Reading about Jack the Ripper, and one of the favorite suspects is Walter Sickert because he’s a painter who became associated with JTR. A painter-serial killer is a pretty grim combo, but I believe the theory was introduced in the late 70s and discredited.
But it got me thinking how you could live a seemingly normal life, maybe even be a random witness to a crime. But then some hack 100 years later will comb through the files and see if your name was ever the main subject, and if not, suddenly they got 500 pages dedicated to your life and shady behavior. Then it reaches the NYT Best Seller.
Investigators and researchers may dismiss it or even acquit you if the author is convincing enough. But still. Imagine your only legacy is showing up in the search results of murder or terrorist suspects.
remember when Reddit tried to find the Boston marathon bomber and identified the wrong guy
yep they saw the guy it actually was and were like “hmmm, must be this other muslim guy we know went missing. he must have went missing to plan it.” what’s worse is
CW:Self-Harm
the guy they accused actually comitted suicide months before the marathon and the heartbroken family was suddenly harassed by thousands of redditors
AFAIK this the shark jump moment of the “yay we did it reddit” meme phrase. Before the Boston Bomber, it was said regularly in a Le Reddit Fedora Atheist manor, but after this, we just say “yay we did it reddit” whenever something bad is accomplished.
Reminds me of this alt history I read as a child from a generally pretty lib shit series called Time Riders or something like that where one of the characters goes back in time and kills Jack the Ripper and the reveal to the public that a rich nobleman is hunting working class women for sport kicks of a load of events that lead to a socialist revolution in Britain, then the freeing of their colonies and has the Democratic People’s Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK) leading their version of the Warsaw pact in the future
Wtf that kicks ass. I think I read those books but I don’t remember that at all, was this the series where they go to dinosaur times in the second book? And there was a pirate book, that was my favourite, and I think one in ancient Rome?
yeah, that series was cool af, i think the jack the ripper one was later in the series so that might be why you dont remember it-
time rider spoilers
also it ended with america starting a nuclear war and the DPRUK being destroyed so it was still pretty depressing in the end smh, still, it was surprisingly in favour of a socialist uk ngl, like i think i remember the irish character praising it as being a better future or something (at least before the nuclear war started)
maybe the author was pushed to the left while he was writing it, idk
Democratic People’s Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK)
why would it still be a kingdom lol, surely it would be like the democratic people’s republic of england (and wales, scotland, northern ireland/all of ireland maybe) if it got that far, or just like the democratic people’s republic of britain
how are you going to accomplish all these coincidences involving brutal murders and serial killers before they are caught without getting brutally murdered and serial killed without also intentionally creating brutal murders and serial killers?
Lemme tell you about this asshole Ea-Nasir
True crime is a fantasy that if somethijg bad happens to you people will remember and care. In that way it is kinda like telling old stories around a campire. Nah, the worst thing about true crime is it never points out that it is the fault of structural inequality and police malfeasance. Like, 100% chance the cops knew what was up with Gacy and they approved of his work. That would be interesting ground to tread. I bet some of the good old boys placed bets of which of their frequent fliers he would handle for them.
