# Boring psychopaths
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 4, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844 "2012-04-04T19:33:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/1 "2012-04-04T19:33:20Z")
This is a concept I once heard Howard Chaykin mention. He was talking about a particular comic book writer’s take on the Joker, saying he had turned him into a psychopath. Someone asked what was wrong with that, and Chaykin replied, “because he’s a boring psychopath.”
I’m seeing an example in the show **Awake** , where they introduced a psychopathic villain who is doing everything by the numbers, like every other psychopathic villain who’s ever appeared on TV. It’s really hurt my impression of the show.
Are there any other examples of a crazy pscyho killer who is boring to watch?
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/2 "2012-04-04T19:49:52Z")
Tommy Lee Jones in **Blown Away**. A, no shit, Mad Bomber. The sophistication of these devices put Dennis Hopper in **Speed** to shame. Not helping matters at all was his [Irish accent](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=INERGITKOcE#t=27s).
An honorable mention has to go to Ron Silver in **Blue Steel**. I was with him until the scene where he slathered himself in blood, shirtless, and started lifting weights while crying.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/3 "2012-04-04T20:08:02Z")
Comic book writer Mark Millar is notorious for this. His villains are one-dimensionally evil with no depth or characterization.
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### Author:  [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/4 "2012-04-05T00:48:09Z")
All or most of them.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/5 "2012-04-05T00:54:08Z")
Norman Bates was an increidbly dull person. He couldn’t make eye contact, much less conversation, and his hobby was taxidermy.
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### Author:  [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/6 "2012-04-05T01:24:14Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Norman Bates was an increidbly dull person. He couldn’t make eye contact, much less conversation, and his hobby was taxidermy.
But the character was fascinating. I think the OP means psychopaths that are so stereotypically “psycho” that they make you lose interest.
Or maybe I’m full of crap.😛
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/7 "2012-04-05T01:32:43Z")
Yes, that’s the idea – someone who’s a psychopathic villain, and even over-the-top, but ultimately boring for one reason or another.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/8 "2012-04-05T05:16:18Z")
It could just be my general distaste for Colin Hanks, but the character he portrayed in last season’s _Dexter_ was boring to the point of silly. Much the same could apply to Edward James Olmos, too, and the combination of the two of them week after week was almost too much to bear.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/9 "2012-04-05T13:01:00Z")
Edit: Never mind, I see the OP wanted info on fictional serial killers and psychopaths. Not the actual ones I’ve known.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/10 "2012-04-05T13:16:39Z")
I suspect that real serial killers are far less flamboyantly evil than they are on TV.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/11 "2012-04-05T13:58:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> I suspect that real serial killers are far less flamboyantly evil than they are on TV.
IME, it’s 50/50. One boring guy, one darkly evil.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/12 "2012-04-05T14:19:11Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Edit: Never mind, I see the OP wanted info on fictional serial killers and psychopaths. Not the actual ones I’ve known.
Doctor, I think the rest of us would be quite happy to hear about the actual ones you’ve known. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/13 "2012-04-06T00:42:05Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#):
>
> Doctor, I think the rest of us would be quite happy to hear about the actual ones you’ve known. 🙂
To say much more would be to risk breaching confidentiality. Serial killers aren’t all that common.
Now psychopaths, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen where I work.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/14 "2012-04-06T01:48:55Z")
In writing villains for RPGs, I used to have a fondness for the mad power-hungry villain, until someone pointed out how terribly boring that was. Since then, I’ve gotten a bit better, but now my villains tend to be utopian fanatics. Writing a good villain for adventure stories is hard.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/15 "2012-04-06T05:21:24Z")
You’d think psychopaths would be more varied than average people. All people everywhere have a mostly similar code of conduct applying to the people around them, psychopaths are average people without this code. I’m guessing lazy writers feel the need to hit the numbers and avoid all the effort of character development and stop short of just telling the audience what they are.
-Now that I think about it, every D&D character ever played at my gaming table has ultimately been a copy of the player, only psychopathic.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/16 "2012-04-06T05:25:58Z")
I think Tom Ripley is a terribly boring psychopath.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/17 "2012-04-06T07:00:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> To say much more would be to risk breaching confidentiality. Serial killers aren’t all that common.
>
> Now psychopaths, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen where I work.
I would really like to hear about your every day variety psychopaths.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/18 "2012-04-06T07:10:14Z")
I recall reading somewhere that about 5% of corporate CEOs are psychopaths. No idea how that was determined.
According the “[The Sociopath Next Door](http://www.amazon.com/Sociopath-Next-Door-Martha-Stout/product-reviews/076791581X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/182-0966568-2728751?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1)”, 4% of the population are sociopaths. I imagine that in prisoner populations that number is elevated substantially.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/19 "2012-04-06T07:11:09Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> I think Tom Ripley is a terribly boring psychopath.
was Ripiley the first psychopath protagonist in modern literature?
I loved the books and the movie with Matt Damon even more…
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boring-psychopaths/617844/20 "2012-04-06T07:18:42Z")
I can’t answer your question and I enjoy a couple of the books… but Tom’s evilness was so _banal_. Basically, living a normal if rather affluent lifestyle, and doing anything at all deemed necessary to cover his ass.
Maybe that reality makes them all rather boring?
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