We Are All Staff Sgt Robert Bales
We are all Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.
My last post here (From Saint To Devil: A Path Carved By Head Injury), examined a real-life, medically researched case of Phineas Gage, who was transformed by a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from a fine, upstanding man into a profane, violent thug.
I ran across Gage’s case as a student studying biophysics at Cornell in the early 1970s. The provable concept that rearranging neurons could be the difference between good or evil remained with me because it goes right to the heart of morality, ethics, free will, justice and religion.
That enduring fascination led to half a decade’s worth of scientific research. And that led me to write my Perfect Killer which has even more research and non-fiction data than any of my other thrillers. The research and the writing convinced me that the dark side lives deep within us all. Fortunately, the ubiquitous evil within remains imprisoned in most people through a combination of the right brain circuitry and a moral, ethical upbringing.
Perfect Killer. explores this issue through four military combat veterans — two of whom have recovered physically from severe head wounds.
Do the other two have unseen TBIs? Both undergo — or have undergone — significant personality changes. Where did those changes come from? That question binds all of Perfect Killer’s characters together.
The implications for the criminal justice system — and Staff Sergeant Bales — are overwhelming.
In the past, people with mental illnesses of one sort or another were abandoned, imprisoned or executed. “Retards” were sterilized, autistic people were ostracized, “Schizos” were locked up and doped out of their gourds on Thorazine (and before that just imprisoned until they died).
While we must all be held responsible for our actions, the consequences for failure need to be balanced against the causes, including those not readily apparent to the naked eye.
Science has begun to identify specific brain circuitry phenomena that can result in criminal behavior. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) like the two suffered by Staff Sergeant Bales have been recognized as having the potential for thwarting the ability to “do the right thing.”
But it’s psychologically easier for most people to accept, understand — and forgive — Gage’s post-injury behavioral changes because we can see the visible wound.
Invisible wounds are harder to accept, harder to comprehend.
A lack of a visible wound is a primary reason that the military and other experts were so slow in recognizing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s now clear that PTSD has many manifestations and TBI is just one of many causes
What separates people who are capable of doing the right thing from those who cannot? That question underpins Perfect Killer. The book reaches no easy answers. It does, however, raise significant for you to ponder every time you read a headline about Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.
Given the right circumstances …
Car accident? Stroke? Sports concussion? Genetic malformation?
… you are him.
Think about it.
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