From the American Spectator Online:
On the other hand, I could come up with hundreds or thousands of homicidal maniacs who were anything but quiet and who seldom kept to themselves. Jesse James was rowdy. Charlie Manson charismatic. Al Capone a celebrity. I remember reading Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Of the two killers in that book, only one (Perry Smith) might be called moody or somewhat introverted. The other, Dick Hickock, was a high-living, woman-loving rambler. Few homicidal maniacs were creepier than John Wayne Gacy, and yet here is how Gacy is described by his biographer Martin Gilman Wolcott: “John Wayne Gacy was never a loner, never someone who kept a low profile and lived a secluded, quiet life.”
About time somebody said it.
for some reason, I thought that Rader guy was a loner. oh, well.
Chances are you (or the reporters) assumed it. It’s taken for granted.
That’s a very good article, and good observations that pseudo-journalistic nuance can make someone sound like a loner even if he isn’t one.
I know what it’s like to fear looking like a menace simply by being a quiet, solitary man. When I was a young single seminarian at the school where Lars now works, I used to steer far clear of kids when walking through the neighborhood, just to avoid alarming people.
Yes, Lars Walker’s neighbors have nothing to fear from the quiet bachelor librarian who owns Viking armor and weapons and knows how to use them.