Evil people

Central Ontario, indeed much of the country, has been horrified by the arrest this week of the commander of CFB Trenton -- Canada's largest airforce base -- on charges of murdering two women and raping two others.

And this may be just the beginning. Investigators are following the trail of Colonel Russell Williams around the country and around the world, looking for links to a number of cold cases, including the murder of another female member of the forces in Manitoba.

Col. Williams has yet to be tried, but has supposedly made some incriminating statements to the police, and may have led them to the latest victim's body. So let's assume that he did that of which he stands accused. The big question is, WHY?

No-one saw this coming. Read his biography and you can find nothing that shows a propensity or even an inclination for this sort of thing. It's unclear if the Armed Forces did any psychiatric evaluation or profiling before raising Col. Williams to his high position, but if they did, no red flags were raised.

Why did he do it?! Some people, perhaps his defence lawyers, may claim that he is or was mentally ill, not fully responsible for his actions. A lot of liberal thinkers would agree, on the theory that humans are inherently good, and only someone who is "sick" could tie women up, rape them and take "trophy pictures". But is that so?

Walt believes people are inherently BAD, the consequence of Original Sin. You don't have to teach a child to be bad. And is there one amongst us who hasn't thought of doing a bad thing -- like killing someone -- "if only..." And therein lies part of the answer.

Most of us don't commit the crimes we think about for fear of getting caught or going to hell or whatever. We are afraid to do it. But some of us, like Raskolnikov, say to ourselves "go for it" and do it to see if we can get away with it, or just to see what happens.

There is nothing wrong with these people except that they fail to control the evil within them. They give in to "the dark side" or, if you like, the Devil.

Some of them do it more than once. In the U.S.A., you have to commit murder twice to be deemed a serial killer. In Canada the rule seems to be three times. Then they call you a dangerous offender and lock you up for life...supposedly.

In an earlier time you might have been found to be possessed by the Devil and drowned or burned at the stake. But the reasoning is the same. "This person is irredeemably evil. Let our society be rid of him." Any flaw in this logic is hard to see.