The capture and arrest of Eric Rudolph is unquestionably good news. A fugitive for five years, Rudolph is what can only be described as a terrorist.
Rudolph, driven by his hatred of those unlike himself, appears to have detonated bombs at two women’s clinics, a gay nightclub, and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
I can’t help but be horrified, however, by the reactions from Rudolph’s neighbors in and around Murphy, N.C.
“He’s a Christian and I’m a Christian and he dedicated his life to fighting abortion,” said Crystal Davis, a 25-year-old mother of four in Murphy. “Those are our values. And I don’t see what he did as a terrorist act.”
The New York Times reported that Davis’ sympathetic remarks were “echoed, person after person, in this sawmill and cow-pasture hamlet.” People in the area started selling T-shirts a few years ago with slogans such as “Run, Rudolph, Run,” and “Eric Rudolph — Hide and Seek Champion of the World.” The Times report noted that many residents expressed “respect for the wily survivalist.”
Respect? These people respect a murdering terrorist?
Or how about the diner owner in nearby Peachtree, N.C., who feels compelled to “help” Rudolph and will be starting an Eric Rudolph Legal Defense Fund, which many of her customers have already committed to supporting.
Worse than just admiration for a madman, these same folks admit privately that they’ve helped Rudolph as he hid from authorities, offering him food and assistance while on the lamb. There’s a name for this — it’s called aiding and abetting a known terrorist.
I’ve long struggled with the idea that America’s cultural divisions are only on the surface, that our ideological differences are merely superficial and that all Americans share a certain sense of fairness and decency. Yet when I hear about the sympathies for a monster like Rudolph, I begin to realize that I share nothing with these people.