Oh oh! I remember this technique from Cialdini's <i>Influence</i>. During the Korean war, the Chinese used the same technique on American POWs:<p><i>For instance, prisoners were frequently asked to make statements so
mildly anti-American or pro-Communist as to seem inconsequential
(“The United States is not perfect.” “In a Communist country, unemployment is not a problem.”). But once these minor requests were
complied with, the men found themselves pushed to submit to related
yet more substantive requests. A man who had just agreed with his
Chinese interrogator that the United States is not perfect might then be
asked to indicate some of the ways in which he thought this was the
case. Once he had so explained himself, he might be asked to make a
list of these “problems with America” and to sign his name to it. Later
he might be asked to read his list in a discussion group with other
prisoners. “After all, it’s what you really believe, isn’t it?” Still later he
might be asked to write an essay expanding on his list and discussing
these problems in greater detail.</i>
I was impressed by the fact checking:<p><a href="http://www.orangecoast.com/webexclusives/2013/09/24/a-factcheckers-journey-to-a-1980-afternoon" rel="nofollow">http://www.orangecoast.com/webexclusives/2013/09/24/a-factch...</a>
That's moderately horrifying. It's also a sad reminder - so many of us go through life having to chisel and scrape that kind of affection out of the world. I can see how having it freely given could be very enticing.
More facts:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Steven_Kraft" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Steven_Kraft</a>
I'm not sure if this anything to do with why this is on HN but Jay Roberts is Jason Roberts's brother (Jason Roberts is co-host of the TechZing podcast).
If any of your would like to read more about "underrated" serial killers after this harrowing story, Albert Fish comes to mind. Even just the wikipedia article is about as scary a horror tale as they come. Many friends have been unable to finish reading:
<a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish" rel="nofollow">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish</a>
This story is for great (non-blockbuster) movie. Almodovar, but with good ending :-)<p>But it's interesting to think why is author still alive. Is killer possessive gay that is willing to kill guys that are ignoring/rejecting him? Because author didn't reject him as many others that are now in the grave?<p>Also, even if author is wrong, really interesting and non-intrusive emotional overview.
I know there's a policy to keep the title of the source article, but if admins are going to blindly change post titles to remove all useful context and revert to meaningless, misleading headlines, can't they at least come up with a prefix for it? There's Ask HN, Show HN... in this case "Distract HN" might have been appropriate.
Not sure if I'm excited that the first time I've seen an alum from my college (Claremont McKenna) at the top of Hacker News it is Randy Kraft...
Creepy and fascinating story. Thanks for sharing.<p>I do have two questions, though:<p>1. Polaroid wasn't making a black and white integral film in 1980, and FujiFilm didn't make instant film until 1981. Kodak's instant film was color. So how did Kraft produce an instant B+W image?<p>2. Did you really drink 2-3 beers and then get on a motorbike?
Somebody should extend this article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superficial_charm#Psychopathic_charm" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superficial_charm#Psychopathic_...</a>
Once again, some admin has changed the title from better to worse---it was "How I met a serial killer when I was a marine", which is considerably more descriptive.