Sentimentalizing serial murder
The question of the public significance of her forgiveness never occurs to her, either, for she mentions it not at all. Marian Partington forgives Rosemary West: So what? Does it mean that our primitively vengeful system—in Partington’s estimation, “focussed upon retribution, causing more pain,” by which “healing is imprisoned”—should release West from prison, so that Partington can feel good about herself?
I would have said that egotism could go no further, except that it can. In the acknowledgments at the back of Partington’s book, she writes: “Finally, thank you Lucy. Your life and death have deepened my knowledge of love and grace.” This is no mere slip of the pen. It is an unseemly thought expressed several times in the book. “The crisis caused by Lucy’s death was long,” Marian writes. “It has been an extraordinary opportunity for change, a valuable chance to deepen my powers of compassion by facing the reality of my deepest fears, and that which has been buried within me.” Here is a lesson she learned from a Buddhist teacher: “To be grateful for whatever life brings, especially to those who cause you pain or humiliate you.” In short, the abduction, rape, torture, murder, dismemberment, and burial of Lucy Partington was a sovereign opportunity for Marian Partington’s personal growth, so that she could learn to be compassionate toward herself (and therefore, as a side effect, toward others).
Blowback
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This is a great article. I don’t understand deathrow groupies. It’s a mental illness.
Blake on December 31, 2012 at 5:44 PM
No choice but to agree. At least one Briton retains a solid moral foundation: the author.
rightwingyahooo on December 31, 2012 at 6:31 PM
My brother, who was beaten nearly to death in a home invasion, died this weekend of the injuries. Because it is Detroit, I don’t expect the killers to be found. If found and convicted, they will get at most life, and life, in my state, often means eight years.
I believe the criminally insane should be executed, as they are unrecoverable. But what if the killer is a thug, a fool, someone raised to hate? How many such killers are not sociopaths? I support the death penalty. This level of evil has to be ended
Only the dead can forgive, and God
Pride generates self praising books about a journey to spiritual enlightenment created by other people’s suffering.
If I was to face the murderer in court, I would tell him I feel sorry for his mother, and for the generations of mothers who preserved their babies to father the line that ended in him. All for what? I would tell him to read the Bible
The law is better than revenge. But my brother’s death did not make me a better person. Maybe a little worse, because I have great urges to find the perp and throttle him. I have to keep my mind on other subjects.
What is it with these sickos so detached from reality that a hideous murder becomes an artistic moment of personal growth. This is true decadence. Death is not a game
entagor on December 31, 2012 at 8:16 PM