Idolizing the Ripper...

[richardnunweek]

Hello,
Idolize, most certainly not.
I have been intrested in the Whitechapel murders since I was 10 years old, but it is a intrest in unsolved mysterys that fuel my passion, and certainly nothing abnormal.
I Guess I have a morbid curiosity.
Regards Richard.

[tji]

Hi all

After reading his post I don't think Darktaleproductions was stating that he did idolized he was merely asking if anyone else did, and I got to admit that I have also seen some weirdos on the web spouting off there love and admiration for Jtr.

However in answer to your query Darktale, I don't believe anyone on this site believes Jtr to be someone to worship. A few people have hit the nail on the head with their views, to me, it is about a crime spree that had it happened even just a few years later would probably have been solved.

This is a website dedicated more to the researches and scholars of jtr not the weird (being polite) people on this Earth.

tj

[Mascara & Paranoia]

I think the only people who might idolise him are those who believe that he was a cape-wearing doctor stalking in the fog. I remember watching a documentary thing on the Hannibal Rising DVD and this director lady said that Hannibal Lecter was 'scarier than Freddy, Jason and Jack the Ripper and all the other horror icons', so I don't think a lot of people realise what he actually did and was, and just think that he was the clichéd image of a gent with the gladstone bag.

I think once they see the pictures of his victims and read about them that the idolisers would soon change their minds then.

[Madam Red]

I think this is a very touchy subject for many Ripperologists because we walk a thin line between being fascinated by the case to being unheathily, morbidly obsessed with it. Um, I should explain that better: we are safe as long as we always have a strong belief that what this villian did was wrong and that the women he murdered didn't deserved to die. But when we're regularly facing such true evil, we fear that if we're not careful, we could become it.

I think most people who say they "love" the Ripper are possibly those who aren't really familiar with the case or refering to a fictional interpretation of him, like a favorite character in a movie. Once they get to know the case better, they begin to mature.

I think I'm pretty much safe since I've stopped focusing on the "whodunnit" portion of this case, I'll let the others continue the hunt for this criminal. Instead, I prefer learning about who the victims were in life and how this case has influenced popular culture.

[Madam Red]

I think this is a very touchy subject for many Ripperologists because we walk a thin line between being fascinated by the case to being unheathily, morbidly obsessed with it. Um, I should explain that better: we are safe as long as we always have a strong belief that what this villian did was wrong and that the women he murdered didn't deserved to die. But when we're regularly facing such true evil, we fear that if we're not careful, we could become it.

I also want to add that because we have this fear, we are decent human beings. Compassionate and rational.

[DVV]

Those who idolize JtR have little to do with ripperology - which implies a certain amount of knowledge on the case.

If they had some knowledge, they would know they don't even know who they're idolizing... For JtR is nothing but a legendary figure inspired by a real murderer, in the same way the fictitious Bluebeard derived from Gilles de Rais, or Fu Manchu from one Mr King.

I have more problems with people idolizing real and identified assassins, such as Landru, Richard Ramirez, Guy George or Charles Manson.

Amitiés,
David

[Phil Carter]

Hello David,

Am in total agreement with you. Idolizing murderering assasins isn't exactly my cup of java either.

Ripperology needs JTR idolized like a hole in the head.

best wishes

Phil

[Madam Red]

It also doesn't help when you have people like Patricia Cornwell talking trash about other Ripperologists, saying stuff along the lines of we "don't want the mystery solved." We need people to precieve us as Saucey Jack worshippers like we need a chainsaw through the chest.

(By the way, from which article do I quote that from? I found it on wikipedia and couldn't find the original.)

[chudmuskett]

You dont think anyone one would actually have the guts to admit to idolizing this creep do you?

[Gman992]

It's the same type of people who go around wearing Che t-shirts...

[DirectorDave]

First of I will dodge the question.

I idolise the victims as poor downtrodden women who were forced into a life of prostitution and drink......when in truth they were probably just wasters.....but it is an opinion I am happy to live with.

Idolise Jack? I feel I have to say no....but in truth I probably have a begrudging "respect" (I'm not happy with the word but the only one I can think of atm) that his actions are still being obsessed about over 120 years on.

My interest in Jack is about the whole Melodrama of Whitechapel 1888 and the unsolved mystery…..I have no interest in other serial killers.

[doris]

meh!

idolizing JTR?

utter twattery! I have spent many hours pouring over the contents of the casebook.

I have yet to read a single post that suggests the poster 'idolizes' saucy jack.

There is a world of difference betwixt finding a person with a broken personality interesting and 'idolizing' such a person.

I think your whole premise is nonsense.
Noone here, as far as I can see, idolizes JTR.

doris

[Ally]

It also doesn't help when you have people like Patricia Cornwell talking trash about other Ripperologists, saying stuff along the lines of we "don't want the mystery solved." We need people to precieve us as Saucey Jack worshippers like we need a chainsaw through the chest.

(By the way, from which article do I quote that from? I found it on wikipedia and couldn't find the original.)

Unfortunately it is not just Patricia Cornwell who pulls out such twaddle as "they don't want the mystery solved".

Almost any kook with some nonsensical conspiracy or fringe theory points to the "they" who stand to lose if the mystery is solved as the reason their lunatic fantasy is not taken seriously. There are 3 such posting on these very boards now.

Of course no one can ever quite explain just who exactly are the "they" who are making piles of money and secretly controlling our every move.

As for idolizing the Ripper, those who claim to love JTR are the freaks and geeks and the general dips who love Charles Manson and the like. There are crazies everywhere but the serious researchers and students of the case are more likely to fantasize about being Sherlock Holmes than Jack the Ripper.

[kensei]

Idolise Jack? I feel I have to say no....but in truth I probably have a begrudging "respect" (I'm not happy with the word but the only one I can think of atm) that his actions are still being obsessed about over 120 years on.

Respect. Yes, grudgingly I think I agree, the way one respects someone as a worthy adversary. It has nothing to do with idolizing. I'm always finding myself making comparisons to movies, and the following exchange from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" comes to mind:

Mina (Winona Ryder): You admire him.

Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins): Yah. He was in life a most remarkable man. His mind was great and powerful-- but greater still is the need to stamp him out and destroy him utterly.

[DirectorDave]

Thanks for getting my Jist Kensei.....that's exactly the way I mean it.