Lead us into Temptation

In the past two weeks, the world has borne witness to a series of gruesome decapitations which took place in various parts of the globe. Though this is hardly a new phenomenon, it was with one of these incidents that everyone suddenly took notice. Because this time it was not performed in a grotesque ritualistic manner by some tribe of Pygmies in rural Uganda, but rather, right under our own observing eyes. By now you all see where I’m going with this: the Canadian Greyhound bus decapitation. But like I said – though this incident did get the most coverage, it was by no means an isolated case. A 20 year old drug dealing youth decapitated and hacked his British girlfriend to pieces in Brazil. A Greek man decapitated his wife and lead police on a wild chase while brandishing the severed head. A British man was found dead in his flat, having had his head severed by means of a chainsaw. All four incidents seem to be in a dead heat when it comes to their contention for brutality, yet one is steadily keeping the world’s gaze. Is Vince Weiguang Li just meaner and uglier than the rest; Tim McLean easier to sympathize with, or is there something else? Read on.

Of course at the forefront there is the ever-prevalent draw: our fascination with the brutal and the grotesque. The news media has turned fear into an art form and riding on the coattails of carnival freak shows, has learned of the attention grabbing power of shock. Since all the afore mentioned cases alike in savagery, lets now turn to the true appeal of the Greyhound case: motive. Or to be more precise, the lack thereof. The Brazilian was driven to murder through a cocaine induced stupor and a meddling girl with a cockney accent. Athanassios Arvanitis of Greece had a history of aggression and was presumably feeling slighted after having been laid off from his job as a chef. Finally, as the article suggests, the Hampshire man was simply impeding a redevelopment effort and needed “convincing” to relocate. Yet the murderer of Tim McLean struck out of nowhere! No provocation and no apparent motive at all. Now that’s fascinating. In his act of heinous savagery, Li has given us all something to ruminate over. Letting us all act out our inner Clarice Starling in hopes of seeing through the eyes of the killer himself.

But before we wander down that dark abyss, lets look at what we’re actually dealing with here. Decapitation has been around for thousands of years, and at some points in time, has even been the preferred method of execution. Let this history lesson serve as food-for-thought for you anti-death penalty supporters out there. The word ‘capital’ (as in capital crime, capital offense, and more importantly, capital punishment) comes from the Latin caput, meaning “head”. This of course is a throw-back to where the terms derive their meaning. As you may have guessed, a capital crime or offense is punishable by the forfeiture of ones head! So let us either honor our ancient traditions or come up with a modern Latin derivative for “transgress against your countries laws and live off the citizen’s tax money till you expire”.

Regardless of how brutal the act may actually seem, it is purported to be one of the least painful ways to die… when executed properly (no pun intended). As Wikipedia claims “If the headsman’s axe or sword was sharp and his aim was true, decapitation was quick and was presumed to be a relatively painless form of death. If the instrument was blunt or the executioner clumsy, however, multiple strokes might be required to sever the head. The person to be executed was therefore advised to give a gold coin to the headsman so that he did his job with care.” In the days when dying in battle was deemed “honorable”, death by beheading was indeed the desired approach as one did ultimately succumb to an instrument of war. Strangely enough, this honor would only extend to the sword, and deaths conducted by means of an axe were reserved for commoners or those not deemed worthy of honorary departure. Of course there remains little to be said of honor with the onset of the notorious guillotine. In cultures such as that of Japan, the beheading is similarly a… double edged sword (I swear I didn’t mean it like that)! While decapitation was a common form of execution for criminals and soldiers who showed cowardice in battle, it was also a most honorable end to the act of sepuku as it brought a hasty end to the victim and… cut (I’m done apologizing) their chances of screaming out and dishonoring themselves in the process.

Even despite these historic appeals to the commonness of this practice, in our society it is certainly revolting. Despite the fact that beheadings still go on today as government sanctioned activities in places around the world (Saudi Arabia being a big fan), it’s just not something we do. Historically we may idolize certain victims of decapitation, like Sir William Wallace and St. John the Baptist, sympathize with others (i.e. the wives of Henry VIII), and occasionally smirk at the fate of someone like Marie Antoinette. Yet none of these prepare us for dealing with the issue in our current modern milieu. Just think of how you would react if confronted with the scene of a decapitation. For all our history lessons and Hollywood gore, the scene aboard the Greyhound looked a bit like this: “Some people were puking, some people were crying, other people were in shock … everybody was running, screaming off the bus,” according to an eyewitness. All the while, the attacker made no attempts or showed no signs of aggression towards any of the other passengers. “He calmly walks up to the front [of the bus] with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us,” a passenger said. “There was no rage in him … It was just like he was a robot or something.”

Now lets compare Li’s behavior to that of the other maniacs. Both Athanassios and Mohammed Carvalho dos Santos are unsavory characters. One has a history of aggressive behavior while the other deals hard drugs. Li however, is described as a quiet and hardworking individual. Having immigrated from his native China, Li faced a tough language barrier, but despite that, employers had this to say “we have a very patient staff and he seemed to respond well”. Both Athanassios and Mohammed committed their crimes under some distress and during arguments with their victims. Li on the other hand, assaulted a sleeping man who was wearing headphones; utterly oblivious to his surroundings. Finally we arrive at one commonality: both Li and Athanassios brandished the severed heads for onlookers to observe. Mohammed (pictured here smirking mockingly) did originally try to cover up his crime but later came forward and lead investigators to the scene to witness the remains of his girlfriend. All of these cases involve a decapitation in the aftermath of the murder. This can serve as nothing but a testament to the disregard of the perpetrator towards his victim. A final act of posthumous dishonor even after life has been stripped from them. Literally like the case of David’s triumph over Goliath.

Do they see themselves as heroes? The world certainly doesn’t. In a classical sense, a hero would have the skill and the bravery to behead an opponent in battle. So why else make a display of their savagery? At this point all hopes of getting away with the crime have gone out the window and the individual is only acting out a script which can only end in their inevitable demise. No longer driven by rage or desire for revenge, the only remaining factor seems to be… recognition. And lucky for them, that’s not something we as a society are in short supply of. Li will continue to make headlines so long as we continue to await breaking developments in this case as if it were the next exciting Lost episode. Never once stopping to assume for a second, that maybe that’s all there is to it. Just maybe, the man is a maniac. Having no rhyme or reason as maniacs tend not to have. What would we do then? Focus on the upcoming election perhaps until something else steals the spotlight.