The Unabomber: classic or dud?

I remember when the whole bruhaha was going on, reading his profile, and reading bits of his manifesto that popped up on the internet, and thinking "Holy fucking shit, I should call the FBI now, this is my brother!"

Really scared me.

I worried when I read his manifesto, because I agreed with a great deal of what he was saying. The difference is that I might be a misanthrope, and I might think that a great deal of modern society is wrong, and that evolutionary psychology has gone haywire, but ultimately, I shrugged and tried to get along, rather than sending mailbombs.

Still worrying. I think that sort of thing lurks just below the skin of any one who thinks about it too much.

He spent much of his time assigned to the Army's Morale Services Division, at 165 Broadway, which dealt in information and propaganda. There he received his hardest job of the war—a rush request to convert typewriters to twenty-one different languages of Asia and the South Pacific. Many of the languages he had never heard of before. Morale Services found native speakers and scholars to help with the languages. Martin obtained the type and did the soldering and the keyboards. The implications of the work and its difficulty brought him to near collapse, but he completed it with only one mistake: on the Burmese typewriter he put a letter on upside down. Years later, after he had discovered his error, he told the language professor he had worked with that he would fix that letter on the professor's Burmese typewriter. The professor said not to bother; in the intervening years, as a result of typewriters copied from Martin's original, that upside-down letter had been accepted in Burma as proper typewriter style.

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster sent a torrent of toxic oil into the Gulf of Mexico, there was at least one person — sitting at the moment in a federal penitentiary in Colorado — briskly penning, "I told you so."

Failures of technology don't get much bigger than this, and Theodore Kaczynski, whose murderous, 17-year revolution against technology as the Unabomber got him sentenced to life in prison, couldn't resist pointing out the calamitous collision between man's elaborate inventions and the natural world.

"As long as modern technology continues to progress, there will be human-caused disasters of one kind or another," he said in a letter from prison. "The greater the powers unleashed by technology, the bigger the disasters get."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-unabomber-20100926,0,2260532.story

If your prediction is vague enough and you wait long enough, well yeah, something's bound to happen, but that doesn't suddenly make you a prophet, dude. See also: Nostradamus.

those two tracer posts about Martin Tytell might be the best/coolest thing ever posted on ILX. so wish i'd read the first one while living in brooklyn...

The Unabomber is nothing but a romantic reactionary. The lowest of the low, in our opinion.

He's right enough about that. Big, complex systems are not immune to failure, because the limitless permutations of possible events will eventually throw up a combination which overwhelms the failsafe mechanisms. This is a given.

However, you can't bomb people into accepting this idea, and TK is a flaming jerkoff and a criminal, so screw him and his smug "I told you so".

there's no idea to be bombed into accepting. As you said, it's a given that massive, complex systems will fail periodically. You can't "i told you so" a given. He thinks he's clever but he's stating the obvious.

Congrats, Ted, you've 1000-upped "why make my bed? i'm just gonna mess it up again tonight".

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ted-kaczynski-pleads-guilty-to-bombings

if i remember rightly his manifesto is quite alt-righty. like he gets it right wrt technological society and environmental destruction imo (though bombing people is not the way to advocate for neo-luddism. he also could never remove himself from it - wasn't able to be self-sufficient) but a lot of it is about how terrible liberalism, left-wing politics, and feminism are and what a terrible effect they have on society.

I guess he is a good example that being good at maths is not enough in life

i dont know. its actually reads like any self-hating leftist interrogating identity politics. his main bone to pick seems to be w hypocritical activism, targeting the liberal structure that takes advantage of minority groups, rather than the groups themselves. i can see why it would be easy to jump to that conclusion tho it is a common practice by the left to declare criticism of liberalism as alt-right.

the unabomber explicitly rejects leftism and states that "socialists, collectivists, “politically correct” types, feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and the like" are psychologically inferior

it's classic right-wing STEM dude critique of liberalism

where does he say those groups are psychologically inferior? he is saying the systems in place, the status quo liberalism finds too convenient to question, are saying this. his point of contention is with liberal activism as hypocritical and ineffective IN PRACTICE. how it uses these stereotypes.

i dont think he is saying these groups are objectively actually inferior, which is why i don't think he is alt right. isn't that the main part of alt-right? white power? nothing he says is in favor of a homogenous ethnocentric society. he wrote this manifesto to criticize it.

he is coming at it from a deconstructionist perspective. he is looking at systems. he is for regulations he thinks conservatism is dumb and backwards and he thinks that global warming is real:

The conservatives are fools

Conservatives and some others advocate more "local autonomy." Local communities once did have autonomy, but such autonomy becomes less and less possible as local communities become more enmeshed with and dependent on large-scale systems like public utilities, computer networks, highway systems, the mass communications media, the modern health care system. Also operating against autonomy is the fact that technology applied in one location often affects people at other locations far away. Thus pesticide or chemical use near a creek may contaminate the water supply hundreds of miles downstream, and the greenhouse effect affects the whole world.

Conservatives' efforts to decrease the amount of government regulation are of little benefit to the average man. For one thing, only a fraction of the regulations can be eliminated
because most regulations are necessary. For another thing, most of the deregulation affects business rather than the average individual, so that its main effect is to take power from the government and give it to private corporations. What this means for the average man is that government interference in his life is replaced by interference from big corporations, which may be permitted, for example, to dump more chemicals that get into his water supply and give him cancer. The conservatives are just taking the average man for a sucker, exploiting his resentment of Big Government to promote the power of Big Business.
http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt

Almost everyone will agree that we live in a deeply troubled
society. One of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of
our world is leftism, so a discussion of the psychology of leftism can
serve as an introduction to the discussion of the problems of modern
society in general.

When we speak of leftists in this article we have in
mind mainly socialists, collectivists, "politically correct" types,
feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and
the like. But not everyone who is associated with one of these
movements is a leftist. What we are trying to get at in discussing
leftism is not so much a movement or an ideology as a psychological
type, or rather a collection of related types.

When someone interprets as derogatory almost anything that is said
about him (or about groups with whom he identifies) we conclude that
he has inferiority feelings or low self-esteem. This tendency is
pronounced among minority rights advocates, whether or not they belong
to the minority groups whose rights they defend. They are
hypersensitive about the words used to designate minorities. The terms
"negro," "oriental," "handicapped" or "chick" for an African, an
Asian, a disabled person or a woman originally had no derogatory
connotation. "Broad" and "chick" were merely the feminine equivalents
of "guy," "dude" or "fellow." The negative connotations have been
attached to these terms by the activists themselves.

not everyone who is associated with one of these
movements is a leftist

originally had no derogatory
connotation. The negative connotations have been
attached to these terms by the activists themselves

yeah this is pretty tin foil ass backwards. this guy was a fucking loon.

It strikes me that Kaczynski forfeited his position as an analyst of society, so that determining which of his conclusions are correct or incorrect, and to what degree, is a futile endeavor.

Where he is correct, he cannot be cited as an authority because his criminal actions have delegitimized him. It is far better to cite anyone who has arrived at similar conclusions by similar means who does not carry the stigma of being a violent criminal.

Where he is wrong, he is simply wrong, but he has no power to project his mistakes into society and you're better off refuting those who make his arguments apart from any reference to him. In fact, you could win debater's points just by pointing out that your opponent's thinking is aligned with Kaczynski's.

that is pretty faulty logic imo, there have been any number of notable revolutionary thinkers who have committed violent acts against society. moreover it might be worthwhile to analyze the unabomber's writings if they turned out to be influential at all on alt-right types.

iyo, is Ted a "notable revolutionary thinker"? to the best of your knowledge, does the alt-right hold him up as a paragon and exemplar?

he is obv not one to me, but it would be interesting to know if any of the breitbart types had taken inspiration from him (i did a google search and came up w/ a bunch of sites i don't particularly want to click on)

not going to bat for ted k's ideas here of course, your post just struck me as unnecessarily dismissive about a potentially interesting discussion

I think willingness to kill for environmental causes makes him unequivocally a radical of the Left. Like many other environmentalists he finds identity politics exasperating and self-defeating.

Posts itt

I think willingness to kill for environmental causes makes him unequivocally a radical of the Left.

there's a robust tradition of fetishization of the environment among fascists, not sure if you consider fascism a leftist movement

The forest and the sea belong to everyone... who looks and thinks the way I do.

Is fascism necessarily of the right or can it coexist in line with what would be leftist ideals, and if so does that make those ideals less of the left or does it move that fascism leftwards

Find out after the break

i don't know anything about him (and would rather read jacobin than read his "manifesto") except that i've heard the second "sleepytime gorilla museum" record occasionally. placing kaczynski on a left-right ideological axis does not seem like a particularly useful activity for me, but i wouldn't jump to the conclusion that anybody who uses the pseudonym "freedom club" is a "leftist".

The Unabomber was a "Reagan Democrat"

Some historical fascists were motivated by ecological anxiety. I don't think Hitler would have reached his central ideology of German colonization of Ukraine, nor obtained much political support, without the Steckrübenwinter (Turnip Winter) of 1916-17. In general, though, political activists of left or right thought little of the human footprint within larger supporting environments, before the 1960s. The Soviet Union left behind an awful environmental legacy, much worse than any in the West.

Since the advent of environmentalism [in the 1960s](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html), the Left has owned the issue. Nobody votes GOP for cleaner air/water.

The Unabomber Was Right

As best I understand, the Unabomber’s argument goes like this:

• Personal freedoms are constrained by society, as they must be.
• The stronger that technology makes society, the less freedoms.
• Technology destroys nature, which strengthens technology further.
• This ratchet of technological self-amplification is stronger than politics.
• Any attempt to use technology or politics to tame the system only strengthens it.
• Therefore technological civilization must be destroyed, rather than reformed.
• Since it cannot be destroyed by tech or politics, humans must push industrial society towards its inevitable end of self-collapse.
• Then pounce on it when it is down and kill it before it rises again.

i'm not terribly informed on the development of historical fascism - does environmentalist fascism exist separately from "environmentalism" as practiced by the 19th century upper class wishing to maintain impeccable country estates? one could argue that hitler's fascism, despite garnering the eventual allegiance of the industrial elite, was fundamentally agrarian in nature, but i don't necessarily see agrarianism as synonymous with "environmentalism".

I think we should focus our efforts exclusively on clearly defining historical fascism as it existed between 1920 and 1945, then once we have an impeccable definition to refer to, we should spend the remainder of our time and energy deciding whether or not any modern political movement or philosophy exactly meets that definition, so we can legitimately brand it as fascist. Only in that way we can optimally waste our time and efforts in backward-looking pseudo-scholarship, rather than engaging in current politics.

^ hey, just kidding! ;-)

But Fascism is also a political and economic system. Why, then, cannot we have a clear and generally accepted definition of it? Alas! we shall not get one — not yet, anyway. To say why would take too long, but basically it is because it is impossible to define Fascism satisfactorily without making admissions which neither the Fascists themselves, nor the Conservatives, nor Socialists of any colour, are willing to make. All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword.

Three episodes into Discovery's Manhunt: Unabomber. Pretty good--not quite at the level of Mindhunter, but Paul Bettany's quite good (don't think I would know it's him just stumbling onto it).

Getting my typewriter fixed on Fulton St by this old man in a white lab coat, he tells me he's shutting the public side of his business for good to "concentrate on FBI work". Turns out he's Martin Tytell, a bona-fide legend: among other accomplishments, he designed the first cursive-font typewriter for none other than Mamie Eisenhower, because she was sick of filling out White House party invitations by hand. Anyhow, FBI gives Tytell the Unabomber manifesto, obv. written on typewriter (apparently kosher tech for UB) and he tells the FBI exactly what model and make they'll find in the Real Unabomber's hideout, and what imperfections it'll have. They bust Ted K. in his cabin, find the typewriter, check off their list, and slap on the bracelets. All while he's prodding my Royal, telling me that the rubber cylinder is so brittle it's like a "heart that's stopped beating". Anyone who lives in NYC do yourself a FAVOR. See this man and his cramped little office full of history. I think he likes people to talk to.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, July 12, 2001 12:00 AM (sixteen years ago)

man, this post was awesome

immediately rushed to google, but sadly (and not surprisingly) martin tytell is no longer with us

I think about him a lot, actually. I feel so lucky to have met him in his element. His Wikipedia page is amazing (but doesn't mention the Unabomber!)

man that Tracer post is a service to history!!

What on earth was the name of that 50s song used the episode of manhunt unabomber where he's at harvard? Clip here, you get a few seconds at the start, can anyone help:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aIjp_mSSw7s&t=18s

I think about him a lot, actually. I feel so lucky to have met him in his element. His Wikipedia page is amazing (but doesn't mention the Unabomber!)

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, April 27, 2018 2:48 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

thought this post was about ted lol.

then I read the post, so cool!

xp blocked in my country on copyright grounds.

The last time I was in New York I looked up Tytell's son, who carries on the business (not open to the public) in a building a few blocks away. The son wasn't there and the office was closed so I sat around for awhile reading 5-year-old New Yorkers in a weird little waiting area to see if he'd come back. He didn't.

I enjoy this addendum

dud

just realized he died! june 10, 2023
seems like it should be noted on this thread

the unabomber is dead

Unalivebomber more like

finally i can open packages again

one of the best known manifestos out there

https://i.postimg.cc/FKjjdSYd/N8-BBIFfi-T-mh-0h-G1-U0pd-LZPg-Gce-M0-a-Hd-W-HCqt6v-I.jpg