An unnamed teen aged girl's post on one of the Facebook sites dedicated to Nikolas Cruz, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter who murdered 17 students and teachers in a little over six minutes on Valentine's Day, 2018.
One of the reasons Nikolas Cruz hasn't received all those letters the anonymous young lady mentioned is because he is on suicide watch. Another is, as the Daily News reported, more than a few include photos of the senders barely clothed and in provocative positions.
Yes, it would seem some people simply can't resist the bad boys, especially if they are really bad. Not to mention, in Cruz's case, extremely deadly.
Of course it isn't like we haven't seen this grotesque fetish before. The quintessential crazy fuck, Charlie Manson maintained a huge following right up until his death in November of last year. Before Florida sat Ted Bundy down in the electric chair in 1989 he received stacks of correspondence from those enamored with him. After they murdered their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez both got life, then each of them married women who began writing and visiting them while they were in the joint.
Obviously, there is no accounting for taste.
Nor apparently the human capacity for loneliness, self loathing, and demented obsession.
The Daily News, quoted Cruz's defense attorney, Howard Finkelstein as saying, "In my 40 years as a public defender I've never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this."
One of those contained this sentiment: "I'm 18 years old. I'm a senior in high school. When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you. I'm really skinny and have 34C breasts." The note arrived in an envelope decorated with hand drawn hearts and happy faces.
Another, from a woman in Chicago, contained one photo of her cleavage, a second of her dressed in a bikini sucking on a Popsicle and, finally, a tight shot of her ass taken as she was bending over.
For the sake of full disclosure it should be noted not all the correspondence has come from women. There was set of photos sent by a middle aged man living in New York which showed him, bushy gray mustache and all, sitting behind the wheel of his car. The pictures arrived tucked inside a card which sported the image of a cute cat on the front.
In addition, at last look, Cruz's fans have sent him around $800 which has been deposited into his Broward County Jail commissary account. He can use the cash to buy personal hygiene items, plus coffee and different snacks.
A Facebook group, which has now gone private, counts 300 members. It is named, "Nikolas Cruz--The First Victim." Before it became secret one female member solicited photos from the group so she could put together a collage of the selfies. "I want him to see how many people love and care for him and all the beautiful faces, " she wrote.
One of the trending hashtags supporting Cruz is #stopthebullying. A major belief of these pathetic twists is, if someone had just made friends with Nikolas he would have never gone off his nut and opened fire.
According to Stoneman Douglas senior, Isabelle Robinson that notion is outright bullshit. She should know. When she was in the seventh grade Cruz nailed her in the back with an apple as she sat eating lunch in the school cafeteria. His motive for the attack was apparently something along the lines of, hey, she was sitting there.
A couple of years later she was assigned to the future killer as a peer mentor/mediator. She described her one meeting with him as a painful experience during which he cursed at her and lewdly ogled her breasts. In short, Nikolas Cruz was the bully.
On February 14th Isabelle Robinson found herself hiding in a closet as Cruz ran amok. The very thought school authorities once stuck her alone in a room with him both terrifies and enrages her.
Since the cops won't allow Cruz to see any of the photos and letters, save for a few pleading with him to find God, one has to wonder how that young internet admirer knew, "he had the biggest smile on his face," after learning about his supporters.
The Daily News had a hint. It reports Broward County deputies have overheard Cruz's brother Zachary telling him he has become, "quite popular with the girls," during visits. Presumably that was before young Zach was popped on March 20th for trespassing at, you guessed it, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
To say something is wrong with this picture is understating things a tad. Nikolas Cruz's life wasn't without recent emotional trauma, but let's face it, the fucker had been off the rails for years before he started shooting. He was not the sad, innocent, loner driven to madness by cruel classmates. He had been, by many accounts, mean, aggressive, and bat shit crazy long before the death of his adoptive mother.
Yet, despite all of his unacceptable and delinquent behavior, he was still able to buy a type of weapon which, as any reasonable person will tell you, should be restricted to the military. And now, in the wake of his rampage, some among us are imagining him to be just another misunderstood rock star because he chose to use the God damned thing.
Is it any wonder the bar has opened? I didn't think so.
3-30-18
I spent a large chunk of my working career dealing with the public in customer service of one kind or another. I noticed, and a social worker friend backs me up on this, that just about half of all the people I met obviously suffered from emotional disturbance of some kind. Most of it was low grade, more interesting than dangerous, but it is something to remember and not forget. Think of it, it is very possible that, in our too-fast paced, angry and disturbed world, the day may be near when more people than not suffer from an imbalance of some sort.
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