Reading this article, this line struck me:

“It seems our profound fascination with serial killers is matched by an equally profound lack of interest in their victims.”

In America, where serial killer fascination seems most prevalent, we worship power above all else. And serial killers hold the power of life and death –  perhaps the greatest power of all for us mortal beings who have foreknowledge of the eventuality of our own demise.

It’s another – and perhaps the main – reason bankers and other rich fraudsters have never been prosecuted. I don’t think it’s just the influence they wield with their money over the political process, though that has something to do with it too of course.

Rather, I think it’s the worshipful nature of many Americans, including politicians, to the power itself they hold via their money, absent of any implied present or future quid pro quo.

A subtle distinction, I know, but to most people power itself is an enormous aphrodisiac.

Don’t believe me? Do something I’ve actually done and go in a department store on different days dressed in a really nice suit with short hair, an arrogant and confident air and see what you can get away with. Trust me, you can get away with damn near anything at all.

Try that with a ratty trenchcoat and long hair and see how long it is before security is trailing you even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

Power worship is another of those odd human things I can’t make much sense of.