Introducing “Alpha, nerd … or crazy?”

You guys know who you are.  You think anything bad that happens to a woman is either because: 1)  She picked a jerk because he was an alpha male!  2)  She mistreated a goodhearted nerd until he snapped!  This year, I predict that I will bury your self-congratulating delusion under an avalanche of reality — one murder story at a time.  We’ll see. 

My goal is to hit every high-profile crime this year wherein a white man (or at least middle class) who was previously not considered a dirtbag kills his significant other, his children, commits a sex crime killing, goes on a killing spree, or is revealed to be a serial killer.  Feel free to make requests if I overlook anyone interesting.  (Why focus on white men?  Because that’s where my expertise is.)  If I run short of current material, I may mine the “Dateline” archives, or look at some famous serial killers from the past.

You may ask, does this have anything to do with economics? Yes, because I’ll be exploring the culprits’ financial situations. For instance, it’s my contention that most spousal killings have a financial purpose. This runs counter to what you usually see in popular fiction, where the killer is motivated by passion. 

We’ll be judging the perps in three categories: 

Category 1 will consider evidence of “alpha maleness,” or other evidence the man is successful, popular, or otherwise highly sought-after by women. 

Category 2 will consider evidence of “nerdness,”  or underdog qualities.  This will also take into consideration whether the man is especially kind, passive or easily domineered.

Category 3 will consider antisocial behavior.  This includes evidence of mental health problems, including narcisissm and grandiosity.  We will also look for evidence of habitual dishonesty.

We will also examine whether there were warning signs overlooked by the victim, for those of you with the reflexive jerk-lust-blaming reaction.  Let’s see if reality bears you out.

* * * * * * * * * * *   

 To kick things off, let us feast upon the ruin of former radio reporter James Keown.  He was convicted in 2008 of slowly poisoning his wife to death with antifreeze to collect on her insurance policy.

Category 1: Alpha/popular evidence.

– He was extremely outgoing.
– He had a career (broadcast) that put him in the public eye.
– He drove a BMW.

Category 2: Nerd/underdog/nice guy evidence.

– He was unattractive (see photos).
– He was married to a non-glamorous woman he’d met in college. There was no evidence of infidelity.
– He had a blog (although it was under his real name and seemed to promote his radio show, so perhaps not all that nerdy).

–He was working in information technology just before his wife’s death.

Category 3: Crazy/weaselly/loser evidence.

– Had an unexplained career setback prior to his wife’s illness, where he left broadcast and went into information technology.

– He told his family he’d been accepted to Harvard Business School. Actually, he took one Harvard extension course, which he failed.

– He was fired from his IT job for lying to his employer. Allegedly, he stole work product that he passed off as his own. He also faked a letter from the dean of Harvard Business School.

– He’d lied to friends and colleagues about the prestige and responsibility of his previous job in Chicago. Rather than being a frontman, he was actually a behind-the-scenes person. He rented a fancy car for his 10-year high school reunion and passed it off as his.

– Keown knew that medical professionals had suggested previously to his wife that he might be poisoning her.  Yet he still thought he could get away with it.  This is evidence of delusional arrogance.

Money situation at crime time: Financial troubles. He’d told his wife they were saving $1,500 a month, but they were actually broke. She had a $250,000 life insurance policy.

Warning signs ignored by victim: None that were significant. Keown had no violent or criminal history. Friends said he was something of a bullshitter, but that’s a long way from murderer.  He was widely praised as a likeable, friendly guy.

* * * * * * * * *

So we see that James Keown wasn’t an alpha male.  But he wasn’t intellectual or introverted enough to blame his troubles on nerd/beta issues.   He’s a clear Category 3:  An unsuccessful, homely guy with a big personality and a big ego, who lied repeatedly to bolster his image. He had grandiose dreams which weren’t being realized. His career was stalled and his finances drained.

A quarter of a million dollars isn’t a huge fortune.  But it would have been enough to get Keown out of debt and, at least for a while, let him project the glamorous, successful image he craved.  If there’s any lesson for women here, it’s stay away from bullshitters with big dreams and small realities.

Sheila’s Verdict:  James Keown was CRAZY.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 03:26 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.