If the Unabomber had been a blogger . . .

. . . would he have spent more time writing manifestos and less time blowing people up?

The Fifth Nail Killer had a blog. Didn't stop him from raping and killing who knows how many kids.

Kevin Ray Underwood had a blog. Didn't stop him from killing Jamie Rose Bolin, hiding out and watching as authorities searched frantically for her. He even posted an entry after she went missing.

What does one blog about after he has kidnapped and presumably already murdered a bright, redheaded child? Something on the Discovery Channel about fossils and evolution, apparently.

So much for the a-creative-outlet-solves-all-your-emotional-problems theory.

What strikes me about both these monsters' blogs is that they don't seem particularly monstrous. They're the same thing thousands of bloggers blog about every day. I've seen darker, more disturbing stuff on some goth-but-harmless teen's poetry blog.

That may be the darkest, most disturbing thing about killers. These monsters don't scowl at children. They don't speak in conspiratorial whispers. They don't wear black raincoats. They watch TV. They clean out the cat box. Some keep to themselves. Others, such as John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy, are outgoing and gregarious. They eat Big Macs. They drive Volkswagens.

And there's not a damn way to tell the difference between us and them, until it's too late.

[Update: CNN, not surprisingly, gets the blog angle of the story wrong.

In setting up a user profile on Blogger, the user is asked a nonsensical question by the company. Blogger then puts the question and the user's answer on the profile. The member doesn't ask the question. Ed Lavandera of CNN, however, can't grasp this:

An online diary that Underwood appears to have kept for several years
reveals a man frequently depressed, angry and with violent thoughts. In a
question posted prominently on the blog, he asks, "If you were a cannibal, what
would you wear to dinner?"

No, Ed. He doesn't ask it. Blogger does; he just answered it.]

[Update 2: Why is the media ignoring his old blog?]