Rant of the Week

Ted Bundy Cheek-to-cheek With James Dobson

At some mystical level, the two deserve each other.  One is a cold-blooded, heartless con man, a swindler, a deceiver on a grand scale.  The other is Theodore Bundy, the man who may have killed 28 women.

You should read the interview.  It has that kind of coy, self-deception of an interview with a politician conducted by a friendly "journalist".  The two know exactly what each other wants and needs, but they want to make sure they dip together, and don't pump their elbows too energetically: this is not a polka.

Dobson wants a celebrity endorsement for his belief that all that ails America today is sexual liberation.  Bundy wants to convince somebody, anybody that he is not as evil as, well, that man in the mirror.  He carefully asserts, early in the interview, that he is not blaming pornography for his evil misdeeds.  Oh no-- that would be unseemly.  That would be to expose himself (and Dobson, allegedly an expert on psychology) to ridicule.  But, just a few paragraphs later, Bundy claims to have had a normal, healthy upbringing (including church attendance) until he encountered porn magazines at a corner store, which eventually drove him into a sexual frenzy.  But, no, it wasn't the porn.

Dobson generally looks foolish and tightly asinine at the best of times but he never looks more like an ass or a fool than here as he nods solemnly at Bundy while credulously affirming the "normal upbringing" shtick.  The truth is known:  Bundy was born out of wedlock in a home for unwed mothers at a time when society had nothing but contempt for such women.  Some feel he may have been fathered by his maternal grandfather, who had a violent temper and "dared to discipline",  and was abusive to his grand mother and mother.   He was raised as if he and his mother were brother and sister.  He was active in a Methodist church and the Boy Scouts.  In high school, he was a loner and an introvert and a thief.  Dobson probably feels that the Boy Scout involvement was a positive indicator.

In spite of the fact that Ted Bundy was a ruthless serial rapist and killer and an extraordinarily good liar, Dobson attributes a kind of expertise and authority to him.  It reminds me of when Canadian serial killer Clifford Olsen announced he was in favor of the death penalty and some conservatives cheered it as if this was an endorsement of some kind. 

Dobson sounds a little thrilled.  He points out that Bundy didn't invite any other reporter, oh no, for his last interview.  Even celebrity killers are celebrities, and Dobson is known to drop names and brag about his meetings and phone calls from powerful Republicans.  Powerful Republicans and Ted Bundy.

Bundy claims a conversion experience but it has been noted that he never came clean about all the killings or revealed the location of any more bodies after his "conversion".  There are good reasons to believe the "conversion" was a last-ditch effort to try to win clemency.  There are good reasons to believe that a genuinely repentant Bundy would have had some news for the cops:  these are the other women I murdered.  Here is where their bodies are located.  These families will now know the truth of what happened to their children.  So either you believe that the police had a perfect record in Bundy's case and correctly attributed every last victim  (I doubt the police themselves believe that), or Bundy's conversion was just one more con.

I believe that Bundy, by the time his execution was imminent, was not going to dispute any of the facts-- he knew that would not further his only aim at that point-- to save his own life.

A converted Bundy might have accepted that what he did was deserving of death.  But this Bundy coyly invites the families of the victims to forgive him, because his death won't bring any of the victims back.  He claims he is on a mission to do some good: to teach America that porn turns otherwise morally healthy young men into frenzied sex killers.

Either way, it doesn't surprise me that James Dobson is utterly credulous. 

He must have the same expression on his face when George Bush tells him that his real agenda is to restore America to Godly virtues, stop abortion, and affirm traditional marriage. 

All contents copyright © 2007 Bill Van Dyk All rights reserved.