Egan writes about Bonnie and Clyde. They became folk heroes of a sort as people admired them for robbing the banks (people felt the banks deserved it for their own bad deeds). Write Joseph Geringer explains their appeal: "Americans thrilled to their 'Robin Hood' adventures. The presence of a female, Bonnie, escalated the sincerity of their intentions.”
42. Who are the most widely known criminals//alleged criminals currently, and are any of them folk heroes in the Bonnie and
- Bernie Madoff (definitely not a folk hero)
- Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling (not)
- The 911 hijackers (definitely not, though maybe they have that status in parts of the Islamic world
- Timothy McVeigh (not)
- The Unabomber (ok, this might be an example of one --- it seems like some of the “escape society” people lionized him a bit)
- Abdul Qadeer Khan (it seems like he kind of has Unabomber-type status in
- Hannibal Lechter (yes, folk hero)
- The drug lords and dealers in The Wire (the Barksdales, Stringer Bell, Prop Joe, Marlo Stansfield) (yes, folk heroes)
It’s interesting that a fair number of the “folk hero” criminals today are fictional characters. I assume that’s always been the case, but in the days before acts of mass violence and terrorism were the criminals seen as heroic more often than they are now?
