Mass Murderers

So I was thinking about why people fear killers like Marilyn Manson more than they fear Dick Cheney.

The decisions which Cheney makes lack people screaming for mercy in his neat and polished office. They are a product of military and intelligence interpretation; in other words, they lack a human element. They are also done in the name of "the country", a socially acceptable motive.

However, Manson's crimes are at the personal level, at the exact level which puts a face to the victim and is supposed to trigger compassion. Cheney does not seem like he would stab a person repeatedly in the same cold-blooded manner Manson did. A person without compassion is a person with no place in society.

And a person like that is horribly scary.