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The Unabomber Manifesto and Beavis......
The Unabomber Manifesto and Beavis
By Richard J. Luczak- Copyright 1998
We tend to want to form simple generalizations in our attempt to understand complex social issues, and want to find simple solutions to these issues. We like to think that we are right about the nature of these issues and how we feel about them. I know I sometimes do this. We all like to think that we are smart. Many times though when I look deeper into a complex issue I find out there are other factors involved and that the issue wasn’t as simple as when I initially formed it. With this in mind let us look at the contents of the Unabomber Manifesto and see if there is any merit to the writing itself. Let’s see if Ted Kaszinski had anything important to say.
The emotional chord touched upon by the Unabomber Manifesto has to do with one form of general complaint, and it is one that many people across the country cling toTechnological Society has had disastrous consequences for the environment. This complaint comes with the feeling that someone is to blame for it. Most everyone identifies with the first statement, and most everyone become overwhelmed by the breadth and scope of assigning responsibility. The fact that not much seems to be done about environmental destruction frustrates all of us. Let’s take a look at the Manifesto.
The writing in the Unabomber Manifesto expresses what is best called a Manifesto of Complaint and Resentment. The content of the manifesto consists of three main parts- 1) a general stance against the effects of Technological Society, 2) a description of those people that make up what Kaszinski calls problem segments of society, and 3) the declaration of a revolution against this society and these people.
The complaint introduced in section one and extended in speculation in section 2 of the manifesto introduces the general complaint about the consequences of technological society and ties it to the theory that technology causes an alienation of man from his natural state. This apes the theory of alienation of man that Karl Marx depicted in his 1844 manuscripts, but it is similar only in tone. In a nutshell Marx’s theory of alienation decried the separation of man from his own labor in the act of working, in an industrial process where we do not see the end product or the social benefit of our work. This severs man from the basic process of making and therefore fundamentally separates man from who he fundamentally is- a creature who makes and contributes.
Kaszinski decries consequences of technology’s use outside of this production process. His complaint therefore has to do with the use, I emphasize, the use, of technology. More specifically it has to do with our choices- how WE choose to use technology. What Kazinski’s term industrial technology refers to in reality is the vague labeling of the complex interaction between scientific advancement, and the individual choices to put these technological advancements to use. The first part of this interaction is the pursuit of science to advance technical knowledge to create tools that serve needs better. The second part is the collected individual choices of people to use any piece of technology on a day by day, choice by choice basis. When I pick up the phone, when you turn a doorknob, when we turn on a light, or drive a car, these all constitute choices we make to use technology in ways that make our lives easier on a day by day, choice by choice basis. These choices yield a result from the level of impact they have with the environment. It is in fact then, this use of technology, and how we choose to use it in our relations with each other that Kaszinski objects to. His complaint then is political in nature. It is political because the result he objects to, the destruction of the environment, is tied directly to the choices we make. The complaint of the entire piece is thus mistaken in direction, regardless of the disclaimer he makes in section 4 of the manifesto.
The next major section attempts to identify those who Kaszinski terms responsible for social problems. Who do we blame for this situation? Kaszinski makes general assertions about people not based on any behavior. He attempts to identify those responsible for social problems with a form of vague name-calling. Kaszinski asserts in each section what he calls facts or observations, but provides no examples in case study or observable behavior. The initial observation, as he calls it, subsequently breaks down to assertion- easily in sections 11 through 21. This is the same in form as saying George is a jerk, jerks should be eliminated, and then killing George for it. The remainder of the treatise form of argument follows this Complaint masked in Assertion.
For example, the definitions of leftism and oversocialization that Kaszinski uses are too vague, and reduces these terms to people that have feelings of inferiority. What he calls Traits of leftists are actually feelings. He states himself in section 10- to have such feelings. To make a claim to know another persons feelings requires either testimony from the person - I feel inferior, or requires an inference derived from observable data that indicates such feelings and that follows criteria of an acceptable professional standard, i.e from a licensed Psychologist or Psychiatrist. Kaszinski provides only vague criteria as his standard definition of feeling inferior- - people who object to anything said of them . This definition is unacceptable by any professional standard or argument or discourse. This form of vague name-calling by Kaszinski holds throughout the remainder of the entire treatise.
The problem posed by such an Idea is this, let’s say by the above criterion that Kaszinski and others were to target you or I as a member of a problem segment of society based on such a rationale. By his criteria, if you object at all to this targeting, your own objection is proof that you are indeed a member of such a problem segment. If an authoritative body is going to identify a person or group as being a problem segment of society and then take action against this person or group materially, name calling is not enough to justify this. Claiming to know another’s feelings without an attached criminal behavior is not enough to justify this. Identifiable behavior that causes harm must be defined. Laws against the behavior must be in place, evidence of the criminal behavior must be on hand, a proper trial must take place with proper rules of evidence and procedure, and a verdict by a judge or jury must be rendered before a punishment can be assigned, before a physical action can be taken. In other words there must be proper legal due-process.
On the larger issue of Kazinski’s main complaint about the consequences of technological society, the form of complaint is not enough. It is not enough for us to say that the Consequences of technological society have been disastrous. I agree that there have been disastrous consequences. Great, what next? First we must define our complaint in the form of a problem that can be addressed and solved. What is it that we are currently choosing to do right now that needs to be changed? Is it fossil fuel emissions from autos? Is it water pollution from chemical companies? Is it improper recycling? Is it chemical waste? Should we expand EPA regulations? Should we more strictly enforce EPA penalties for offenders? After we have defined the problem, what do we do about it? More importantly how to we go about working out our disagreement about the structure and relevance of this complaint? A protest treatise that proposes revolution should address a suitable alternative either in structure or by asserting a set of basic defining principles. Kaszinski does not do this. Kaszinski may have been a brilliant mathematician, but as writer of social protest brilliant is a term that would never be used.
In fact the battle about environmental problems is being waged on many fronts- the EPA, the Sierra Club, Green Peace, etc., the environmental lobby. These problems however are not always easy to resolve when people disagree about what to do in a system with competing interests. Our use of technology in our relations with each other and in relation to the environment are, and will be, part of the ongoing public debate that realizes itself through election, legislation, and law enforcement. In short, even if I disagree with you, I can’t just blow you up.
To sum up, the problems with the manifesto as political writing are that the general stance of the attack is misdirected, the description of those that make up problem segments is merely complaint masked in assertion, and the so called revolution proposed makes no proposal, offers no alternative of a better way. The manifesto in itself is wrong-, correct in its main complaint, wrong in its assumptions, wrong in its assertions, wrong in its conclusions. The manifesto is misdirected intellectual whining, name-calling, and nothing more. It’s author harbors resentment. The sneak attacks that followed from this thinking belie a political coward afraid to stand and state his beliefs in the face of a public that may disagree.
Though the Ideas themselves of Ted Kaszinski add nothing to the life of our community, they do reveal much about the level of his writing. His writing in the Manifesto is the intellectual equivalent of Beavis from the MTV cartoon of a couple of years ago- Beavis and Butthead, though written with better sentence structure. His treatise follows the form- The environment has been screwed up!! It is those guys fault!! Those guys are buttholes!! Blow em up!! Yea!! Blow em up!!" In real life this Beavis spends the rest of his life in prison.
Perhaps Ted Kaszinski is clinically insane, having been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Perhaps also he spent over 25 years in isolation dedicated to an endeavor that was based on incorrect assumptions, assertions and conclusions. Perhaps he was enamored by the feeling of the creative power in his own untrained thinking and writing, mistaking the strength of this feeling for social importance, mistaking the feeling that arose from his own Ideas for a larger truth, rather than the truth of his own resentment. Perhaps he just didn’t look deeper into the issue. Perhaps he sent mail-bombs because he thought he was right. As soon as Ted gets stabilized on the proper combination of medications (if it is possible) someone should pass him some books on advanced social writing. Regardless of the clinical diagnosis, if we take him at his own words we find that if the writing is a model for anything, it is a model of cowardice, that if the author is to be considered a martyr, then he is a martyr for the cause of stupidity.
So it is that the Ideas expressed in the Unabomber Manifesto appear at first to be sound, but when fleshed out are incorrect in themselves, and are poorly expressed in comparison with other serious works of the protest genre. I always find it a huge relief when a friend keeps me from doing something stupid based on some notion I thought to be correct, but after looking further into it, I found that the notion was completely mistaken. Then again Ted didn’t have any friends and didn’t want any, did he.
Richard J. Luczak
A reading list for Ted:
Political Economy- David Ricardo- Principles of Political Economy and Taxation; Adam Smith- Wealth of Nations; Marx- 1844 Manuscripts-and Capital vol. 1,2, &3; William Greider- Secrets of the Temple; (Fed Reserve)-----Political Writings- Alexis Toqueville- Democracy in America; Hobbes- Leviathan; Rousseau- Social Contract; Hegel- Philosophy of Right; Weber- Critique of the Philosophy of Right; Hannah Arendt- Origins of Totalitarianism, Crisis of the Republic; Nietzsche- Will to Power, Genealogy of Morals; Kant- All five major works related to his moral system; Adorno- Negative Dialectics; Emmanuel Levinas- Totality and Infinity, Difficult Liberty; Revel-How Democracies Perish; then there’s LITERARY EXAMPLES of Religious Protest---- Martin Luther- Protestant Reformation, Leonardo Boff- Passion of Christ; Gustavo Gutierrez- Liberation Theology; (The last two are liberation theologians, a dissident catholic movement currently under way in Latin and south America); Hans Kung- Credo, Theology for Third Millennium (Dissident German Catholic Theologian); Freud- The Future of an Illusion; Ludwig Feuerbach’s Anthropological Theory of Religion
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