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Blackbeard, Colonial Revolutionaries, Jesse James, Billy the kid, Butch Cassidy, Wild Bill Hickock, Guy Fawx, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, OJ Simpson, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump.
I don't think Manson, Gacy, or Dahmer are idolized.
Simpson and Tyson are idolized for their non-criminal activities, not because they're criminals. They're not famous for being criminals, whereas most of the others are.
Trump is definitely an interesting one though...lol
Dahmer is one of those who had prison groupies. As do the Columbine shooters, Harris and Klebold. Apparently there's a certain kind of chick that gets lubed up for mass murderers.
That's a good point. I wouldn't call that mainstream, though.
I'm not sure if Al Capone gets support the way that Walter White does or if he's more of a Robin Hood...but a lot of the "heroic criminals" in US folklore (especially the criminals of the "wild West" who robbed banks and supported the poor) are purely the Robin Hood types.
Dahmer's fans are crazy. As are the Columbine Shooters' fans. But Robin Hood-types could generally be supported by the general person without raising an eyebrow these days.
I was thinking about that as I was typing them up. It's really hard to draw a line on how criminal they are, or fame vs infamy, etc.
Yeah. The serial killers are definitely infamous, but nobody normal is thinking "Boy, we could sure use someone like that again".
...but someone who goes around stealing from big banks and insurance companies while also destroying people's mortgages (so they don't have to make payments on their houses)? I'm sure some people could get behind that.
Especially with the reaction we're seeing to the murder of the health insurance company CEO. I'm sure people have been coming up with lists of other deserving CEOs.
You just started naming criminals.
Gotta be honest, that's literally what outlaw means
I'm not arguing but there was a clear delineation where it went from like 20s outlaws to like 1990s pop culture criminals.
That would be “time”… you go through history and eventually you get to 1990.
I think it crossed over with Manson which was 60s/70s but I think your point stands.
Some of the criminals after the crossover were cult leaders though…
Came back around with Tyson and Trump (depending on your preferred political party).
I noticed that too. And I think it has to do with WW2. Hitler and his allies were the bad guys, and it seems there was a period going into and after the war where didn't pay much attention to any other criminals. During this time we saw the birth of Super heroes, and we rallied around the good guys.
I think outlaw also implies being on the run.
Being an actual outlaw literally means you have been declared outside of the law for your presumed crimes. Anyone can kill you without question because society has washed its hands of you.
On the way to that status you will typically rack up some warrants and bounty offers.
Or not, depending on how corrupt the judge was.
I mean, yeah. The whole outlaw bit sort of implies crimes.
What did you expect?
George Floyd
I think George Floyd is mentioned by people to highlight how out of control the police in America are. They are thugs with badges, and they need to be reigned in, but that’s not likely to happen due to America leaning more toward “bootlicker” these days. George Floyd was murdered by shit cops. He should be remembered so we can hold bad police actions accountable. Fuck the police.
That's more of a "minor crimes don't deserve execution" thing