The assumption that murder goes hand-in-hand with “insanity” is deeply ingrained in our culture. So much so that a quick google brings up a lot of shit along these lines:
Of course that’s possible. It’s not just possible, it’s the norm.
People with mental illnesses are statistically less likely to commit crime and a whopping 2-5 times more likely to be victims of crime.
People don’t like to confront this idea, because they want to think someone capable of killing must be “different” in some fundamental way from themselves. Nobody wants to believe that a “healthy” human mind can do these things, but that’s exactly the case. Most murderers are fully in control, fully aware of what they’re doing, and driven by things as basic as rage, lust, greed, jealousy or hate…not delusions or some alternate personality.
Long story short, the “insane” killer is not a trope I ever plan on using and one that I’d like writers to reconsider and subvert more often. Isn’t it kind of scarier that literally anyone, in any state of mind could be the bad guy? I think we’ve already had enough ripoffs of the Joker or Norman Bates for generations to come.
