WASHINGTON — My opposition to the death penalty is weakening. I
have opposed the death penalty after being persuaded that it
contributes to the culture of death that leaves many aspects of our
wondrously free and prosperous society quite grim. Nihilism informs
our arts. It is a large element in popular culture. It makes
fugitive appearances in our discussions of the beginnings and the
ends of life. By opposing capital punishment I have hoped to
highlight the glory of life, and the vast possibilities for human
beings to grow and develop in a civilized way. Now that I have
heard the testimony of Dennis Rader, the hyena who from the early
1970s killed at least ten defenseless people from ambush in their
homes, I am not so sure the death penalty always contributes to the
culture of death. A noose for this stupid brute might actually be a
celebration of life.
Moreover, a seasoned prosecutor of sex offenses made a
surprising observation to me. When I said that for Rader to spend
the rest of his life in prison was a severe, if wholly justified,
punishment, my prosecutor friend quipped, “He might like it.” She
went on to say that sex offenders and homicidal sex offenders such
as Rader have very perverted tastes. Some of those tastes can be
fulfilled in prisons.
Certainly Rader’s brutal murders accompanied, he admits, by
masturbation are repulsive and suggest that he is barely human. His
testimony before a judge in a Wichita, Kansas courtroom confirms as
much. In a matter of fact tone of voice and with a slightly
authoritative demeanor, he responded to the judge’s questions and
explained serial murders as though they were a slightly specialized
activity, but otherwise perfectly normal. He told of how he
“trolled” neighborhoods to find his victims. “Potential hits, in my
world, that’s what I called them,” he said as he scratched his
forehead in a very odd hand action, the back of his thumb doing the
work, his palm facing his audience. He is a weak-looking man, but
he has large paws. “If one didn’t work out, I just moved on to
another.”
I have never known quite what to make of the wise philosopher
Hannah Arendt’s term “banality of evil,” which she applied to
brutes such as the Nazi, Adolf Eichmann. It is a term that
journalists are now applying to Rader’s banal explication of his
grisly acts. Arendt wrote insightfully on a wide range of topics,
but on brutes who torture and kill she was particularly compelling.
She wrote, “The concentration camps, by making death itself
anonymous…robbed death of its meaning as the end of a fulfilled
life.” In a way, Rader turned his victim’s homes into little
concentration camps. He robbed their lives of meaning. Perhaps by
putting a noose around his head meaning might be returned to his
victims’ lives.
His testimony in pleading guilty to these murders was televised
all over the country. I am not sure that televised testimony was a
good idea. My prosecutor friend shares my premonitions. Television
tends to glorify almost anything it broadcasts. I can imagine evil
minds, sitting before their television sets envisaging Rader as a
celebrity serial killer, a man who made history. There is such a
thing, my prosecutor reminds me, as the “copycat criminal.” Rader
not only explicated the tactics of his pastime for the uninitiated,
but he also got plenty of airtime to make his unspeakable offenses
speakable.
On the other hand, Rader’s appearance on television does unhorse
one of the great myths held by many members of the intelligentsia,
namely, that there is something fascinating about a murderer. For
generations certain easily bored writers have been finding
“interesting” facets to crime and to criminals. The murderer was
for them perhaps the most fascinating of criminals. I have always
thought theses writers were naive and frivolous for the most part,
occasionally even evil themselves. Rader’s appearance in that
Wichita court ought to put an end to any fascination a writer might
have with such a lout.
There was nothing fascinating about him. He was too obtuse to be
fascinating and dull. Finally, the horror of his deeds overwhelmed
any inchoate fascination. Whether he is locked away for the rest of
his years or hung by the neck his name will soon be forgotten. If
copycat criminals get an idea in their heads from watching Rader on
television, it will not be because he had style or presence. It
will only be because he was given a chance to speak the
unspeakable.
