"There are killers whom just kill for the fun of it. What is your opinion about them?" - SK, comments

I imagine that there are some people who have learned to associate killing --- or, more commonly, violence --- with some other pleasureable primary stimulus, such as the acquisition of money or drugs. So it seems to them that killing (or violence) is “fun”. But, I suspect that most people who boast of killing for fun are only kidding themselves, and everyone else, in order to avoid having to admit that they are responsible for what they do. This rationalization, which is usually (but certainly not always) buried in the unconscious from years of practice, goes something like this: “If I enjoy it, then I can't be blamed for it because it is my nature.” But, the truth is that they don't really enjoy it; nobody does, not even those who have been conditioned to derive pleasure from it. It is the anticipation of some primary (or other secondary) stimulus that creates the illusion of pleasure. As such, we are no better than Pavlov's salivating dogs receiving “pleasure” from the ringing bell that announces dinner. And I say “we” are no better, because WE are all subject to this same process of complex conditioning. Whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, we are all capable of murder, and we are all responsible for it when it happens, whether we can see the blood on our hands or not.