Dealing With Clint
I knew Clint Lamebear for about two years. We worked together, graduated together, and eventually ended up becoming good friends. Clint always had so much to talk about. He constantly made plans, always optimistic, looking forward to tomorrow. We talked to each other everyday this past summer and continued to keep in touch throughout the first quarter of my freshman year at the University of Arizona. November 15th, 2002 was the last time I spoke to him. He had just arrived in Germany, where he was to spend the next eight months training for the army. However, four days later, Clint was killed, leaving many heartbroken, confused, and angry. An evaluation of Clint's death unveils a repetitive American solution to dealing with murder.When a murder takes place in America, much more attention is given to the murderer than to the victim. We contemplate over every aspect of the killers, while often categorizing the victims into a broad, common group. Bundy murdered college-age women with long brown hair, Dahmer went after young, homosexual men, while Pedro Lopez murdered underprivileged, little girls. We take away the identity of the victims and replace it with a couple fundamental facts that we found m
Although we are constantly reminded that evil acts aren't necessarily done by "evil-looking" individuals, we still often jump to conclusions. "A witness reported seeing Lamebear... A description led military authorities to a 20-year-old soldier, who implicated another soldier, also 20. The soldier said he and his companion decided to rob Lamebear ... said they took the victim's wallet, containing $40, and then beat him up." Movies often depict American society's perception of fear. In "Halloween", the killer, Mike Myers, is portrayed as a slow moving, incoherent, masked individual who endlessly stalks his prey. It is easier for us to understand evil when we can noticeably point it out. In "The Exorcist," Regan Macneil is illustrated as a sweet, young schoolgirl; however, her physical appearance drastically changes as soon as she becomes "possessed." We have been taught that we can visibly differentiate evil from good and normal. As soon as people knew that an 18-year-old brown-skinned private had been killed off base while training in Germany, everyone pointed the finger at the Germans. "Germans have been having many problem controlling racism," many reasoned. We had to blame someone and that someone had to be evil. We pictured Clint being beaten by racist skinheads: dim-witted kids with bizarre clothing running around creating dreadful nuisances. It was strangely comforting. We could actually understand it now. We had a face to go with the murderer and that face was in fact evil, it all made sense.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Dennis Nilsen, Lamebear November, Arizona November, Germans Germans, Pedro Lopez, Regan Macneil, Clint Lamebear, Clint November, Mike Myers, Germany KRQE, clint's death, american society's, clint's family, american society, kristen june,
Approximate Word count = 1262
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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