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retribution, which is what people want with me.Appendix ii, no. 49, line 1-10
In the conversation above, Dr. Dobson as the interviewer asked Ted Bundy if he thought that he deserved the punishment that had been inflicted upon himself,
which was the death sentence. At first, Ted claimed that he surely did not want to die, although he deserved the extreme punishment that society had. Note that the
interviewer actually was talking about the punishment in particular, the death sentence, while Ted responded to it by saying “I don’t want to die.”
In spite of this, he used language manipulation strategy by asserting that the society essentially deserved to be protected from itself. He affirmed that it was an
irony for people to curse his crime but at the same time could be walking past a magazine rack which contained things that might turn any young kids to commit the
crime as he once did. He also claimed that he was talking beyond the revenge that the society
wanted to impose on him. He used this language manipulation strategy to drag people’s attention away from his punishment and focusing on the consequences that
society would bear whether or not he was sentenced to death.
4.1.5. Lying
Lying is a manipulation strategy which manipulators use to cover their fault in a calm and subtle way that sometimes it makes people become unconscious that
the manipulators are currently lying.
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Data 9
Dr. Dobson : You, as I understand, were raised in what you considered to have
been a healthy home. You were not physically, sexually, or emotionally abused?Appendix ii, no. 7
Ted Bundy : No. No way. And that’s part of the tragedy of this whole situation.
It is because I grew up in a wonderful home with two dedicated and loving parents, as one of 5 brothers and sisters. We, as children, were
the focus of my parents’ lives. We regularly attended the church. They’re two Christian parents. Theydid not drink. They did not
smoke. There was no gambling or physical abuse or fighting in the home. Appendix ii, no. 8, line 1-6
Ted was known to have experienced an unusual childhood. His mother, Louis, gave birth to him at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers. The
identity of his father remains a mystery. To avoid social stigma, his grandparents claimed him as their son. Ted then grew up believing his mother to be his older
sister. This fact was kept from him for quite a long time. Ted would not learn the truth about his parentage until he was in high school. By the time he found out about
it, he was very angry and expressed a lifetime resentment towards his mother. The fact surely opposses what he stated in the statements above about his
childhood. His grandfather was well-known to be abusive. Ted and other family members told attorneys in 1987 that his grandfather was a tyrannical bully and often
showed violent rage towards his grandmother and even his aunt. Ted was then moved to Washington with his biological mother, Louis. She married Johnny
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Culpepper Bundy in 1951 and he formally adopted Ted as his son and gave Ted his surname.
The indication of Ted’s lie is because he was not being honest about his earlier childhood which had been suspected to be not as nice as his confession above.
It was also believed that his troublesome childhood, especially the fact that he did not know about his parentage until high school, that contributed to his behaviours.
4.1.6. Covert Intimidation
