This raving mother from hell? You bet!: Abusive and Murderous Care-taking does not Evoke Compassion

A simple Google News search will turn up hundreds of results of abuse, neglect, and filicide (the murder of a child by a parent). Doing this search is not for the faint of heart. If you want to feel real pain for the suffering of children, by all means search away. The following are some snippets for which I am issuing a huge trigger warning; the details are highly disturbing.

Rachel Ball pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, two felony drug counts and a misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child after her toddler, Kayleigh, died from drug exposure to cocaine and heroin in February 2015. Ball admitted to watching her boyfriend physically abuse Kayleigh, even leaving him alone with Kayleigh at times to do so.
In December 2014, Lindsey Nicole Blansett waited until midnight to enter her 10-year-old son Caleb's room with a rock and a knife. She hit him over the head with a rock and stabbed him seven times until he was dead.
In what is considered a family effort, Mary C. Rader and her parents Deanna and Dennis Beighley nearly starved her 7-year-old son to death. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh staff was quoted as saying this was the worst case of child neglect they had ever encountered. He was less than 20 pounds when authorities rescued him. He also suffered injuries from beatings he incurred and was held prisoner in the family home. His three siblings all were healthy and attended school regularly.

Are you sick yet? Are you angry yet?

In January 2014, 17-month old Lucas Ruiz was poisoned to death by his mother who injected hand sanitizer into his tiny body causing acute alcohol poisoning. His father, who had also been feeding the tiny babe rum, was quoted as saying their son "would be better off dead, and that he wished he (the child) would die…".
In 2013, 14-year-old Alex Spourdalakis was murdered by his mother and godmother. First they forced sleeping pills down his throat and when that didn't work his mother stabbed the teenage boy multiple times in the chest as he lay in bed. She then slashed his wrist, nearly cutting off his hand while the godmother killed the family cat.
In April of 2012, 4-year-old Daniel Corby was drowned in a bathtub by his mother. She filled the tub, put him in the bath and held him under until he was dead. She then wrapped him in a blanket and put him the backseat of her car.

Do you feel compassion for the murderers?

You must be shaking by now. I know I am. As a parent I cannot fathom how anyone could ever think to hurt a child, let alone their own. The last three examples, Lucas's, Alex's, and Daniel's stories are often met with public sympathy for the murders, however. I hope after reading these awful crime snippets you are complete aghast at how one could feel any sort of compassion or sorrow for the murderer. I hope that you instead are feeling compassion and sorrow for the victim and the people who truly loved and mourn that victim; not the selfish murderous parent.

But society has given some leniency to killing people who are different than themselves. You see, these boys all had some form of a disability. And so it is with ease that you will find articles that dismiss the murders as “mercy killings.” There is no mercy in murder. There is no compassion evoked by these stories. By accepting the mercy killing ideal, society promotes that people who have disabilities, who are different, are worthless and burdens.