THE HORROR ADVOCATE

[POP] CULT SURVIVALIST

THA programs, Apt, Horror| REC Zombie| + [Pop] Cult Survivalist, are groundbreaking advocacy resources that address pop (counter) culture as a reputable data source for community development and enhancing civic engagement.

After graduating with a Master of Science in Criminal Behavior + Crime Trends [2016], she began mapping a strategy for using pop culture as a decoder for criminality. This work revolutionizes the True Crime space with an explicit focus on harm reduction, interdisciplinary case file content, and justice-oriented actions that centralize victims and redefines the boundaries of restorative justice.

The Long-term goal is for the data points (and anecdotal analysis) to become a crucial resource for any city/state/or federal officials, initiatives, or programs that want to better serve the underrepresented communities they were appointed to protect. She hopes people experience as much catharsis engaging with her work as she does by creating it.

PROJECT INTRODUCTION:

Dahmer: THE WEAPON YOU WIELD IN HONOR OF TRADITION

THE HORROR ADVOCATE

[POP] CULT SURVIVALIST

The reactions to the Netflix miniseries serve as a painful reminder that the environment from which Dahmer gained power, and that which shielded him from capture, is still being nurtured to this day. We can search every inch of ourselves for the why, but the more significant concern is how. What role did the rest of us play in aiding this?

On November 28, 1994, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered while serving a life sentence for the murder and dismemberment of fifteen men and boys between 1978 and 1992, primarily Black American men. With the release of Netflix's unflinching media portrait depicting one of America's home-grown monsters, our cultural bubble is threatening to burst.

[pop] cult SNAPSHOT:

Family and Friends of the victims react to the verdict (1992).

AFTER BEING Indicted on 15 murder charges, DAHMERS' trial began on January 30, 1992. The proceedings lasted two weeks, and Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms.

The rise of crime as a Pop Culture phenomenon existed long before the late 1970s but was exclusively tied to radio, newspapers, and other forms of coverage.

It’s a moral soap box with many holes. Furthermore, it plays into our delusion that ignoring violence will make it go away and that any consumption of or attention paid to violence as part of our society has an underlying motivation and penchant for witnessing suffering. This is where the lines get blurry.

'Those who didn't live through it should also not talk about it' - that'sa level of rationalization that continues to elude me. It asserts that if you're present during a major social/political/cultural event you're somehow immune to being corrected and or enlightened.

We all know knowledge is power; any intentional action to hide it should be coded as violence. The less you know, the less you face the dark, and the less you believe it is an ongoing battle we all must fight. Staking Dahmer’s violence to the ground between 1978-1991 suggests no legacy, metamorphosis, or stain left behind.

We want to believe that the violence left this earth when he did and fear that talking about it is like spellwork, digging up the grave of a culpable society that aided and abetted this nightmare on the backs of their values and artistic gymnastics.

[pop] cult SNAPSHOT

The true crime phenomenon, as we know it today, grew wings by allowing society to face America's most notorious monsters.

read the source article !

PROJECT INTRODUCTION:

Dahmer: THE WEAPON YOU WIELD IN HONOR OF TRADITION

They consider that most of Dahmer's victims were Black Men, those struggling with fitting into a world that seeks to push them out and use their pain as source material for cautionary tales. To cover up their pain and loss by masquerading your thirst for their invisibility as a form of respect. Don't speak ill of the dead, they say….as if painting an accurate picture is a betrayal.

It is the exquisite violence we wage against one another. We covet a world built around the cognitive dissonance of individualist culture juxtaposed with the sentiment that certain places, experiences, and lifestyles lead people to their deaths. On the one hand, we are all responsible for ourselves; on the other, we surrender our innocence. We deny marginalized groups their lived reality in the spirit of bootstrap theory and the same breath, conjuring thoughts and prayers– as if they are remedies.

read the source article !

PROJECT INTRODUCTION:

Dahmer: THE WEAPON YOU WIELD IN HONOR OF TRADITION

THE HORROR ADVOCATE

[POP] CULT SURVIVALIST

When it comes to the victims, the line between exploitation and open visibility becomes increasingly defined by the world we think we live in. When we retreat in the face of horror, evil, and violence— we create a world in ruins. We codify individualism and cradle our cruelty with reckless abandon. We perform care through judgment and punishment at will.

read the source article !

PROJECT INTRODUCTION:

Dahmer: THE WEAPON YOU WIELD IN HONOR OF TRADITION

THE HORROR ADVOCATE

[POP] CULT SURVIVALIST

Violence is not pleasant, and no justification or mitigation changes its properties. If someone doesn’t say these names, if someone doesn’t write it down if someone doesn’t continue to push them in the face of society, Then they die for nothing, and the pattern will repeat.

[pop] cult SNAPSHOT

For the sake of this project, 'kills' equals violence, neglect, and willful indifference to others pain. The message is clear...... it's not the law, it's not about traditions, and it's not about morality. Violence can be waged through words and cultural practices...

PROJECT MISSION/DESCRIPTION

An investigative project that uses crime trends, statistics, and media to map pop culture as a decoder for criminality. PCS rejects our standard practice for addressing criminal activity and offers an innovative community response model in its place.

data for social change

PCS will release a bi-quarterly report detailing relevant pop culture mythos—cultural moments and how they formulate criminality.

WHAT IS A [POP] CULT SURVIVALIST?

A cryptanalyst for the collective, survived by codifying pop culture + crime trends as a pioneering approach to harm reduction.

Think of it as ECS [emergency cultural services].

PROJECT FRAMEWORK

CRIME DOES PAY: CRIMINALITY AS THE AMERICAN DREAM

Excuse VS Explanation: It’s the why, not the for what

TO FOSTER, TO WAR: THE SANCTITY OF LIFE AND THE PRIVILEGE OF DEATH

Rehabilitation vs. Retribution: pick a struggle

THE LESSON REPEATS AS NEEDED: community support, resources, and roadblocks that aid Recidivism

PROJECT PERSPECTIVE(S)

Jurisprudence should evolve with the culture, not despite it.

Criminality as Tradition: America’s Thirst for real-world violence.

Popular cultural beliefs influence Facts/Data on criminality.

PROJECT LANGUAGE: KILLER TERMS TO KNOW

[FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT, THE WORD ' CRIMINAL' IS USED TO MEAN SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF PERCEIVED UNLAWFUL ACTIONS]

Actus Reus: An act that constitutes a crime.

Mens Rea: The intention to commit the act that constitutes a crime.

Pre-Conventional Morality

Consideration of the self (divided into stages of punishment and reward).

Conventional Morality

Consideration of society (where people are considerate of social norms and order).

Post-conventional Morality

Consideration of our own mind (the highest level of moral development where people are concerned with the rights of humans and are guided by their ethical principles).

Hostile Attribution Bias

A cognitive style that assumes that other people's actions are somehow an adverse reaction to the self. This is often a case of misperception.

Neuroticism

A long-term tendency to be in a negative emotional state.

Psychoticism:

A personality pattern typified by aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility. High levels of this trait were believed to be linked to increased vulnerability to psychosis, such as schizophrenia.

Recidivism

Relapsing into criminal behavior (typically after having crime prevention intervention).

Rehabilitation

To restore the mindset and behavior of an offender to be a non-offender.

Limbic System

A central part of the brain (regarded as the primitive area) where emotions are modulated.

Institutionalization

Being confined installs you with different beliefs/norms/social roles/values, or modes of behavior which you are used to.

Restorative Justice Programmes

A new type of intervention whereby offenders meet their victim(s) and attempt to realize the implications of their actions, repair the harm they have caused, and overall have a better relationship with themself, their victims, and society.

THE VIOLENCE TYPE[S]

Verbal Abuse

Verbal abuse occurs when someone uses language, whether spoken or written, to cause harm to an individual.

Emotional Violence

Emotional violence occurs when someone says or does something to make someone feel stupid or worthless.

Neglect

Neglect occurs when someone is responsible for providing care or assistance for an individual but does not.

Financial Abuse

Financial abuse occurs when someone controls an individual’s financial resources without the person’s consent or misuses those resources.

Spiritual Violence

Spiritual (or religious) violence occurs when someone uses an individual’s spiritual beliefs to manipulate, dominate or control that person.

Psychological Violence

occurs when someone uses threats and causes fear in an individual to gain control.

Cultural Violence

Cultural violence occurs when an individual is harmed due to practices that are part of her or his culture, religion or tradition.

PROJECT LANGUAGE: KILLER PROFILES

MURDERER CATEGORIES

Folie à deux

Serial KILLERS

Spree KILLERS

THRILL KILLS

Mass Murderers

MULTIPLE MurderS

KILLING VS MURDERING

KILLER DETAILS

The Visionary - Usually psychotic, the visionary is compelled to murder because they hear voices or see visions ordering them to kill certain kinds of people.

Mission-Oriented - Targets a specific group of people who they believe are unworthy of living and without whom the world would be a better place.

Hedonistic Killer - Kills for the thrill of it because they enjoy the act of killing and sometimes become sexually aroused during the act of murder. Jerry Brudos, the Lust Killer, fits this profile.

Power-Oriented - Kills to exert ultimate control over their victims. These murderers are not psychotic but obsessed with capturing and controlling their victims and forcing them to obey their every command. Pedro Alonso Lopez, Monster of the Andes, abducted children with the intent to hold them even after death.

Crime TRENDS: Most Dangerous States of 2022

Highest Rate

New Mexico (6462.032)

Lowest Rate

New Hampshire (2344.184)

DEFINE 'DANGEROUS': WHAT'S THE FORMULA?

All 50 states were assessed across 53 indicators. Each state was given a total score out of 100. The indicators were grouped into the following categories: Personal & Residential Safety; Financial Safety; Road Safety; Workplace Safety; and Emergency Preparedness- Using sed indicators such as the number of Fatalities per 100 million Vehicle Miles of Travel; Number of Law-Enforcement Employees per Capita; Number of Assaults per Capita; Bullying Incidence Rate; Unemployment Rate; Share of Uninsured Population; Percentage of Adults with Rainy-Day Funds; Total Loss Amount from Climate Disasters per Capita; and Number of Fatal Occupational Injuries per Total Workers'-- READ THE SOURCE ARTICLE HERE.

Here are the ten states with the highest homicide rates:

Louisiana - 12.4 per 100k| Missouri - 9.8 per 100k| Nevada - 9.1 per 100k| Maryland - 9 per 100k| Arkansas - 8.6 per 100k| Alaska - 8.4 per 100k| Alabama - 8.3 per 100k| Mississippi - 8.2 per 100k| Illinois - 7.8 per 100k South Carolina - 7.8 per 100k

Crime TRENDS: WHAT EFFECTS US?

My innovative study, Apt, Horror, captures a combination of media and demographic data, some of which is critical to the evolution of [pop] cult survivalist. Below is a list of critical data points.

The section below briefly reviews social concerns that took center stage in the survey data.

Human Rights

Access to Opportunities + Equality

Equity

What social or political issue is most important right now?

Poverty + Racial Discrimination

Climate Change/Pollution

Mental Health Awareness

Which of the options below is most detrimental?

Government Action/Inaction

Racism

Greed + Wealth distribution

[Pop] cult CRIME CODES

Crime codes [ or conscience codes] are uniquely designed to outline project approaches, topic areas, and theoretical frameworks, topic area

THE CRIME OF TRUST [FALSE CONFESSIONS, BASTARDIZED JUSTICE, WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS]

THE CRIME OF IDENTITY THEFT [EX: PARENTHOOD, JUVENILE JUSTICE/CRIMES, TOXIC FAMILY STRUCTURES, AND FORBIDDEN TEENAGE LOVE

THE CRIME OF POVERTY [MONEY AND RELIGION IN THE COURTROOM}

IT COULDN'T BE ME: MORAL SUPERIORITY, NARCISSISTIC\ IMMUNITY, AND HOW WE BUILD THE MACHINE THAT SURVIVORS DIE IN

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWERS: AMERICAS LOVE AFFAIR WITH DOMESTIC TERRORISTS

Murder by Proxy: The institutionalized violence of being an under-resourced/under-experienced police force and proud of it

LEARN YOUR GEOMETRY: LOVE TRIANGLES AS CERTAIN DEATH

[POP] CULTURE MURDERS [EX: THE JENNY JONES MURDER + THE JERRY SPRINGER MURDER ]

DENY WHAT YOU CANT ADMIT: HATE CRIMES , BIAS, AND A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE AS SELF DEFENSE

THINGS LIKE THIS DON'T HAPPEN HERE: THE ZIP CODE AS AN IMAGINARY CLOAK, THE LORE ABOUT CITY/DENSELY POPULATED AREAS AND THEIR CRIME FOOTPRINT, AND THE VIOLENCE

ON THE FENCE: 'GAY PANIC' DEFENSE, DONT ASK, DON'T TELL, AND HOMOPHOBIA DISGUISED AS OUTRAGE

THE CRIME OF DESPERATION: The narcissistic social loop of victim blaming

You poisoned yourself: Tradition as murder, Feminism as responsibility

PAGING DOCTOR DEATH: Narcissistic Immunity in Doctors, dentists, and the MEDICAL INDUSTRY

[POP] CULT SURVIVALIST: SEX AND DEATH [SAMPLE REPORT]

Note: [pop] cult survivalist does not debate guilt or innocence. the generated reports will discuss how the marriage of our media circus aligns with our cultural practices

THE VICTIMS:

Dahmer reportedly killed 17 men between 1978 and 1991 [OHIO + WISCONSIN]

He overwhelmingly preyed on mostly Black, Asian, or Latino men

THE KILLER:

JEFFREY DAHMER

THE VIOLENCE TYPE:

SEXUAL VIOLENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE, AND CULTURAL VIOLENCE

THE CASE:

A SERIAL HUNTER KIDNAPPED/TORTURED/AND MURDERED 17 MEN AND BOYS [MOSTLY IDENTIFIED AS BLACK] BETWEEN 1978-1991

[POP] CULT CRIME CODES:

+[YOU POISONED YOURSELF]: Tradition as murder, Feminism as responsibility

+[DENY WHAT YOU CANT ADMIT]: Hate Crimes, Bias, and a preemptive strike as self-defense

+[ON THE FENCE]: 'GAY PANIC' DEFENSE, DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL, AND HOMOPHOBIA DISGUISED AS OUTRAGE

+[THE CRIME OF DESPERATION]: The narcissistic social loop of victim blaming

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

CRUSIN [1988]

AMERICAN SWING [2008]

SUGGESTED READING:

MY FRIEND DAHMER [GRAPHIC NOVEL]

THE KILLING OF THE UNICORN [STAR 80/PLAYBOY PLAYMATE MURDER]

[POP]CULT FUEL SAMPLES

1978 (Nov. 27) – San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk is assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone. Supervisor Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter and is sentenced to seven years in prison.

[POP] CULT CRIME CODE:

[DENY WHAT YOU CANT ADMIT] Hate Crimes, Bias, and a preemptive strike as self-defense

1985 – Rock Hudson dies. He was a leading actor in many movies in the 1950s and 1960s. He died of complications related to AIDS. After his death, it was revealed that he was gay and had several male relationships.

1993 – The U.S. Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which allowed gay and lesbian people to serve in the military. They would not be asked about their sexual orientation during enlistment screening.

[POP] CULT CRIME CODE:

ON THE FENCE: 'GAY PANIC' DEFENSE, DONT ASK DON'T TELL, AND HOMOPHOBIA DISGUISED AS OUTRAGE

[POP] CULT CRIME CODE:

THE CRIME OF DESPERATION: The narcissistic social loop of victim blaming

THE CRIME SCENE[S]:

In the early years, he hunted. Later he refined his tactics by securing his hunting ground. Luring victims back to their homes by loitering outside gay clubs and bars.physical locations his grandmother's home and his apartment

The narcissistic social loop of victim blaming

THE CRIME SCENE[S]

The rise of the gay rights movement nurtured Dahmer's active years. The first gay rights organization was founded in 1950. by the time Dahmer began killing, the country was reeling from the wrath of the aids epidemic, the murder of Harvey Milk, and the backend of the sexual revolution that expressed itself as Playboy/Chippendales, Plato's Retreat, and NYC bathhouses.

Dahmer had a history of running into law enforcement at crucial moments. For example :

When his 14-year-old victim escaped into a nearby alley, Dahmer can use the cultural anonymity of the gay club scene to divert suspicion.

Officers were inclined to believe that boy was 19 and in a 'lovers spat. ' he hunted people, places, and things we regard as disposable. How else do you explain the timeline of his crimes going undetected? Ted Bundy was arrested, tried, and convicted during the peak Dahmer years. His victims were overwhelmingly heterosexual, white, and female. He knew there would be little concern for a gay man [or boy] of color who was last seen going to or coming from a gay bar/club. Society supported the notion that being gay and engaging in sexual contact is inherently dangerous when the oppressive, restrictive, and violent response led many to disappear into the darkness.

DENY WHAT YOU CANT ADMIT

The officers who gave the 14-year-old victim back to Dahmer were later suspended. During the trial proceedings, one was quoted saying they didn't just hand him over, and there were no red flags or signs of stress.

The witnesses who called to report a possible crime said the boy was naked and bloody.

We have to ask ourselves what [pop] culture proclivities and transitions allowed these officers to assume there was no danger reasonably.

This response has several levels, including gender, sex, neighborhood, ethnicity, and misogyny. It goes to an even darker place when you begin to unravel that to accept this story; you would have to assume violence is an intrinsic part of non-heterosexual sexual encounters. This is a perfect example of how cultural beliefs can defy logic and sensibility.

There is a cognitive dissonance between anti-queer rhetoric embedded in American culture and the communities of these murders. We must take accountability for creating an environment where predators can adapt at will and hunt with impunity. If we constructed a culture [+ value system] that supports secrecy and anonymity-- committing these crimes was almost too easy.

Again, he did it because we willed it.

THE HUNTED HIGHWAY

ACTIVE KILLERS WITH SIMILAR MO'S (1978-1991)

Bonin, William 1979–1980/ Executed 1996 Known as "The Freeway Killer"; preyed on young men and boys in southern California with several accomplices

Corll, Dean 1970-1973/ Killed in a shootout with police/also known as "The Candy Man or The Pied Piper"; preyed on AT LEAST 28 young men and boys in Houston, TX.

THE POT AND THE KETTLE: PORTRAITS OF SEXUALITY AS REVOLITION

From 1978-1991 the second phase of the sexual revolution took hold all over America. Almost 20 years earlier, the country played a dangerous game of hide and seek with their desires. The humanity burrowed beneath the surface became something the culture couldn't ignore. American horror story captures this subverted response to the suffocation of our instincts. In Ahs: freak show, Murphy explores repressed sexuality by reimagining the 1950s and early 1960s Tupperware parties.

NOW YOU SEE ME: SEX AS REVOLUTION

Resistance to racial discrimination at gay nightlife spots in the 1970s through 1990s. A portrait of black liberation through music, dance, and collective celebration. The power of community + representation.'

When Chippendales was founded in 1979, we endured a major cultural shift in how women's sexual desires are nurtured and how they are designed beyond another person's pleasure or a 'greater' purpose. At the same time, this is a moment for women. It also allowed men to exist on a spectrum of masculinity. Overall, this moment suggests women can be as sexually aroused and as sexually free without the constraints of sexual desires being explicitly tied to all that is exterior.

ATTACK OF THE MAN WITH A PLAN: THE REVOLUTIONARY SEPARATION OF SEX AND LOVE

In 1977 Larry Levenson took his proclivities and turned them into an empire. Plato's retreat was more than a swingers club-- it represented a new world order where sex, love, and marriage live amicably but independently of each other. Aside from sexual freedom, Plato took shame out of desire. Community as an aspect of sexual freedom became very powerful as Plato's retreat hit the scene. He modeled concerning the NYC bathhouses and the queer community that's led the way thus far.

SHE WAS SOMEONE: WEAPONIZING THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Dorothy Stratten rose to stardom as the payment of the year (1980). she's pictured here with her abductor, rapist, and control freak husband, who would ultimately take her life. Her life and murder are the keys to understanding how rape culture is designed, nurtured, and supported on the backs of vulnerable women/children/ and men searching for their place in a world of chaos. Dorothy was no older than 17 when paul snider spotted her working at dairy queen (Vancouver, Canada). At the time, snider was a pimp, a promoter, and a wannabe star—trafficking in young vulnerable girls. After seeing an advertisement for Playboy's 25th-anniversary playmate search in 1978, Paul convinced her to pose for photos. He then submitted them, and soon, after receiving word, they wanted Dorothy to come to California for a test shoot. Because Dorothy was underage, she needed her mother to permit her to leave the country; she refused, so Snyder forged the signature -- essentially kidnapping, selling, and eventually murdering Dorothy before her 21st birthday. Hustler magazine took this story and used it to advertise. After Stratten was murdered, they ran an ad that featured the crime scene layout with the caption ' what sort of a man reads Playboy" It's a stark portrait teaching us how vulnerable cultural movements ,under the guise of sexual freedom, can swallow up populations.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT/ VIOLENT IMAGERY. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

SEE A COPY OF THE INFAMOUS HUSTLER AD HERE.

Greed, jealousy, and anger bookend this cultural moment. No matter what your intentions were for coming into this world, it becomes clear that not only have we separated sex, love, and marriage, but we have also stripped away the humanity that comes with sexual expression. In the end, money trumps humanity, and we all lose.

Let us not forget that these public and unapologetic portraits of sexuality mainly were geared towards heterosexual probabilities. Imagine living in a world that dismisses your safety as a backdoor to shame ad helplessness.

So when we discuss how and why tragedies happen--we must remember the part we all play.

HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, OR CURIOSITIES?

USE THE CONTACT INFO BELOW TO GET IN TOUCH.

Love, Avie

Boston, MA

thehorroradvocate@gmail.com

The Horror Advocate Website

DEI Film Archiove Press Release [2023]

@ahorroradvocate

THA YOUTube Channel

NAME RULES

How do you Pronounce Ava? (see the Australian pronunciation)

Professional Credits: Ava M. Fields

Introducing me: Ava

Casual communications + Zoom meetings: Ava or Avie

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