Every once in a while, I come across a story mentioning notebooks used by horrible people, in which they’ve written about horrible things– the journals of serial killers, terrorists, and Nazi war criminals, for example. I find it sad and disturbing that so many people who commit heinous acts fill page after page with writings about those acts. For most of us, notebooks are a place to make plans and remember things, and sometimes to talk ourselves through life’s dilemmas. I like to think of writing as therapeutic: a way to explore all our impulses and actions and find the right path. It’s hard to believe someone can engage in written self-examination and still choose a path of evil… but some do.
I usually just ignore these stories, but occasionally I wonder if the notebooks themselves might be of some historical interest. Ultimately, though, I don’t think there’s anything to celebrate in such notebooks, and out of respect for the victims of these crimes, I choose not to re-post any of those stories here.
I don’t often read stories like that either, but I do wonder how many would-be evil people ended not committing any of those atrocities BECAUSE they wrote about them in their journal. I know if I didn’t journal out some of my angrier thoughts before confronting someone, I’d have a lot fewer friends.
I would imagine that those notebooks would be of tremendous value to psychiatrists and psychologists so that they could get a personal look into such minds. They would also probably be valuable to historians, as you say.
I agree with you and don’t think this blog is an appropriate place to discuss journals of evil people. If you had a blog specifically for that purpose, then fine. If I wanted to read entries like that, I could go to that blog. It is not expected to find such articles here, however. I come here to read about good news.