September 2, 2002

10:34 PM

Now, this is just odd...The case, which has shocked France, came to light on Saturday with police saying the 19-year-old man had been beaten with a baton, burnt with an iron, raped, had his nose smashed, his ears half torn off and starved. I have read of some strange stories of people taking advantage of others, though this strikes me as odd. Again, those questions of WHY smack you in the forehead!
posted by Kodel (11 comments total)

No doubt as a community we should be able to do our research and answer your "Why" with an answer that will be both complete and satisfying to all parties.
posted by poseur at 1:06 AM on September 3, 2002

Well, it's true that we don't have all the answers about "why"... but really, when has that ever been the point? I'd say that most of what we do here at MeFi is take news and links and articles and explore them as a group and sometimes arrive at interesting truths and posits about the larger issues at hand.

Certainly in this story, the apparent senselessness and brutality sends one searching for answers for how human beings could do such things one another. Anyone who is not interested in discussing should feel free to spend their time on other threads.
posted by 4easypayments at 1:19 AM on September 3, 2002

Life is survival of the fittest in many ways. When people can't hack that truth, they take it out on the weakest.
posted by SpaceCadet at 2:01 AM on September 3, 2002

I don't think you ever know why in cases such as this. Frankly, I would doubt that the perpetrators know the real reason they perform acts such as this. The interesting part of this story is that it is not just one or two abductors but several - there must be some strange group dynamic involved there.
It should also be noted that 2 of the people arrested provided accommodation to homeless people and maybe the crime was some (excessive) punishment for some slight that the victim committed.
This series of murders was committed by a group of men in my hometown so that could collect their victims dole (welfare) cheques. People are strange.
posted by bramoire at 3:34 AM on September 3, 2002

how human beings could do such things one another.

It exists within us we are not born with ethics. As well the environment plays a role such as abusive upbringing or chemical imbalance through diet, genes or drugs or even congenital abnormalities. Usually its a combination of things that lead someone to these acts but its nothing new, the animal kingdom has examples of loners who are shuned by the pack because they have a habit of killing babies or some other socially undesirable trait.
posted by stbalbach at 5:08 AM on September 3, 2002

Dunno what you are reading, but the link seems to lead to a website homepage.
posted by dash_slot- at 5:11 AM on September 3, 2002

I had the same problem, dash_slot...
posted by stifford at 6:22 AM on September 3, 2002

I dunno, sounds sort of like a failed societal model taking revenge on more successful societies with horrendous acts of violence.
posted by HTuttle at 6:35 AM on September 3, 2002

Why? I dunno. "Why" didn't you make sure your link worked before you posted it?
posted by delmoi at 7:34 AM on September 3, 2002

his link worked fine, the trouble is the source has changed the content of its front page. which is why it is never a good idea to link to a front page teaser on a news site. here is the direct link: http://www.expatica.com/france.asp?pad=278,313,&item_id=25130
posted by quonsar at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2002

Why? Because the human species is defective: it's got self-destruction coded into its genes, and it's only through the good grace of our brains that we're able to (usually) thwart this drive toward extinction...
posted by five fresh fish at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2002