Psychos in Daylight: Urban/Modern Phenomenon?

Abishai100

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Sep 22, 2013
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The modern world is marked by great networking and traffic, and those who fall behind are considered 'dinosaurs.' We might imagine that there are 'predators' and 'sharks' who prey on our fears of falling behind.

Could there be 'walking psychos' roaming around modern civilization as predators/killers? They might stalk people they met on Internet chat-rooms or in a nighctlub in NYC or just walking down the street. These killers might have the specific intention to terrorize our modern urban sensibilities regarding high-paced traffic and the general fear of 'falling behind.'

Their intentions may be insane, but their message may be one of anarchy and paranoia, since modernism is marked by great labors and industry. How would we spot these killers simply wandering around and integrated into society as 'pedestrians' or 'good citizens'?

This may sound Orwellian, but it's also eerily like 'cultural mythos.'




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Everyone's imagined their office-boss as a 'ruthless' tiger or shark in a suit-and-tie who is unforgiving about not keeping pace with traffic and markets and news. This gives all employees a sense of 'natural dread,' and usually, this makes for simply good jokes.

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We also enjoy movies and toys and stories representing 'evolutionary fears' regarding feeling out of place or even 'misplaced.' These fears tap into our subconscious worries about 'drowning' in this new 'landscape' of 'intellectual farming.' What if one our hypothetical/proposed 'pedestrian psychos' taps into these modernism fears/imaginations?

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From sci-fi dystopian films such as The Terminator, we entertain our fears about predatory super-robots or 'evil machines' destroying our sacred sanctification of patience, empathy, and kindness in the name of pure efficiency, slave-labor, and domination. These stories obviously capture our fascination with changes in humanity-patterns (e.g., agriculture-to-industrialization).

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We can't walk up to a dressed and dutiful Scotland Yard policeman and simply say, "I think someone's stalking me and following me down this street," since the lawman might require proof of our suspicions. Our hypothetical 'pedestrian psycho' may find it easy to 'blend into' the milieu/traffic of modern urban environments, making it challenging for cops to detect them!

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Now, imagine that our hypothetical 'pedestrian psycho' chooses to suddenly expose/reveal himself to us after stalking us for some time and tells us he's a 'messenger' of evil or the Devil himself. We might imagine suddenly that this 'stalker' is some kind of nasty 'demon' or perhaps some kind of 'boogeyman.' These kinds of 'socialization fears' are what killers might even find fascinating!

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A 'pedestrian psycho' who is trying to 'blend into' urban society or even 'become invisible' might tap into normal social activities/behaviors or festivals/rituals such as the Mummers Parade or Mardi Gras, choosing to strike at the right moment to capitalize on traffic-fears regarding abnormal 'customs insecurities.' Such a 'pedestrian psycho' might even seem like a 'camouflage-magician' of sorts! Strange and intriguing, no?

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Let's think of a conceptual frustration-themed video-game in which you can play an office-worker trying to evade an eerie office-goblin who's wielding a blade/weapon and chasing you around in the office-room. Such a concept video-game might capture this general fear of 'falling behind' and hence 'becoming prey' to one of these 'modernism psychos.' This could make for intriguing 'modernism folklore' --- e.g., The Shadow pursues the NYC office-killer known as The Condiment King!

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The modern film American Psycho presents the iconic tale of a Wall Street yuppie named Patrick who 'doubles' as a secret serial-killer, preying on dates, prostitutes, and co-workers and professing to be some kind of 'claustrophobia-messenger.' Such a film would surely represent our proposed 'clandestine modernism fears.'

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The modern city is, after all, a place of great activity and intrigue. We rely on our good senses to interact, feel safe, and reach our safe-spaces for secure networking, work, and play. We might therefore wonder about the 'sociological significance' of Jack the Ripper's ominous quote, "
One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century."

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:backpedal:
 

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