# Eric Rudolph--Sympathy for the Devil? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114 "2003-06-02T13:11:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/21 "2003-06-02T15:52:02Z")
We are talking about country folk who firmly believe in sticking it to the government every chance they get. I don’t know why this mentality surprises anyone. Americans love outlaws; we always have. It’s one of the things we’re most famous for! Billy the Kid, Jesse James, et al…it’s the stuff of legends. My brother works as a rafter (water rafting) up in the North Carolina mountains, and I won’t be surprised a bit if he tells me he helped him. It’s just the type of shit he’d do…and half of the other men I grew up with. I’m not saying I agree with it. In fact, I detest the mentality, but I certainly saw it coming. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/22 "2003-06-02T15:57:31Z")
That’s not why they helped him, **shrew**. They helped him because they believed in whatever causes he was trying to propagate. The government itself doesn’t have much bearing on their decision to abet, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/23 "2003-06-02T15:58:43Z")
**5 Time Champ** , last night on the Channel 5 news at 10:00 here in Chicago, they DID refer to him as a terrorist. Just for the record. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/24 "2003-06-02T16:08:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > That’s not why they helped him, **shrew**. They helped him because they believed in whatever causes he was trying to propagate. The government itself doesn’t have much bearing on their decision to abet, IMO. I’ll have to respectfully disagree here. I’m sure they do agree with bombing abortion clinics, but I don’t think they agree with bombing the Olympics. JMHO. Hell, my dad even likes the guy. He likes any person who can outsmart the government for as long as Rudolph did. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/25 "2003-06-02T16:10:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PhiloVance \* > \*\*I believe my comment got lost in the strew of posts: > > That’s why they use terms such as accused or alleged. \*\* Ashcroft got rid of that. It doesn’t apply to terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/26 "2003-06-02T16:12:48Z")
Remember when Bush said that anyone who harbored a terrorist was going to be considered an enemy of the US? Let’s hope he sticks to that. Anyone who helped this piece of garbage needs to go to prison right along side him. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/27 "2003-06-02T16:14:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shrew \* > \*\*I’ll have to respectfully disagree here. I’m sure they do agree with bombing abortion clinics, but I don’t think they agree with bombing the Olympics. JMHO. > > Hell, my dad even likes the guy. He likes any person who can outsmart the government for as long as Rudolph did. \*\* Oh no, we agree on this. I have no idea where the Olympics comes into play. But what I’m saying is that the people helped him because they believe he was right to bomb the abortion clinics and the gay nightclub (which doesn’t sound right - how can a nightclub be gay? Someone help me here. Isn’t there a better way to say this?). ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/28 "2003-06-02T16:20:23Z")
Well good for them, **jarbaby**. Channel 5 here is St Louis is not referring to him as a terrorist. But, surprisingly enough, Ashcroft is actually quoted using the word “terrorist” the [US Dept of Justice](http://www.usdoj.gov/) press release this morning. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/29 "2003-06-02T16:21:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > But what I’m saying is that the people helped him because they believe he was right to bomb the abortion clinics and the gay nightclub Clearly, but I think there’s more to it than that. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/30 "2003-06-02T16:24:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*(which doesn’t sound right - how can a nightclub be gay? \*\* Well, when one nightclub loves another nightclub very very much… ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/31 "2003-06-02T16:31:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \* > \*\*Think of it this way, should you need to understand how Islamic radicals in their underground hide themselves reflect on this. Rather similar in more ways than one. \*\* Oddly enough, I used this same example way back before the invasion of Afghanistan. I was shouted down then. Obviously you and I are wrong about the similarities. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/32 "2003-06-02T16:37:18Z")
His attack on the abortion clinic was especially despicible. It was a double bombing. He designed the second explosion to go off in the parking lot, an hour after the initial bombing (which killed a police officer and severely injured a clinic worker). The second bomb was specifically intended to kill emergency workers responding to the first bomb. FTR, the police officer’s name was Robert “Sandy” Sanderson. The young mother Rudolph killed at Atlanta Park was named Alice Hawthorne. It’s too bad that these murderers become household names, but hardly anyone can name the victims. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/33 "2003-06-02T16:50:38Z")
I’m wondering how the injured survivors and victims’ families must feel when they read things like “Pray for Eric Rudolph,” “Bless his heart,” and “He was a man who stood for what he believed in.” ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/34 "2003-06-02T16:56:42Z")
I knew his would happen last night, when they aired a short piece about his childhood indicating that everyone else in the world was to blame for what sort of person he was, except him. HIs mother was a white supremacist, then he ‘accidentally’ joined a white supremacist church, where he met a creepy pastor who ‘brainwashed him’ and this piece basically pleaded with the viewer to cast him in the role of innocent victim. Made me sick. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/35 "2003-06-02T17:41:30Z")
Arab (Palestinian/Irish/Columbian/Sri Lankan/etc.) terrorists are “only fighting for what they believe in” too. They’re fighting the US Government. The white supremacists are fighting the US government. Hm. I think **Collounsbury** and **wring** are absolutely right. Not that a reasonable opinion based on socio-political trends and having one’s eyes open is worth shit. If we’re going to be ridiculously ethnically stereotyping, the rednecksare the same ones leading the patriotic charge. Maybe losing one of their own will make them pause. Then I can get back to listening to my Dixie Chicks instead of “beer for my horses” on the country stations. Assuming, again, that Ashcroft doesn’t build him a monument. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/36 "2003-06-02T17:59:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shrew \* > \*\*Clearly, but I think there’s more to it than that. \*\* More than likely not though. Remember, these are North Carolina rednecks (and yes, I can say that–I grew up around them). They don’t have the ability (or willingness, you could say) to listen to a complete argument; they hear a single statement or idea–in this case, Rudolph bombing the abortion clinics–and immediately believe that the guy is a hero for destroying the “evil” clinics. The Olympic bombing is probably trivial to them; after all, from their perspective, anything else done by Rudolph is meaningless if it doesn’t seem like something that supports their worldview. As others have already pointed out–this view does NOT apply to every resident of North Carolina, or even every resident of rural areas of that state. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/37 "2003-06-02T18:02:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\* But what I’m saying is that the people helped him because they believe he was right to bomb the abortion clinics and the gay nightclub. \*\* I don’t think that a lot of them think that the bombings were right. I think a lot of them think he’s being framed for the bombings because of what he believes, and also, if he did do them, it’s not right, but they can understand it at least. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/38 "2003-06-02T18:08:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*I don’t think that a lot of them think that the bombings were right. I think a lot of them think he’s being framed for the bombings because of what he believes, and also, if he did do them, it’s not right, but they can understand it at least. \*\* So who _did_ do all those bombings, and why, of all the white supremacist crackers in the world did they single out poor Rudolph? Also, why did Rudolph rabbit before it was known that he was a suspect? (This is not addressed to you, **Captain Amazing** , but rhetorically to the redneck fans of Rudolph) ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/39 "2003-06-02T18:14:45Z")
Maybe this has been answered somewhere else, but what exactly IS the evidence that he is the Olympic bomber? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114/40 "2003-06-02T18:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wring \* > \*\*Oddly enough, I used this same example way back before the invasion of Afghanistan. I was shouted down then. Obviously you and I are wrong about the similarities. \*\* I’m more struck by the major differences in the two situations. In the U.S. (this thread is one example) there is major disgust among the vast majority of people at the activities of people like Eric Rudolph and the concept of harboring and protecting him. And our government, far from sponsoring home-grown terrorists or ignoring their activities, mounts major efforts to bring them to justice. Not that this particular operation worked all that well. in an area as large and providing as much natural cover as western North Carolina. And if Rudolph was getting all that much help from the natives, what was he doing foraging in a dumpster? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-sympathy-for-the-devil/179114.md?page=3)