Thursday, January 08, 2009

[bloodhounds] and the investigative obsession


Just finished watching the 2007 version of Zodiac, the story of the serial killer who left cryptic clues in California in the late 60s. The story you can follow for yourself but the angle I'm interested in concerns the stages of an investigation and where it bottoms out.

In the case of the Zodiac killer, the cop who leads the investigation obsesses and finally gives it away after compromising himself. The baton is taken up by a newspaper cartoonist, Robert Graysmith, who finds himself drawn further and further into the case, to the point where his knowledge of it is second to none but sadly, it is at a human cost:

Graysmith ... loses his job and his wife Melanie takes their children with her.

Jim Garrison springs to mind too:

Opinions differ as to whether he uncovered a conspiracy behind the John F. Kennedy assassination but was blocked from successful prosecution by a federal government cover up, whether he bungled his chance to uncover a conspiracy, or whether the entire case was an unproductive waste of resources.

Ditto The Winslow Boy:

Although the family has won the case at law and lifted the cloud over Ronnie, it has taken its toll on the rest. His father's physical health has deteriorated under the strain, as to some degree has the happiness of the Winslows' home. The costs of the suit and the publicity campaign have eaten up his older brother Dickie's Oxford tuition, and hence his chance at a career in the Civil Service, as well as Catherine's marriage settlement. Her fiancé John Watherstone has broken off the engagement in the face of opposition from his father ...

There are common elements to all such investigations:

1. Something kicks it off and somewhere along the line, certain coincidences or certain evidence pops up which reveal that there really is truth in it after all. This is the trickiest part because it often occurs to one or two people and no one else can see it, having not been privy to how it cropped up;

2. For some time the investigation runs on the fuel of the investigator's good history and reputation but now the counter-claims and things which just don't seem to check out come into it. This is a time when a lot of soul searching goes on and the point where the investigator feels like throwing in the towel;

3. The next stage is the key.  The investigated person or phenomenon slips up - it only need be the once, whether it be a sent letter, a mannerism, whatever - and now the investigator [s] is sure he's on the right track.   The fixation with nailing the bstd now kicks in but because he's so focused, the others look at him askance;

4. One by one, helpers and friends drop out, acquaintances start to accuse him of obsession, of a vendetta, of a personal dispute, of ego kicking in and of losing the plot ... but meanwhile, more and more evidence is being accumulated and makes the truth easier to see;

5. The investigator's behaviour has been altering for some time and maybe even his character ... or at least the part of the character required for the investigation becomes highly developed and sensitized, whilst the more social aspects die away. Wives leave and take the children but the investigator still can't leave it alone;

6. In the end, he has a damned good case and confronts the accused with it but unfortunately, the world has lost interest after so long and the pyrrhic victory is so partial and achieved at such a cost that one wonders if it had been worth it;

7. The investigator finally ceases and takes stock. It takes him a long time to get back a sense of balance and perspective and then he sees how he's been sucked into another man's agenda, a nutter who is still not convicted [Zodiac] and goes off to some other victims whilst the investigator can do no more. He's used up all his favours and no one sees that the accused has got away, to the latter's sardonic smile, with virtual murder.

Serial perpetrators do this - they suck others into their agendas and it's near impossible to make that break with the case and not give the perpetrators the oxygen of publicity and obsession which they crave to mask their inadequacies.   They even attract admirers and their ego now knows no bounds.

There is only one piece of justice in this.

Whilst the investigator, if he can stop early enough, can get back to some sort of normality and perspective, unfortunately, the perpetrator, though believing himself invincible, is actually being eaten up from within and he does come a cropper in the end, not from any final conviction nor public approbation ... but from within himself.

More and more cases go on and on and on.    Another example is Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace.    See what I mean? If you let it, it just goes on and on, branching into new territory like a river into new tributaries.

Unless you stop it.

[bloody word verification] blogger seem to have learnt

Now I'm certain Blogger are taking the p--s with their word verification. Not complaining, mind but I've seen, over the past few days:

tiespons

fierher

pissere

conical

flitifi

sqidgi

At least it makes it much quicker to use and even adds a bit of interest to the soul-sapping process of bloody word verification.

[iraqi resistance] and the problem with subtitles



Hat tip Northnorthwester [lesbian football beer] who got it from Lilith Stuff.

[charity] when it is less than transparent

This is the first time I've linked to Conservative Home, to my knowledge but this is an article we all should read.

[blair house blues] exercise in pettiness


You've probably read of the brouhaha over Blair House, guesthouse for foreign leaders in Washington.

Remember that Obama wanted to be in there, leading up to the inauguration, so his kids could go to school but Bush refused, saying that the house had been pre-booked? It was then booked to former Oz PM and MP Howard and wife for one night, on the occasion of "the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former British PM Tony Blair, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe" and Howard.

"Mr. Howard will be staying for one night as per the invitation," his spokesman told [the Australian]. "There's no entourage; it's just Mr. and Mrs. Howard. None of it is at the expense of Australian taxpayers."

Even so, Aussies appeared to be decidedly opposed. A Melbourne newspaper, the Age, in an online poll, found that, of 11,360 respondents, 82 percent said he didn't deserve the medal. (Prior winners were Tommy Franks, George J. Tenet and J. Paul Bremer.)

It seems to me that there is pettiness everywhere in this story, from the Obama snub through to 9,315 Australians. I wonder about Blair though, who was just as much a key member of the coalition of the willing. Could it have been his Labour label which saw him lose his place to Howard?

Another house to keep an eye on is Trowbridge House, being renovated for the use of former presidents who are in town.

Shoot me down in flames and maybe it's a legacy of my occasional proximity to a minister I worked with in Russia but protocols are protocols and IMHO, when a president or PM ceases active duty, no matter what he did or who he was, even Brown and Obama eventually, he should at least be accorded a few retirement perks out of recognition of past service.

There is a feeling about, amongst large sections of the citizenry, understandable but a bit short on understanding, that nothing be conceded, that the taxpaper owes zero to former heads of state, that they took enough of the taxpayer's money swanning about the world during their time in office.

I think this is mean-spirited.

While I wouldn't cry tears if Brown found himself bumped off or summarily thrown out on his neck, there are protocols which ensure some sort of dignity for the office, if not the person. They should be automatic and not linked to the incumbent.

While we're on it, the salary of £190 000 odd a year is ludicrously small for a de facto head of state - no wonder it can't attract talent, that job. It's not arguing for Brown here but for the dignity of the office itself.

Criminal wastage, such as Wat Tyler exposes, is appalling and needs to be roundly condemned but the perks of office - well why not? I'd like to think that all jobs have their perks and bonuses which make them rewarding, from air traffic controllers through to rubbish men. Well maybe not rubbish men, the bstds.

There's a danger of falling into the "politics of envy" trap here, of thinking we are equally, if not more deserving than that man over there, of begrudging the perks he enjoys. He might begrudge the few reamining perks you enjoy.

Tell you what, while I'm up in the air over Heathrow, about to land, if the air traffic controllers were on some perk or other, I'd say give it to them, give it to them, along with the brain surgeon who examines my head for running this post.

A Quick Tip for Digital Cameras

If you're going to have to transfer your images to a computer before coming back home (ie: to send via e-mail to family and friends) and there's a possibility you might be using one of those image readers (or even transferring directly from the camera itself), be sure to make sure your card is locked before beginning the transfer. I learned the hard way last year and lost all my photos of Barcelona and then some.