‘Monster’ Changed My Mind About Jeffrey Dahmer

When I first started hearing about Jeffrey Dahmer, we didn’t have the internet like we do today. I bought my first computer in 1993 and it came with free AOL minutes that I immediately used to access the internet for the first time. So, we didn’t have the capabilities back then of Googling a name and getting the scoop. The internet was far from being the information highway it is today.

Relying solely on the news, I heard about a cannibal who had taken the lives of 17 victims. Without referencing old news to refresh my memory, I believe I was informed that he preyed on the homosexual community. I don’t think part of the story back then was that he was one. He lured men to his apartment to kill them because he was homophobic.

However, when I talk about Monster changing my mind, that’s not it. I like learning the true story. He was an awkward man who didn’t have a healthy appetite for sex. He had deranged thoughts of being in control and completely dominating another person. Plus, his need to take pictures of boys brings more of his disgusting behavior to light.

No, finding out that he was a homosexual is not the part of the story that changed my mind. Learning that Jeffrey Dahmer was a weird dumbass is how my mind has changed about him. From the other sources about him, I thought he was some weird mastermind who knew how to hide bodies and keep himself from being caught. I thought he liked doing experiments on his subjects and he had a working knowledge of biology.

While many of those things have truth to them, Jeffrey Dahmer was a pure dumbass. Two cops knock on his door with one of his victims standing behind them, “Oh sure police, why don’t you come right in and have a look around? My drill with blood on it is over there. I have a bloody mattress in my bedroom. And if you check the nightstand, you’ll find pictures of my victims. Can I help you with anything else?”

No, he was no mastermind. One point the series makes very clear is that it was the incompetence of the police that allowed him to get away with his murders for so long. His neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, called the police on him multiple times. One time, she reported that it sounded like someone was being murdered next door and the officer told her to check. Can you imagine an officer wanting you to check on someone being murdered to make sure?

They didn’t care about the color of a man’s skin and they didn’t care about his orientation. Jeffrey Dahmer was a white man and that’s what they saw. His whiteness was the reason the system turned the other way and allowed him to roam the earth freely while he was committing these heinous acts.

No, he certainly was not a mastermind. Dahmer was a dumbass who was protected by a negligent system.

How did they get him then? If the system was neglecting the murderer walking their streets, how was he finally arrested at all?

This man waltzed them right through the door as if he had nothing to hide. Bodies in drums and pictures showing his victims in various states of amputation. Even if you’re an officer trying to ignore the Black, Asian, and homosexual communities, you can’t ignore a head in a jar. Even if your only witness is a Black man in the hallway crying because he was almost the next victim, you can’t simply sweep that one under the rug. Your hand is forced to make the arrest and Dahmer himself handed that to them on a silver platter.

It was hard for the media not to give the deranged lunatic that much attention, but it spawned the worst in a lot of people. He had fans sending him money, and asking for his autograph. He had borderline lunatics who were encouraged to step into absolute lunacy and take their first victims. If they had watched Monster, they might have felt different because the Jeffrey Dahmer they thought they knew is no hero.

He wasn’t anything special. He was a weird dumbass who could have been caught in his crimes a long time ago if anyone cared enough to look into it. You can look into how he was raised and neglected. You can examine his psyche and come up with all types of excuses. But he was an adult and blaming anyone else but him for his behavior is a flaw we often fall for in cases like this.

He showed too many signs of sanity for them to waive off his behavior on a technicality. Even the court system saw through that weak strategy. He went to prison instead of a mental facility and that’s where he belonged. He should have been given the death penalty because any dime we spent on this man after his conviction was just another crime committed against the families of his victims.

On a final note, I’d like to give a shout-out to Evan Peters. That is one great actor who pulled out everything he had to show us how creepy Dahmer was. He probably needs rehab and some cleansing oils before he can assimilate back into society again, but his role in Monster was on point and he deserves an award for this one.

Watch it now on Netflix!

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