Uncommon Commentary #270: By Today's Standards, Jack Was No Ripper

(One definition for "ripper", you see, is "an excellent instance of its kind.")

Criminologists and historians consider "Jack the Ripper" to have had five victims, an unimpressive total in comparison with the feats of more-recent serial killers. The reason why he became so infamous is that in 1888 it was a novelty for someone to commit a "senseless murder", viz., to kill without any apparent rational motive. What does it say about the degeneration of Western society between then and now, that such occurrences have become familiar to everyone who follows current events?