LYT's Weblog

but to kill your kid like that eliminates any sympathy.

Yeah. I feel bad for suicides, but killing your family over three days is something else again.

Luke,

I agree with David on killing a person's own family. It IS something else again (NO REASON).

And I agree with you:

"but to kill your kid like that eliminates any sympathy."

MarioGeorgeNitrini111
mariogeorgenitrini111
_____________
The OJ Simpson Case

I do have sympathy for people who are able to do such horror...

I'm sympathic because I have no idea how this is even possible.

Something else is going on inside that "normal" brain... Lets figure out what.

It's a little late for figuring out what is going on inside that brain of his. All that can be done now is piece together the puzzle and try to figure out what drove this action.

Truly tragic and heartbreaking. My prayers go out to their families.

If the toxicology report on Chris Benoit shows traces of steroids, then it's the obvious blame to the drugs and to professional wrestling. If the report shows no signs of steroids, then, Benoit was "sane" what he did. I don't think it was steroids because the way he tied and bounded his wife. No one going through the effects of steroids is able to do that.

A lot of folks I know has already counted him out as a murderer and don't really care about how much he contributed to the world of professional wrestling. And, I do understand why. Even the WWE has decided not to acknowledge his legacy.

I feel Benoit was a troubled man but, I know that doesn't relieve him from being hated by many of his fans and colleagues now. Time will only tell if the WWE will someday put him into the Hall of Fame. Because I think his career as a professional and technical wrestler should not be forgotten.

How can a "sane" person kill his family?

I know... That didn't make any sense.

Whether he was on steroids or not, he is guilty of what he has done -- to the point of being both cowardly and selfish... There is no excuse whatsoever.

It's not a matter of guilt, is it? If he had mental issues or not.. the fact is he still did it. So he guilty of committing the action of murder, yes?

There is no excuse whatsoever.

I do think there is an excuse.. He was mentally fucked up.. Does that excuse his actions, absolutely not.

It does however, make me wish more can be done... in research that is.. And I don't think it's too late for him, to learn from him and his brain and the abilities of people to do such horrific things.

Is the answer so easy as "He did steriods/drugs and had stress?"

Hopefully not.. that would mean if I took steriods/drugs and was stressed then I could kill my wife and kid?

Matt - it isn't clear whether you think there is or isn't an excuse.

'roid rages are like temper tantrums. They don't last all weekend. There's more to it than that. Benoit's actions are not justified or excusable, but it would be beneficial to know why he felt driven to do what he did, and of course he should have gotten help long before this. He actually had accusations of wife-beating against him a year ago. Mandatory counseling should have been part of the penalty then, but his wife, possibly under some pressure from the "business," recanted the accusations.

As for how a sane person could kill his family -- don't confuse lack of empathy with insanity. It seems to me entirely possible that someone could be emotionally cold and unfeeling without being nuts.

Did he kill himself because he regretted his actions, or because he knew his only other option at that point was dying in prison? He wanted people to find the bodies when they did.

It's been reported that Benoit, after a possible divorce that his wife wanted to do, did not want ANYBODY to take care of his son. And, that may be the reason why he did what he did.

We will never know what events led to this...

*Vince & Linda McMahon were on TODAY and GOOD MORNING AMERICA this week doing some damage control for the WWE during all of this...

"It's been reported that Benoit, after a possible divorce that his wife wanted to do, did not want ANYBODY to take care of his son. And, that may be the reason why he did what he did."

that's not reason, it's madness. divorce happens every day. this is the inexplicable.

"divorce happens every day"

Well, I would know that...too well.

Matt - it isn't clear whether you think there is or isn't an excuse.

There is no "excuse" for killing someone. I only have questions.

Benoit's actions are not justified or excusable, but it would be beneficial to know why he felt driven to do what he did...

I agree... and this is my point as well.

Don't confuse lack of empathy with insanity.

"Lack of empathy"... that's all it takes "mentally"; to kill someone?

that's not reason, it's madness. divorce happens every day.

This is partly where I'm going with all of this. The things that happened to Benoit in his life apparantly drove him to kill his family.

My original questions stands, how is it possible that those things in his life drove him to murder when those things happen to all of us everyday. What is the difference in his brain than "ours"?

To me this is a bigger problem with the way we view actions of murderers and "evil-doers"... We base all of our opinions on the idea that these people had "normal" functioning brains and made a "choice" to kill or maim someone. We all can say, "well if I was depressed, I wouldn't kill my family before I kill myself"... Those kinda statements are based upon how you feel this "normal" second... To me it's like saying, "Well, if I was driving drunk, I'd never run over anybody."

These "normal" people have diseased minds in which something external connects with the internal and "starts" a fucked up cycle that cannot be stopped. Benoit did not have a "normal" mind.. The norm is NOT to kill your family and yourself.

To me, I want to know why some are able to commit these horrible crimes while "you and me" would just cry and get a divorce.

"Lack of empathy"... that's all it takes "mentally"; to kill someone?

There are many different paths that could lead you there -- going berserk is one way, but simply not feeling anything for anybody might be another. Think Dr. Mengele experimenting on Jews as if they were lab animals.

how is it possible that those things in his life drove him to murder when those things happen to all of us everyday.

Ah, but they don't. This is a man who has lived on the road 3-5 nights a week for the past 20 years or so, without a break, and under tremendous pressure to be in top form every night. He makes a living by beating people up while stopping short of actually injuring them (in theory). He must believably portray a character whose "gimmick" is that he's intense and likely to go nuts on a moment's notice. At 40, he is undoubtedly in considerable pain most of the time, and if he wasn't on any drugs other than steroids, he was certainly under pressure to do them. His best friend died two years ago, from heart damage related to a life of steroid and drug use.

That's not what happens to me every day.

Still, snapping under the pressure doesn't seem like the whole story here.

Actually, Benoit did ask for some time off which was the four months prior to him returning to WWE Smackdown and winning the United States Championship title. What he did during that four month period could be something to look into.

It seems to me that, as well respected as he was on the wrestling world, his personal life had turmoil. Not even his closest friends like Chavo Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Tommy Dreamer and Rey Mysterio, Jr. had no idea about what was going on inside Benoit's mind (that's only speculation on my part). They say he was a quiet man when he came to work and doesn't talk much about his personal life while working. It seems he wanted to maintain that part of him that he was invincible? (I don't know if that the right word for that).

But, after what he had done, what he tried so hard to cover up...turmoil in the family, his son's illness, being partially autistic, his deep sadness for losing his best friend, a divorce and losing custody of his son, he basically threw it all away.

Now, his legacy as a professional wrestler has been tainted by this horrendous act of cowardice and selfishness.

That's not what happens to me every day.

Yes, this is true, but what you described isn't so far how of the ordinary to me. Heck, it kinda reminded me of my "step-dad" :)

Think Dr. Mengele experimenting on Jews as if they were lab animals.

Exactly.. How is Dr. Mengele "able" to do such horrific things if my "brain" is the supposedly the same as his. Am I just "deciding" NOT to torture people? And under the right circumstances, I could?

Still, snapping under the pressure doesn't seem like the whole story here.

Yes, of course. If snapping under the pressure was the "only" reason people commit murder, than we'd all do it.