sympathy

to continue a discussion i was having with Becka and Jim, to what extent should we be sympathetic towards the "monsters" amongst us? the song "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." by Sufjan Stevens (lyrics below) is a beautiful, haunting and compelling song - it has elements of horror and revulsion, but in abstracting some of the details of Gacy's life and killings, it lends a certain romanticism and innocence that i'm not sure i'm entirely comfortable with. certainly, the song asks us to identify with him, and if you've read the quote from Terence at the top of this page, you know that i consider it possible to recognize any human behaviour in ourselves. i'm also planning to see Downfall on Wednesday night, which i'm told has been criticized for portraying Hitler too symapthetically. in these cases, do we have to narrow the category of "human" behaviour, and in so doing, making it unnecessary to explain it or understand it? is it deviant to create beautiful art about a horrifying subject? i'd be very interested to hear what anyone has to say on this subject.

his father was a drinker
and his mother cried in bed
folding John Wayne's t-shirts
when the swing set hit his head
the neighbors, they adored him
for his humor and his conversation
look underneath the house, there
find the few living things
rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
twenty-seven people
even more
they were boys
with their cars, summer jobs
oh my god
are you one of them
he dressed up like a clown for them
with his face paint, white and red
and on his best behavior
in a dark room on the bed
he kissed them all
he'd kill ten thousand people
with a sleight of his hand
running far, running fast
to the dead
he took off all their clothes for them
he put a cloth on their lips
quiet hands, quiet kiss
on the mouth
and in my best behavior
i am really just like him
look beneath the floorboards
for the secrets i have hid