Dexter v Texas

I already know today’s piece is going to be very different than my usual stuff, because it is what I’m thinking about at the moment. I have so many good, quality subjects to write about but setting those aside for when I can be thoughtful about them and give them a little more time than I have right now. Either way, I think this is something that not enough people talk about so let’s dive in: executioners are the same as serial killers, aside from the fact that they are legally sanctioned. They are the legally sanctioned Dexters. Full stop.

To set the record, I am very much against the death penalty, for a variety of reasons. It’s unfortunate that I currently reside in a state that seems to enjoy putting people to death almost as much as they do taking away women’s rights and bodily autonomy. Literally, of all states, Texas is responsible for the most number of executions in the country, raking in 586 total deaths since 1977. That’s a lot of notches on the bedpost and somewhat ironic considering the state motto for Texas is “Friendship.” And someone’s gotta do all the killing (I know the same person has not done all the executions but let’s set that aside for now.) I don’t know the process or procedure to becoming a “legal” executioner and I’m not going to look, but I do think that one of the requirements is being a man (more on this later,) and having a proclivity towards serial killer tendencies, because there is no way someone that doesn’t would want that job. They don’t just promote the mail room guy to this position. Someone has to WANT it. And that someone, if you ask me, is no different than Dexter.

I understand Dexter is a fictional character. I don’t care. I don’t care because I believe that there is likely a man out there doing the same things as Dexter and following the same “code” and we just don’t know about them yet. And I am here to ask the important questions such as, literally what is the difference between Dexter and an executioner? A name badge, that’s what. If you aren’t aware of Dexter, let me give you the rundown. Dexter was a series that ran on Showtime for eight seasons, and Dexter was a serial killer. The show itself is brilliant because it really got you questioning ethics and social norms. You found yourself rooting for the bad guy because there was something charming, maybe endearing, about him even though he was a killer, which feels uncomfortable and yet you do it anyway. The character development is top notch, honestly. But Dexter had a “code,” a standard by which to live – and kill- by, and his victims had to be thoroughly vetted to ensure that they fit the code before they could be slaughtered. The code, in a nutshell, is that the victims themselves had to commit some pretty heinous crimes themselves. That way, Dexter could fulfill the desire to kill, but it was vigilante shit, and he was taking the really bad guys off the streets, making him, in some ways, the good guy. Like I said, pretty complex when it comes to ethics and morality because the lines of good and bad become pretty blurred.

But, so here’s the thing. Dexter is our legal system personified. He is the judge, the jury and executioner, right? But legally, he is breaking laws even though he is doing everything that our legal system does that we have decided is socially acceptable. He is picking the bad guys off the streets, as cops do. He has done his research, has determined that the bad guys are proven guilty, like our funny little judicial system, and then he carries out the death penalty. So I ask again, how is what Dexter doing really any different than our legal system, other than that we have hired/voted for/appointed certain people and Dexter was self-appointed? I don’t think it is. So, to circle back to my original point, a legally appointed executioner is doing the exact same thing as Dexter, a SERIAL KILLER, so why do we not consider executioners serial killers? Formality, that’s why. An executioner is literally killing someone that the justice system has determined to be “the bad guy.” The biggest difference, in my opinion, is that Dexter never made a mistake, actually, and our justice system is known to put innocent people to death. If they didn’t, organizations like The Innocence Project would not exist. So, in some ways, Dexter did a better job than our justice system. But do you see what I’m saying? Both parties- Dexter and a real-life executioner- are putting someone to death that broke the law, but we’ve only given one of them permission. But much like Dexter’s father, who saw what Dexter was, I would wager a guess that everyone that is hired to make that injection, or pull the switch, or whatever method of murder has been chosen, that they, too, have the same inclinations as Dexter, and maybe if they weren’t part of the “law,” that they’d be out killing people in the streets instead of by lethal injection in a for-profit prison.

This is all interesting to me because A, I considered going into Forensic Psychology for a period of time, because human behavior fascinates me, and I wanted to be like Morgan Freeman in Seven. Or, years later, like everyone in the BAU from Criminal Minds; B, serial killers are interesting to me; C, moral ambiguity is not discussed often enough; and D, this whole train of though came up while I was cutting someone’s hair and I was like, how have I NEVER connected these dots and why do more people not talk about this? (Also yes, these are the conversations I have with my clients, and I feel confident that aside from my skills as a stylist, this is the reason they come back, because you NEVER know what we will talk about. I hope you don’t have boring conversations with your hair person because that would be so sad.)

But basically, executioners are just serial killers that have been hired by the state to get away with murder and no one is talking about this!? I would love someone to do an in-depth research piece on this, to compile data and interviews and all sorts of stuff. I would love to see personality traits of “legal” killers aka executioners compared to those of say, Ed Kemper. I’d wager a guess that someone would put a stop to it really quickly because we would find out exactly what I’m hypothesizing to be true, and that’s honestly a bad look, like giving a child a gun. So anyway, if I don’t know what my point is, other than that the death penalty sucks, executioners are just serial killers in disguise, maybe Dexter wasn’t that bad, and he made fewer mistakes than our legal system so… I don’t know. But I do know that we should just stop acting like putting someone to death the legal way isn’t basically the same thing as murdering them. For murdering someone? So, we just go around murdering people that murder people, but no one is murdering the murderer because its… legal? I don’t know. I can’t make it make sense. Maybe we do need more Dexters and maybe he’s kind of a Robinhood character and a hero, I don’t know. I don’t agree with murder at all, obviously, it’s kind of one of the worse things you can do to someone, but let’s stop acting like that’s not what the death penalty is. But since I have to think about it, now you do too, and that is all I have to say about that. For now. Good night.