Monday, April 06, 2009
A local tragedy
We've had a banner month for male rage:
They all had their "motives" - Krisinski, James Harrison, Poplawski, McLendon. Raghavan, Robert Stewart, Jiverly Wong. They were all one heartbreak, one broken shoelace away from going totally ballistic. They were all invisible except to those close to them. I've met these kinds of men, read their anonymous comments online. Maybe they refer to their ex-wives & girlfriends with vulgar, degrading language. Maybe they think politicians go to sleep every night & dream of how to screw them personally. Maybe the sound or sight of an unfamiliar or undesired, demonized other makes them cringe. Maybe they brag about their private arsenals. Maybe they hear black helicopters hovering overhead. They must have been swimming in reservoirs of bile long before the dam shattered. America produces these lunatics in abundance, whether they're born here or not. Rage is a human trait, & can be useful. But what happens when rage is enabled by a culture of rage - misogynist, bigoted, cynical, apocalyptic, nihilistic? Not just weeping Glenn Beck & shouting Limbaugh, our versions of mullahs counseling others (metaphorically, they claim) to strap on a bomb & reach for paradise. Poplawski lived it. His act was, he believed, political. But what of the others? Where did they come from?
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Three dead in murder-suicide in PiscatawayReport doesn't say how long it took police to respond. Too long, obviously.
A man who forced his way into the Piscataway home of his ex-girlfriend Sunday night fatally stabbed her and her friend before killing himself, authorities said today.
Andrew Krisinski, 44, repeatedly stabbed his ex-companion, Christa Wahler, 45, and Dennis Marko, 41, in Wahler's home on South Randolphville Road, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said in a joint statement with Piscataway police Chief Kevin Harris.
Walher and Krisinski had lived together for about 18 months, but separated when Wahler obtained a restraining order against him on Feb. 22. Court records show the order was dismissed March 10.
On Sunday, Wahler called police call at 10:09 p.m. Sunday to report Krisinski was attempting to break into her home, authorities said.
Within an hour, both Wahler and Krisinski had been pronounced dead at the house.
They all had their "motives" - Krisinski, James Harrison, Poplawski, McLendon. Raghavan, Robert Stewart, Jiverly Wong. They were all one heartbreak, one broken shoelace away from going totally ballistic. They were all invisible except to those close to them. I've met these kinds of men, read their anonymous comments online. Maybe they refer to their ex-wives & girlfriends with vulgar, degrading language. Maybe they think politicians go to sleep every night & dream of how to screw them personally. Maybe the sound or sight of an unfamiliar or undesired, demonized other makes them cringe. Maybe they brag about their private arsenals. Maybe they hear black helicopters hovering overhead. They must have been swimming in reservoirs of bile long before the dam shattered. America produces these lunatics in abundance, whether they're born here or not. Rage is a human trait, & can be useful. But what happens when rage is enabled by a culture of rage - misogynist, bigoted, cynical, apocalyptic, nihilistic? Not just weeping Glenn Beck & shouting Limbaugh, our versions of mullahs counseling others (metaphorically, they claim) to strap on a bomb & reach for paradise. Poplawski lived it. His act was, he believed, political. But what of the others? Where did they come from?
Labels: culture, in the news
