Soren Korsgaard on “Evil Killer Genes” and “American Monster, Chris Kyle”

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Danish author and criminologist Soren Korsgaard has edited the peer-reviewed criminology journal Radians and Inches: The Journal of Crime. and currently posts at CrimeAndPower.com. Today he joins us to discuss his two most recent artices: The Notion of Evil Killer Genes Examined and American Monster: Chris Kyle, the American Sniper.

Is there an “evil killer gene” responsible for most anti-social violent crime—that is, the small fraction of violent crime that is not sanctioned by our rich and powerful overlords? If so, what explains the fact that 99% of violent crime is perpetrated by men in uniform carrying out “legitimate” orders?

Would society be better off if everyone who carries an “evil killer gene” responsible for triggering a violent self-defense reaction (i.e. the fight-or-flight syndrome) were forced to submit to gene therapy? That way there would be no “anti-social” violence. For a grimly hilarious dystopian novel about such a society, check out C.J. Hopkins’ Zone 23. (Read my review HERE.)

And how about that Chris Kyle, the celebrated serial killer and self-dubbed “American Sniper”? Was he a hero or a psychopath? If the latter, why do so many Americans degrade themselves by worshipping a psychopathic serial killer?

Maybe the whole country, if not the world, needs a heavy dose of gene therapy to remove the “tribal stupidity” and “obedience to evil authority” genes.