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Bulger Wasn't Hardwired to Be a Murderer. No One Is
Townhall.com ^ | September 24, 2015 | Jeff Jacoby

Posted on 09/24/2015 12:57:07 PM PDT by Kaslin

ON THE JEWISH calendar, Wednesday is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It marks the culmination of the Days of Awe, the solemn period of introspection that began 10 days ago on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Like many Jews, I have been thinking about the themes of this season — repentance and forgiveness, wrongdoing and reconciliation.

I have also been thinking about Johnny Depp.

More precisely, I've been thinking about some things Depp said at the Boston premiere of "Black Mass," the new film in which he plays the gangster James "Whitey" Bulger. Speaking to reporters before the screening at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline — on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, coincidentally — Depp was at pains to emphasize the human qualities of the serial killer he portrays in the film.

"There's a kind heart in there," he said. "There's a cold heart in there. There's a man who loves. There's a man who cries. There's a lot to the man."

Bulger was convicted in 2013 of involvement in at least 11 murders and numerous other crimes; he is now in federal prison serving two life sentences. But Depp said his priority as an actor "was to understand him first and foremost as a human being." He described Bulger as "a man of honor" toward those he loved, and rejected the notion that he was innately wicked. "Everybody, especially the families of his victims, could say: 'He's just an evil person.' I don't believe that exists," Depp said. "People have their humanity.... There's a side of James Bulger who is not just that man who was in that business."

Depp's comments understandably offended many, especially those whose loved ones suffered from Bulger's brutality. To be sure, the Hollywood star was talking about his technique as an actor and his approach to the role of a notorious monster. Perhaps some of his remarks should have been saved for an acting class rather than the red carpet. Perhaps some — like how he was "kind of glad" that Bulger had evaded capture for so many years — shouldn't have been said at all.

Nevertheless, Depp is right: Bulger must not be seen as wholly evil, devoid of any grain of goodness. That is a crucial moral point, regardless of acting style and character preparation. "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins," declares Ecclesiastes. The opposite is equally true: No one is absolutely evil, incapable of behaving with kindness or decency. Not Whitey Bulger. Not Charles Manson. Not Jeffrey Dahmer. Not the worst murderer or rapist or torturer.

Not even Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot.

To insist that even the most depraved criminals are human beings is not to downplay their depravity or to minimize their evil deeds. On the contrary: It is to affirm their responsibility for the damage they wreak and the pain they inflict. It is to underscore that they are morally responsible agents endowed by God with free will. They decide how to use that freedom. And they, like all of us, are answerable for their decisions.

Men and women are not cancer cells or rattlesnakes or tidal waves, killing and destroying willy-nilly. We are not robots, programmed genetically to be good or bad, honest or crooked, kind or cruel. We choose. And our choices have consequences.

Bulger wasn't hard-wired to lie or steal and murder. Every time he did so, he chose to do so. For proof, look no farther than all the times he could have lied or stolen or murdered, but elected not to.

"We must believe in free will; we have no choice,"exclaimed the novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer. In that seeming paradox lies the essence of our humanity. It isn't DNA or economics or the stars that determines character. We determine it. Without freedom, there could be no saints or sinners, only automatons.

Bulger was no automaton. None of us is. We are born neither righteous nor monstrous, but free to be either one. Among all the Earth's creatures, only we have the power to act differently tomorrow than we acted yesterday. That is why we can always aspire to be better, and repent when we have been worse.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: johnnydepp; murder; whiteybulger
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To: LongWayHome

His point is that he made a conscious choice to do evil, it wasn’t something he automatically inherited through his genes. Johnny Depp is the dipshite here, not Jacoby.


21 posted on 09/24/2015 1:40:08 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: mountainlion

Seem to be is the key, but alas they choose to lie.


22 posted on 09/24/2015 1:42:11 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: dfwgator

That was pretty funny.


23 posted on 09/24/2015 1:43:37 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: mjp

You just convinced me to never spank my kid ever again.

Actually I was on the fence, but your words are a tipping point.


24 posted on 09/24/2015 1:43:45 PM PDT by T-Bone Texan (The economic collapse is imminent. Buy staple food and OTC meds now, before prices skyrocket.)
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To: trisham
It probably give him "street cred" in the joint to be thought of as a mean SOB.

Portraying a sensitive side to him probably didn't do him any favors.

25 posted on 09/24/2015 1:45:05 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Agreed.


26 posted on 09/24/2015 1:45:08 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Chuzzlewit
I agree, although I probably won't see it. I don't like bad language and graphic violence.

He was an evil pr*ck to do what he did and that truly is black and white to me.

Johnny Depp, I think, was arguing that, because not everything Mr. Bulger did was evil, then we can't say, "He was an evil person." I think Depp is wrong. A certain level of evil action makes for an evil person, even if some of his actions - eating his meals - are morally neutral and some - kindness to a pet, perhaps - may be virtuous.

Mr. Jacoby, the author, would agree with this, I think. His point was that Bulger chose to do the evil acts and had the capacity to have chosen not to do them.

27 posted on 09/24/2015 1:45:21 PM PDT by Tax-chick (I want to live my cat's life.)
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To: DiogenesLamp

I think if he was starting out today, they’d call Richard Pryor an “Uncle Tom.”


28 posted on 09/24/2015 1:45:39 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Kaslin

If you read Howie Carr’s book, “The Brothers Bulger,” you’ll probably come to the conclusion that Whitey was a bad seed right from the start. Sure, things broke his way so he could increase his scale of operations, but after all, America has been the land of opportunity.


29 posted on 09/24/2015 1:51:34 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: DiogenesLamp

Probably not, especially at his age. He’s not so scary anymore.


30 posted on 09/24/2015 1:52:49 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Kaslin

Nobody cares just as long as he’s hard wired to an electric chair.


31 posted on 09/24/2015 1:53:13 PM PDT by DPMD
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To: dfwgator

I have some pretty unconventional ideas about evil especially murderers.

I believe that Man is the highest of God’s creations. Whatever time we have on earth is a chance to be almost like God in that we can have our own children, learn the difference between good and evil and make our own decisions. If someone cuts our time short then they take away from that person part of that opportunity which may include becoming a follower of The Savior.

I believe there is a very special place in Hell for Murders and I doubt there will be any murders in Heaven. How can you repent of taking a life short of giving yours to get it back and we can’t do that.

No matter how nice a murderer is, he is still a murderer.


32 posted on 09/24/2015 2:01:44 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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To: Kaslin

it’s possible no one is all bad but for some people, all the good in them is well in the past.


33 posted on 09/24/2015 2:14:09 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Freedom isn't free, liberty isn't liberal and you'll never find anything Right on the Left)
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To: Dr.Deth; Kaslin
It’s funny because of the basis in truth - to absolve the perpetrator by blaming external factors simultaneously denies the nature of man as a divine creation with free will.

Mankind--male and female--were originally created, with free will to obey or to not obey the Yahovah Elohim; but each individual now is only procreated from Adam's flesh, and as being from conception the totally owned slave of the god of this world, has freedom of will only to the degree that he/she does not disobey the will of Satan. That is, excepting the one thing that displeases Satan and Sin as a master, and that is crying out to Yahovah Elohim for rescue.

Like Bulger, accomplished in his own profession, Depp is also just as bad in the eyes of The Divine, for he has willingly accepted and played to the hilt roles that no decent person would accept.

34 posted on 09/24/2015 2:17:07 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: Kaslin

Yep
Whitey could have been a RAPPER
What a shame


35 posted on 09/24/2015 2:26:30 PM PDT by zzwhale
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To: Kaslin

I saw the movie. Whitey invested a lot of time trying to help the FBI and in the end they tried to frame him for crimes he knew nothing about. It was shocking. It could happen to anyone.


36 posted on 09/24/2015 2:30:10 PM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: Kaslin

Aww, my heart bleeds.

Not.


37 posted on 09/24/2015 2:34:33 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (If you can't make a deal with a politician, you can't make a deal. --Donald Trump)
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To: DPMD
Nobody cares just as long as he’s hard wired to an electric chair.

You win!

38 posted on 09/24/2015 2:35:13 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (If you can't make a deal with a politician, you can't make a deal. --Donald Trump)
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To: Tax-chick

excellent analysis there... you are spot on.


39 posted on 09/24/2015 2:40:24 PM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: Kaslin
Bulger Wasn't Hardwired to Be a Murderer. No One Is

And yet there is Original Sin...


John 8:44

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.

40 posted on 09/24/2015 2:43:26 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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