“Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop” showed us the story and trial of Gilberto Valle, a former police officer for the NYPD. With the given nickname of “cannibal cop” by the media outlets, we would expect Valle to have an unsuccessful future and would only be thought of as a criminal. However, Valle took his fantasies and used them as inspiration for horror novels after his memoir received positive feedback. His first novel, A Gathering of Evil only goes further into the depth of Valle’s fantasies of kidnapping and cannibalism through a sadist group that preys on young women. Valle’s most recent book, The Social Catalogue of #Prey (sequel to A Gathering of Evil) was published this past year in 2019. The continuation of his first book also ties in the danger of social media and the value of privacy. Valle’s books have become recognized all over social media and seem to have a following of fans. Many praise his writing saying, “Nothing shows a horror book succeeding more than when it actually horrifies you”. He defines his fantasies as a “sexual fetish” and “it is something that [he] didn’t choose, and it’s something that [he] lives with and that [he] is fine with”. Valle knows that his novel is not for everyone and is very disturbing for those who do not feel the same way.
Valle also went to the 2019 CrimeCon in New Orleans. During the conference, he talked about the mistakes he made, the chatroom and how it ruined his marriage. Valle had actually fought to gain custody of his daughter but gave up due to the legal fees. He revealed, “he is ashamed of it all” but defends himself still asking the question, “is not liking me reason enough to have me in prison for the rest of my life?”. Valle’s question relates to the concept of thought crimes, and whether they should be prosecuted without action taken after them. Along with writing his horror novels, Valle works at his friend’s construction company and believes that in the future, he won’t be defined by his mistakes.
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I am glad Valle found a way to use his fantasies in a more productive way by writing horror novels instead of hanging out in sketchy chatrooms. However, his does make me a little nervous because in the documentary, one of the psychiatrists explained that exploring and writing about his fantasies doesn’t help him cope with them or manage them. In fact, doing so could excite those urges. Nonetheless, like you said, this once again brings up the idea of thought crimes. We don’t prosecute people like Steven King for their freaky thoughts. He’s just writing fictional stories; he’s not calling for violence or implying that he himself will be violent. So, it’s his 1st Amendment right to express himself, and Valle is allowed to do the same. We can’t prosecute Valle claiming that he might do something but we’re not totally sure.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting to me how they thought he was eating women because of what he would be saying online. I don't think it was proper for him to be saying all these things that he had and was doing online because it just made him be a suspect. I also agree with Courtney because I did not know that he began to write this fantasies as horror movies instead of what he was doing that was a very good idea for him to start doing. In the documentary it was very hard for me to see how the parents new that wasn't there son and that he was actually doing those horrible things. Also a parents that might be something very hard to deal with.
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