Horrifying and Extremely Sad

[Kim&Chris]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

I hope not. The show is excellent. They should not cancel it because one person could not differentiate between "real life" and "tv".

 

[FireDancer]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

I hope it doesn't get canceled. I don't really watch the show but it would set a bad precedent. We as a society love to try and find who to blame way too often when in actuality it is the perpetrator we have to blame.

It is sad but there are people who are just sociopaths and some of those people are very young. Some will kill their brother, some will shoot up their school, some with kill someone else. To blame it on a show would be to ignore the actual problem. Shows like Criminal Minds, the CSI shows, and movies like the Godfather or Scarface are graphic but they are not real, they are fantasy. When someone uses those shows as an excuse to kill it is just that, an excuse and not the reason.

 

[Angelhalo]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

I bet not, and I hope not. Not only would it have made no difference whether he had seen the show or not, but also it is one of my all time favorite shows so I don't want it to get pulled. It's easy to blame these kinds of things on shows and games and movies but the truth is that this child had these feelings before ever seeing a show on tv.

 

[agnes!]

Look, I'm not saying I *want* the show to get cancelled, but somehow...this news....it makes the whole 'serial killer TV show this isn't at all real nudge nudge wink wink' not as much fun, less attractive. I'm all for freedom of the airwaves and people getting to watch whatever they want (*seriously*). This news might make advertisers a little nervous and if I worked on that show this news would give me pause, that's all.

I was just trying to say that the central premise never appealed to me and less so now.

agnes!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

There were serial killers in the world long before Dexter and they will still be here long after Dexter is eventually canceled.

I only saw the first season of Dexter, but unless this mentally-ill teen saw his little brother or father as "fellow serial killers" I can't see any way that Dexter was his "role model" for his behavior. One of the core elements of Dexter's character is that he never unleashed his nature upon anyone who wasn't already a serial killer or predator of some kind. Dexter, on the show, was also incredibly devoted to even the memory of his father....

People are always going to want to know "why?" and try to find an easy answer that makes it easier for them to sleep at night. Cancel a controversial TV show and we're fixing the problem!!

Sadly, life's not that simple ... and neither are human psychological problems!

 

[PaulaSB12]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

Why the boy said he wanted to kill someone from the age of 13 that is longer than Dexter (don't like it myself) has been on tv, if it hadn't been this it would have been something else.

 

[lillygator]

this kid was meant to kill, Dexter's show didn't do it to him (or for him)

 

[Sgt Mickey]

 

[MusiqChic99]

The parents not only lost one son but two.

I can't even begin to imagine how they are feeling right now.

 

[chisnpeke]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

They aren't going to cancel it over something like this. They would cancel it over ratings. I don't know how the show does rating wise though.

I also heard the little boys last words to his brother was telling him to stop it.

C.Ann mentioned that mental health care is lacking in this country. It really is. Mental health problems can be just as devastating as physical health problems yet they are often ignored by insurance companies.

Of course some parents refuse to believe anything could be wrong with their child so wouldn't get them help even if it was available to them.

It's so tragic for everyone involved.

 

[Sparx]

this child will probably eventually be diagnosed as an antisocial.

its a very sad story. and even sadder when you think about that antisocials are very non compliant to treatment/rehabilitation, no matter what kind of mental health care they receive.

i don't think the television show had much to do with it. the child would have equally related to anything from a clockwork orange to charles mason. and he said "since he was 13," well, i don't believe (i could be wrong) but i don't believe that show has been running quite as long as that.

its a sad story on all sides.

eta, antisocial won't be diagnosed before the child turns 18, since it is such an extreme diagnoses.

 

[Kim&Chris]

They aren't going to cancel it over something like this. They would cancel it over ratings. I don't know how the show does rating wise though.

I also heard the little boys last words to his brother was telling him to stop it.

C.Ann mentioned that mental health care is lacking in this country. It really is. Mental health problems can be just as devastating as physical health problems yet they are often ignored by insurance companies.

Of course some parents refuse to believe anything could be wrong with their child so wouldn't get them help even if it was available to them.

It's so tragic for everyone involved.

You make an excellent point when you say that some parents refuse to believe their children need help. Someone who used to be very close to me desperately needed mental health assistance when she was in her teens, but her father refused. As her life went on, things became progressively worse, and she ended up taking her own life.

Sorry to go so off-topic, but your statement brought this to mind.

 

[LoraJ]

This is very sad.

But, Dexter would not kill a family member. It's not part of his "code." So it is silly to blame the show for this.

ETA:
I was discussing this with my husband on the way home from work and he reminded me that Dexter did kill his half-brother. But his half-brother was also a serial killer but he did not have a code and would kill innocent people. Dexter only kills killers (or thinks they are).

 

[BellvilleDad]

Yeah, it's not the show, it's the boy.

It's a shame that he won't be strangled to death himself.

 

[luvsJack]

You make an excellent point when you say that some parents refuse to believe their children need help. Someone who used to be very close to me desperately needed mental health assistance when she was in her teens, but her father refused. As her life went on, things became progressively worse, and she ended up taking her own life.

Sorry to go so off-topic, but your statement brought this to mind.

This is so true of parents. Its so hard to admit when something is obviously wrong with your child and if its something mental; something you can't "see", it must be 100% harder. When a couple is having a baby, they dream all about that child's wonderful life. They want the child to have the perfect childhood and the perfect education and then go on to have the perfect career and the perfect life. It must be the hardest thing in the world to back up and have to admit that your child is not perfect, needs help and may never have that perfect life.

These parents must be going through pure hell on earth right now. I can only say that I will be praying for their ability to go forward.



ETA: I wanted to comment on the show being blamed. Back when Columbine happened and the video games the boys played and I think the music they listened to was mentioned, I too said "its not the game, its not the music". And I still say that music, games and tv do not cause an otherwise normal person to do these things. But, how far are we going to allow tv or movies to go? If they continue to get more and more graphic and we continue to accept these things; aren't we sending the wrong message? Don't you think that there is just a small probability that seeing it may be giving the person, who is already wired wrong, the idea that its ok? Or give them the "I want to do that, I want to know what it feels like" ideas?

 

[NY Disney fan]

eta, antisocial won't be diagnosed before the child turns 18, since it is such an extreme diagnoses.

That's because the part of the brain which makes important decisions doesn't develop until 19-25 especially in males (which is when people are diagnosed with schizophrenia). Before that age, you just can't tell.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Prior to the age of 18 psychopathic behavior is classified as "behavioral conduct disorder". Like a PP poster said, they won't actually diagnose someone as a sociopath prior to them becoming a legal adult. This kid seems well on his way to that diagnosis though.

Does mental health treatment help sociopaths at all? I have never researched that topic at all so I have no idea. I would be interested if anyone knows.

 

[Planogirl]

ETA: I wanted to comment on the show being blamed. Back when Columbine happened and the video games the boys played and I think the music they listened to was mentioned, I too said "its not the game, its not the music". And I still say that music, games and tv do not cause an otherwise normal person to do these things. But, how far are we going to allow tv or movies to go? If they continue to get more and more graphic and we continue to accept these things; aren't we sending the wrong message? Don't you think that there is just a small probability that seeing it may be giving the person, who is already wired wrong, the idea that its ok? Or give them the "I want to do that, I want to know what it feels like" ideas?

A show might give a nudge to a disturbed person but if you ban such shows then what about real criminals? I remember hearing that many young people admired Charles Manson at one time.

I believe that these people would still do these things. There's just something really messed up in their heads.

 

[N.Bailey]

I bet Dexter gets cancelled... I never really wanted to watch it but less so now.

agnes!

Why in the world would they cancel it? The boy used that as a scape goat, IMO. Had he been influenced by the show, he'd have only killed a murderer or pedophile. That's who Dexter kills. That's why Dexter is loved by many fans. He NEVER kills the good guy.

It's ridiculous to even debate such an issue, IMO. People kill because there is something seriously wrong with them. Too bad no one noticed before the kid acted on it. I'm not pointing the fingers, maybe there were no clues to look for or maybe the family didn't grasp what the clues might mean.

They are getting ready to announce the Amanda Knox verdict (less than 20 minutes). Too bad someone didn't notice something wrong with those that killed Meredith Kercher too. We see this happening everyday, unfortunately, and blaming some outside force is ridiculous, IMO. Some people are just evil.

 

[Jeninindy]

Plus, the whole story re: this kid hasn't come out yet.

Who knows, maybe his parents have been from doctor to doctor for help and have been struggling for a long time.

My heart aches for them and the suffering that poor boy went through at the hands of someone he loved.