These are exciting times we live in: oil prices have hit staggering heights, multiple economies are standing on the brink of recession and our imminent Olympic host just can't seem to stop violating basic human rights.
Despite the gravity of these international headlines, another highly-publicized event, admittedly of a different kind, has captivated me in recent days. For those who don't frequent CNN.com (read: I am not advising that anyone start), I am referring to a certain gruesome incident that occurred last week on a Greyhound Canada bus traveling through the province of Manitoba.
The events went something like this: around 8:30 p.m. on July 30, a middle-aged passenger on the bus, without warning, pulled out a large knife and began to stab the younger man sleeping in the seat next to him. Hearing the latter's screams, the driver and passengers fled the bus, and then watched through the windows as the assailant not only killed, but also decapitated, his victim.
The horror of this tale does not stop there: subsequent reports have revealed that the executioner, who has been identified as Vince Weiguang Li, 40, also chopped off pieces of the body of his victim, 22-year-old Tim McLean, and ate them as police and passengers looked on -- all while maintaining what other passengers have described as a robotically cool composure.
As I'm sure you've all guessed, Mr. Li, before last week, was a model citizen with no prior criminal record, and Mr. McLean is remembered as a wonderful person with a contagious laugh. Police have not identified any motive in the crime; the two did not even know each other previous to the ill-fated bus ride.
This is it, folks: Li and McLean's story is, as far as I can tell, the epitome of current entertainment news (other examples of which are available on CNN.com) -- and the worst part of it all is that I, for one, have been thoroughly entertained.
Now, before you condemn me as a wicked, twisted and unfeeling individual, allow me to defend myself -- for I am not alone. Out of all of the (many) people to whom I relayed the events of the above story, not a single one reacted with heartfelt tears for the unfortunate Mr. McLean and his bereft family. In truth, even less emotional expressions of sadness were largely, if not entirely, absent. Instead of sorrow, the most common affective responses to the Li and McLean tale were those of shock, awe and -- here comes my self-justification -- excitement.
It would be absurd to say that my excited acquaintances and I fail to comprehend, on some fundamental level, the tragedy inherent in Mr. McLean's story. We all understand that if we were Tim's siblings/parents/friends/etc., our shock and awe at his death would be replaced by devastation.
I think it would be equally absurd, however, to say that deriving excitement and entertainment from the extreme or unusual suffering of others is in someway radically inhuman.
We need not look as far back as gladiatorial fights or even more recent public hangings to see that humankind has a long-standing tradition of macabre interests. The popular custom of rubbernecking on highways is evidence enough that this interest has not died out.
My point is that, despite a growing movement at Dartmouth and elsewhere to champion social justice and human rights, the tradition of sadistic entertainment is clearly still alive and well. The Li and McLean story hasn't made headlines in numerous B-list publications and blogs because people feel particularly touched by the loss of Mr. McLean; it has spread because it is a perfectly-crafted horror narrative that has thrilled the masses.
That it happened in real life, and not in fiction, only makes the story all the more exhilarating.
It's the best entertainment that people have gotten in a while.
