangione, the guy accused of killing the CEO of a health insurer. In the aftermath of that, there were many people that came out in support for his (alleged) actions. Supporters protested with signs saying “people over profits,” ad while I certainly can sympathize with the thought, does that justify murder? While they may seem similar, there are factual and ethical differences between the Dexter and Luigi stories – while I’d never defend the usually unjust and immoral actions of an insurance company, do they warrant a death sentence to those in charge? And if you believe it does, then where is the line? All the executives? What about the front line workers who are the ones implementing the policies, do they get a pass because they were “just following orders?” That defense didn’t work out well in the past…
So to answer my own question, I do think a vigilante like Dexter would likely be relatively well received in today’s society – at least by a portion of society. There are those who would feel that justice had finally been served, and those that just reveled in the chaos and fear. I have no doubt that there would be copycats, as well as other vigilantes who hunt and/or bait them.
Ultimately, I believe that if a serial killer like Dexter appeared on the scene, we’d end up with a lot of societal chaos – so I’m glad that he only exists in the books and TV adaptations.
Interesting Tidbits
Song of the Day: Beyond This Life by Dream Theater
Humans have 116 days until ‘alien spaceship’ reaches Earth as ‘it could save or destroy us’ – “An unexplained object hurtling through the universe has baffled several scientists – with one professor suggesting aliens could be on the way to Earth, which could ‘save or destroy us'”
There’s a Broken Tesla Cybertruck Stuck on the Rubicon Trail Right Now [Update: It’s Finally Out] – “Drivers who saw it on the treacherous 22-mile trail told us it snapped multiple tie rods and needed a steering rack replacement.”
Kinky knots: Japanese bondage becomes art
Dark patterns: tricks to make you spend more online – “Dark patterns are tactics websites or apps use to nudge, manipulate or trick you into spending more money than you’d planned or providing personal data that’s not needed. This page describes common dark patterns you will encounter online, so you can identify and avoid them when shopping online.”
Hillman’s Hyperlinked and Searchable Chambers’ Book of Days – “The purpose of this web site is to allow those who have never heard of or had access to a copy of the book, or could not afford a copy, to have access to its rich contents.”
Remember all the interactive doo-dads of the old internet? Here’s a couple: Draw a Fish! and Dodge This!