dead roses & body counts//tøp

one - intro

There exists a defect of the X chromosome that codes the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A. For obvious reasons, let us refer to this enzyme as MAOA. The purpose of this enzyme is to break down neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine and serotonin. These are strong, potent chemicals, and if an excess is built up in the brain, aspects such as impulse control and being able to keep one's temperament become near impossible. A lack of MAOA and other similar chemicals are linked to explosive disorders and other violent issues.

Many mental illnesses have been connected to genes and DNA; take for example schizophrenia - during early adulthood and adolescence, a variant of a gene causes the over-pruning of synapses in the brain's frontal lobe (the part responsible for most of one's decision making). This over-pruning later impairs attention and impulse control. (Pruning is the process in which the brain shrinks in size and only keeps what it thinks is essential.)

There is no definite link between mental illness and one bursting into a psychopathic rage. However, those affected by severe illnesses are three times more likely to experience severe episodes of rage and violence. Essentially, someone you may know is a ticking time bomb. Psychopaths, however, are slightly different. Their defect is not entirely caused by illness. Here, let me explain:

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Your brain has something called an amygdala - it's almond shaped, and controls all empathy and emotion. Psychopaths suffer from severe emotional detachment; they lack empathy, remorse, and are much more likely to be convicted of violent crimes at younger ages. Depending on the situation, an average person's amygdala will stir certain action when presented with certain information; one's grandmother died? It hums to life silently. A car crash? Definitely working. One's fourth-cousin's goldfish died? Eh, not so much.

For a psychopath, however, the information is processed in the logical portion of the brain. A psychopathic brain is a machine-like beauty, and it runs like a computer. He or she decides if they can trick the situation or manipulate it to their purposes. They will seek to exploit it and twist it to their advantage, and sometimes succeed in doing so (unfortunately, criminal law and prison often stand in their way, and most psychopaths end up committing four violent crimes before the age of 40 - it's as common as bulimia and hundreds of times harder to find out).

The question is, can we as a united society accept or forgive criminals for their crimes due to their genetics? Of course we can't. Genes make things much more likely, and make a person more prone to, say, violence. It is the choice of the person whether to or not to unlock that potential. For a ticking time bomb to be set off, it must be built and constructed; its fuse must be lit in order for it to detonate. Without a bomb, one cannot have an explosion. When it blows, it destroys, and what if that destruction is good? How can destruction be good, you may ask. Let me answer.

Imagine a city. You stand from the top floor (penthouse level, Olympus style) of a glittering, beautiful skyscraper, sipping the sweet and ice-cold drink in your hand. The city beneath you is impoverished, starving even. The people rob and kill and fight daily for the tiniest scraps of food or money. You cannot donate your riches to the people, even if your poisonous amygdala demands that you must, oh you must help those poor victims of poverty. You are merely a young god flying through the streets like an eagle, only able to observe the people running beneath. You are told that if you smite the city (you being the god you are), the city will be wiped off the face of the earth and will leave a field of fertile soil. Now imagine that the world is in desperate need of fertile soil and earth to grow and feed the other regions of the world; some dirt poor as well, but good of heart and able to work for the food that can be yielded and foraged from the field. Do you destroy a city that only breeds crime and filth to make room for creation? Do you kill innocent, oppressed civilians who are troubled and need guidance to help some great, higher-up force? The former is the mindset of the psychopath, usually, and the latter the mindset of the optimist (or the annoying pest).

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By now, you have made up your mind to some conclusion about psychopaths and genetics. Now you must ponder a different question that will now be posed to you. What if there was a person, or thing, that was built and made to be a psychopath; something bred and designed to experience violent fits of rage. No matter the environmental factors, and the perfection of its genes from a medical perspective, it could not control the frightening tendencies that cursed it. Say, such an object had killed someone and were on their knees before an intimidating jury and judge, their face expressionless. They could not show remorse or guilt for their actions because they were not capable of understanding that it was wrong. Now, you are a member of said jury, and the defendant's attorney has provided evidence of their defect. Where would you stand? Pause your train of thought after a few minutes. Make sure you have considered all possibilities. Roll it around your mind like you may lavish a sweet flavor around every inch of your tongue. Now stop. Don't think about it anymore, because you have received and received fact and fact, and things are boring. You simply must be entertained!

A good writer must satisfy.

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What wears flesh and skin, consumes all that is within, but isn't human?

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I am not human, and by the time you have finished wrapping your petty mortal mind around that, I have already left, and have begun my hunt.

Pray you're not the one I'm hunting now, love. Yours most truly,

Jenna.

xoxo

unedited