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Friday, March 27, 2015

Looks like I'm wrong in the previous post

News has come out this morning that Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz was heartbroken about a breakup with a girlfriend. 


Coulda sworn those were plucked eyebrows. 

12 comments:

A said...

Perhaps one's gaydar is only valid within one's own culture. My first impression when I saw the image of him in SF was simply that he looked profoundly German.

John Craig said...

A --
I've found that to be true with some cultures (like the French), but hadn't realized it applied to Germans as well.

Steven said...

I could see what you meant though.

John Craig said...

Steven --
Thanks.

Those previous pictures made it easy to imagine that Lubitz had crashed that jet in a big hissy fit. As it turns out, a frustrated love life did turn out to be a fairly central part of his internal drama, but it evidently involved a woman and not a man.

Ambrose Kane said...

John, my 'gaydar' (which, by the way, has a very high percentage of accuracy!) didn't automatically go off when I first saw his photograph.

My impression of him was that of a soft beta, somewhat feminine man but not one who was necessarily gay. I usually don't form such opinions until I see a combination of such features as one's voice or manner of expression, overall appearance, attire, and certain clues such as hand gestures that tip me off to such probabilities.

Having grown up in the Hollywood scene, I've witnessed and interacted with a lot of gay guys.

I don't think your first impression was that off the mark because you at least sensed something un-masculine or soft about him that was suggestive he might be gay. Hey, no one's 'gaydar' is 100% accurate all of the time - not even mine! LOL!

John Craig said...

Ambrose --
Well your gaydar was definitely better than mine on this one. Mine went clanging off in what was evidently a false alarm. But one of the two pictures that were available of the guy at first was in San Francisco, he had those soft feminine cheeks I associate with a lack of male hormones, those narrow shoulders (ditto), and what looked to me to be plucked eyebrows (in that second picture in the previous post).

Anyway, I sympathize people who feel out of place in this world, I really do. But that sympathy evaporates pretty quickly when they decide to take a lot of people with them when they commit suicide.

Personally, I think the media should excoriate and mock these people in the harshest possible terms when writing about them after their crime, just to deter copycats. I wrote about that after the Adam Lanza killings here:

http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2012/12/if-media-reported-on-these-mass.html

MarieCurie said...

He was a control freak who told his girlfriend who she could talk to, what she could wear, how long her skirts could be.

Controlling others (above and beyond micromanagement?) is something sociopaths purportedly thoroughly enjoy (per Martha Stout).

Wanting "everyone to remember his name" and being "very concerned about how people saw him/how he appeared."

Think about him walking on the plane before it taking off, seeing all the people he was going to kill in the gate area.

Sounds like garden variety super sociopath to me, but not gay.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/29/killer-co-pilot-was-an-insecure-control-freak-ex-girlfriend/

John Craig said...

MarieCurie --
I did see that article in the Post, and everything you say is right. He would have to have been a sociopath to do what he did.

I'd written that other post as speculation before any of the facts emerged.

MarieCurie said...

"Controlling others - winning - is more compelling than anything (or anyone) else."

I think she also wrote somewhere in her book, that when the sociopath gets bored with controlling others (after they succumb to the control), he/she will recruit others to control their target.

Personally, I sometimes start thinking that some of "Sociopath Next Door," 1 in 20 people are sociopaths (is sociopathy even real- we humans all can be pretty messed up, imho) might just be psychology "hocus pocus" until tragedies like this happen.

"Why have a conscience? It just puts you on the losing team."

John Craig said...

MarieCurie --
Expert consensus has always been that sociopaths comprise roughly 3% of the population, slightly less for females.

I don't know if you've ever known any sociopaths well, in your personal life, but once you have, trust me, they seem very real.

I know what you're saying about all of us being on a continuum, but the people at the extreme (conscience-less) end are always identifiable once you get to know them. And they often exhibit similar patterns of behavior, even in areas where it wouldn't seem that morality was involved.

MarieCurie said...

Don't know why I personally am so obsessed with this topic, I've never interacted with any sociopaths that I can think of/remember!
.

John Craig said...

MarieCurie --
Given that they're 3% of the population, I'm sure you've had some contact with them. But count yourself lucky you've never gotten to know one well enough to recognize his true colors.

Something to look forward to, I guess.