Adams 1Jerry AdamsEnglish 112 sec 09M. Ryan WinebergMarch 20, 2010Societies Need ViolenceH. H. Holmes, a prominent Chicago physician decides to rent out rooms during the 1893World¶s Fair. Holmes¶ motivation is more than that of a caring neighbor; he is seeking to quenchhis thirst for murder. Holmes is America¶s first serial killer, and he claims over fifty-sevenlives, using the vilest methods imaginable. Holmes¶ magnificent building which inhabits anentire city block is dubbed ³The Castle´ and it is just as gruesome as its owner. The Castle is built during the 1888 blood spree of London¶s Jack the Ripper and is constructed for thenefarious purposes of mutilation and sick experiments, complete with vats of acid (for cleaningand selling human skeletons) and torture chambers. Two men besides Holmes profit from thisgrizzly story of mayhem and violence. H. H. Holmes is made internationally famous by theChicago newspaper tycoon Randolph Hurst who sensationalizes the story for a tidy profit (³H.H.Holmes - America's First Serial Killer´). Holmes is arrested, not for murders which are to bediscovered later, but for the crime of insurance fraud by Pinkerton national detective agency; theworld¶s first detective agency (Javers 32). The story of H. H. Holmes is more than that of America¶s first serial killer; it also illustrates the emergence of profit from the violence of others,and America¶s new appetite for sensational brutality as it slips into an urban consumer society.Isaac Asimov, considered the father of modern science fiction, said, ³Violence is the last refugeof the incompetent.´ His quote mirrors current views on violence in society. However, exactlywhat makes the crimes of murder perpetrated by H. H. Holmes more grotesque than murder byany government? The idea that contemporary society is more violent than previous societies is

Adams 2also a very slanted speculation (Levin 15). Nevertheless, a student of violence must contemplateif it is truly in and of itself negative. It could certainly be argued that violence is the number oneresource in our society, and it generates trillions of dollars per year. Unfortunately, the economyof modern society is driven by profit and funded by violence, causing numerous cases of societalillnesses. Not unlike illnesses in a human body, societal illness is caused by functions that arenot working quite right. However, in the case of our modern world, our diagnosis is our naturalviolence has shifted into unnatural channels causing a severe pain in the tookus of humanity. Natural violence is beneficial to mankind, but unnatural violence which is manipulated by man isdecaying society and must be reversed.First of all the very concept of violence being the number one resource in America andgenerates trillions of dollars per year is very jarring, yet very accurate. The primary industry thattakes the lion¶s share of capital to generate violence is the Department of Defense (DOD).According to the DOD, the budget for the 2010 physical year is estimated between 880 billionand 1.03 trillion (United States Department of Defense). The DOD has exceeded its budget for the last eight years. This estimate does not include indirect costs such as interest on the debt andthe money it takes to care for the 33,000 newly wounded veterans. Many believe that theindirect costs will become greater than the direct cost within the coming decade. Americans¶very perception of violence has changed because of the way it has been presented to consumers.We consume presented violence every time a politician sells us on going to war. Killing,maiming, and destroying are O.K. for our government to do. We will even pay for it even thoughviolence is not proper for the public to perform because then it would be consideredobjectionable. Do we believe this because we are told we should, or do we believe because of the horror that would wash over us if we did not? The world has never seen a person who spentover a trillion dollars in one year for the purpose of murder. According to investigative reporter

Adams 3Jim Marrs even the Nazis did not have that much money in their budget (114). This is a short listof other industries that capitalize on violence and/ or the threat of it; the movie industry, themusic industry, the video game industry, the vaccination industry, home defense, self defense,health care, life insurance, health insurance, the American Judicial System. More businesses profit from violence than criminals do (Levin 46). There seems to be only one group of peoplewho do not profit from violence, the general populous. The general populous are the very groupwho fall prey to those who profit from violence.Furthermore, now that we have explored the concept of violence being the number oneresource in America let us consider why the everyday average American family suffersimmensely from an economy of unnatural societal violence (Levin 98). America is now aculture of urban consumerism; this has not always been the case. Life used to be morecomplicated than it is now. Day to day life on a farm is violent, killing chickens, slaughteringcows, the devastation of weather. Living was an adventure, in which a man and a woman alongwith their children really depended upon each other. Men would have to work hard in the fieldand also tend and kill livestock. Women had household chores no less violent, preparing the raw,fresh animal flesh for consumption. Most parents had as many children as they could to help onthe farm. Each person in the family unit had a job and was important. Today one of the top nineleading causes of premature death is suicide, from people who feel like they don¶t belong (Beck,Brown, Berchick, Stewart, and Steer 1). Children respected their parents because they knewexactly what their parents did for a living and how their parents steered their families throughhardships. Today, when hardships befall a family, the Federal Government steps in with welfare.In the past, family members were able to maintain strong emotional bonds. In our modernsociety not only do parents divorce each other but children divorce their parents (Floyd 353).Why has family bonding changed? According to Dr. Kory Floyd, communications scientist,