a question of visuals

[realthog]

The good news for the day is that the vile Radovan Karadzic has finally been captured (and, to their enormous credit, by the Serbian authorities themselves rather than by any external/international organization).

While reading the Beeb's report on this and letting out the occasional cheer, I was struck afresh by how normal Karadzic seems -- at least in photographs. I could see him slotting happily into my circle of friends, if only at the nice-chap-I-met-down-the-pub level:

 

In short, he looks like the kind of guy you might imagine bumping into and having an interesting conversation with -- perhaps even a professionally unsound but highly enjoyable game of pool. Hell, on the face of it, I'd buy him a pint any time. He most certainly doesn't look like the kind of person who'd order, or at the very least condone, some of the worst acts of mass murder Europe has seen in the decades since the end of WWII.

Hm. He appears like the kind of fellow you'd be happy to share a beer with.

American voters might want to think about this one.
 

Comments

[quilterbear.livejournal.com]

I worked in a prison as a counselor and my favorite inmate was a man who was in for murder. Really great guy to talk to. You'd have never guessed from his face that he was capable of the murder he committed.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. My ex-father in law was a psychiatrist, and among his patients was the serial killer Dennis Nilsen (sp?). Donald told me Nilsen was the most charming, intelligent and humorous of men, and was extremely popular in the high-security hospital where he was incarcerated. A similar picture emerged from the book about Nilsen, called something like Killing for Company.

[quilterbear.livejournal.com]

I found that my favorite inmates were those in for murder/homicide or child sexual abuse. My least favorites were burglars. I guess you have to be charming to commit such atrocities against others -- such as, being very kind to lure children in... as a survivor of abduction and child sexual abuse, it was abhorant for me to have them on my case load, but truly, they were the easiest to work with. Go figure.