Joran Van der Sloot confessed last night to the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru five years to the day after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Joran has confessed to killing Natalee at least three times, was arrested twice (and released) and most recently was extorting the Holloway family for money saying he knew the location of Natalie’s body. He clearly loved the attention and notoriety that came along with being a suspected murderer.
Casey Anthony is currently awaiting trial for the murder of her daughter who was missing for over a month before she reported it. Speculation is that her two year old was interfering with her wild-party lifestyle which she continued even after she was a suspect.
Amanda “Foxy Knoxy” Knox was convicted in Italy for the murder of her roommate in a bizarre sexual ménage a trois. After her arrest, she mocked the Italian justice system and turned cartwheels in the police station.
Scott Peterson killed his wife in order to see other women
And Debra Jeter stabbed her two children (killing one) and then called 911 to report herself, all to get back at her husband who was divorcing her.
These are all murder cases yet each one each reads like a reality TV show — and we all know how much they are scripted.
It’s all about our me-first, fame addicted culture. We want what we want, when we want it and we want it now. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt, it’s about immediate gratification.
There is no morality, no sense of guilt, no feelings of remorse. We’ve all been desensitized by a constant virtual exposure to death. It’s like we’re in a video game where the consequences are virtual and if you get caught or don’t like the ending you just push replay and start over. In this strange new world, murder is just a means to an end, it’s an option to be considered along with divorce, daycare or Viagra.
Even worse, in today’s culture, it’s a guaranteed way to garner that media spotlight. Confessing to a crime equals instant infamy, doesn’t matter if you did it or not. Consider Jon Mark Karr who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey but was cleared several weeks later after DNA proved he couldn’t have been the murderer.
Perhaps that spoof of American TV, the movie “To Die For” wasn’t such a spoof after all with the quote, “You’re not anybody in America unless you’re on TV. On TV is where we learn about who we really are. Because what’s the point of doing anything worthwhile if nobody’s watching?”
No doubt there are major problems in the world today. Oil continues to gush into the Gulf; the European Union is staggering, perhaps collapsing under a mountain of debt; the American economy is stagnant,and the Middle East is on the brink of war. But the most ominous of all our problems could be the shredding of our moral fabric to the point that murder is nothing more than a means to fame or the “logical” solution to a pesky little problem.
Dr. Dale Archer is a psychiatrist and frequent guest on FoxNews.com’s “The Strategy Room.” For more, visit his website: Dr.DaleArcher.com.
Fox Forum is on Twitter. Follow us @fxnopinion.
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