\*...\*
^ The logic goes something like this:
Most serial killers are loners. (Not sure if this is actually true or not, but wouldn't be surprising.)
Therefore, most loners are serial killers. (Which is certainly not true.)
The fallacy is that serial killers are extremely rare, while loners are very common. Therefore, even if 100% of serial killers were loners (which, by the way, is not true - Ted Bundy wasn't a loner), the probability of being a serial killer given that you're a loner would be extremely rare.
It's an example of Insane Troll Logic, basically.
edited 29th Apr '11 3:43:21 PM by Ettina
If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.
Is that cake frosting?
It's just that quiet people can be a bit unnerving to very sociable people - as a rather quiet person myself, I had many occasions to notice that ;)
And jokingly suggesting that someone might end up becoming a serial killer is a good way to try to get a reaction - any reaction, really, it does not matter much which one - out of them.
edited 29th Apr '11 3:46:20 PM by Carciofus
But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
complete noob
Lv. 3 Genasi Wizard
It's just that a lot of the serial killers you see in movies and shows are quiet, but doesn't translate at all to the real world.
The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.
Us introverts are misunderstood.
Tyrannicidal Maniac
People are 'tards and like to wear their retardation as a badge/use it as a social lubricant: hence the jibes.
Enjoy the Inferno...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Hardly surprising, given that introverts aren't exactly known for being forthcoming about their inner worlds.
edited 29th Apr '11 4:18:12 PM by GreatLich
One of the best posts I've ever seen here.
Then again, knowing that most people aren't as educated as they should be, it's kind of foolish of me to expect them to understand.
Oh well, idiots gonna idiot.
We have an extremely quiet guy at my job who looks kind of like a vampire and has a few creepy mannerisms. Instead of patrolling he just sort of hangs out in the corridors. We always say that's where he lies in wait to devour his victims.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Barkey: That might not be as funny as you think. How likely is someone to see him there? A guard not doing his patrols! Grrrrr.
Because apparently it seems to fit quite a few serial killers or people who have some sort of possibly dangerous mental issue. I am not saying it is true but it comes across that way.
Who watches the watchmen?
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Yeah, I got a bit of this at school.
Up to and including getting voted 'Most Likely to Become a Mass Murderer When He Grows Up' at the graduation prom. There was an award and everything.
What's precedent ever done for us?
complete noob
Nice school.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
I should probably point out here that I wasn't exactly singled out. Other awards included 'Most Likely to Become a Stripper', 'Most Likely To Take Over The World', and so on.
Still, it was somewhat... startling.
What's precedent ever done for us?
Lv. 3 Genasi Wizard
Well, serial killer or bully of a faceless mass, hmm...
The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.
Den harde nordmann
Because normal people can't identify with people lacking a few switches related to normal conversations.
Normal people are the most unempathic and most unable to read minds, except on their peers.
Lv. 3 Genasi Wizard
I must be pretty normal then because I get no psychic wave lengths from other people.
The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.
I think it's also because people tend not to know much about quiet people, whereas usually people know everything about talkative people. They don't know what the quiet person does outside of when they see them, so they could be killing people.
That exact frame of mind must've been what prompted this one lady, who had a (valid) complaint about a leak in the bathroom, to demand I check up on the person in the room above hers because "they might be lying in the bathtub with slit wrists or worse".
Happy New Year!
Society views all outsiders as potential dangers.
They don't know you too well, your likely not a serial killer but who wants to take that risk?
hashtagsarestupid
Maybe if they weren't so stupid, they'd know that most serial killers are quiet but most quiet people are not serial killers, as an above poster said.
Plus, calling someone a killer wont stop a good killer from killing you and getting away with it.
complete noob
Most people don't think that far ahead.
⚙
Consistent reluctance or difficulty in making social connections can be an indicator of issues underneath—rarely super dangerous ones, of course, but nonetheless, variables that might make someone more difficult to reach out to. That is, someone alone is often alone for a reason.
But then again, that reason could be one of a whole host of harmless ones, too. It's human to mentally lock on to the worst case scenario, and people who jump to the serial killer explanation are engaging in some unnecessarily mean-spirited hyperbole. However, feeling a little uneasiness around a loner until one gets to know them better isn't an unreasonable reaction.
whoever wrote this shit needs to step on a rake in a comedic fashion
I was on a field trip for my AP Gov class and they were talking about this quiet girl in my class who they though was going to go on a killing spree. People though I was a serial killer too during my sophomore year in High School because I'm also a quiet person. We're not crazy, people.
edited 29th Apr '11 3:39:36 PM by KShade