The Unabomber Essay Research Paper On May

The Unabomber Essay, Research Paper

On May 26, 1978 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois a bomb was detonated. A university police officer opened a package that had been handed to him by a professor whose name was written on the package. The officer suffered minor injuries. This was the first of sixteen bombs planted by Theodore John Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber and Unabom. His reign of terror spanned seventeen years and resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. The people or places he decided to bomb were not based on random selection. Years later, when the FBI searched the Unabomber.s cabin, they found a hit list with twenty or so names on them. Each of these people held beliefs which did not coincide with the ideology of the Unabomber. These findings led many to conclude that aspects of Theodore John Kaczynski’s psychological makeup and political beliefs influenced the construction of his explosive devices and the selection of his victims. One of the driving impetus of the Unabomber political belief system was his hatred of the United States Government.

Theodore Kaczynski’s political views were simple and straight forward. He despised the government and everything it stood for. Specifics are not known about the Unabomber’s hatred, only that it consumed him with passion. The Unabomber portrayed the government as “either stupid or incompetent, or lairs who twist the law to commit any injustice.”(http://www.nando.net

/newsroom/nt/411rage.html) The reason why specifics are not known about the underlying hatred of the government and which government officials he hated is attributed to the fact that Kaczynski wrote to a Mexican farmhand, Juan Sanchez Arreola, who threw away the letters he had written to him about Sanchez.s difficulty in resolving a pension dispute with the Mexican government. Kaczynski wrote over fifty letters to his friend in Mexico. He began writing letters in 1988 after initiating the correspondence with Sanchez. In these letters, many of Kaczynski’s beliefs on politics and the United States Government were described. He wrote these letters in perfect formal Spanish to the barely literate Sanchez. At times, Sanchez laughed at Kaczynski when he raged against the government calling them “soulless and lying officials.”( http://www.nando.net /newsroom/nt/411rage.html) When the man suspected as the Unabomber was caught, police asked Sanchez to surrender the letters that Kaczynski had written. Sanchez made a tearing motion with his hands to show that he had thrown the letters away.

Particular aspects of Kaczynski’s personality can be observed through the letters he wrote to Sanchez. When Sanchez wrote of the pension dispute with the Mexican Government, Kaczynski replied by saying,

“Although what the officials are going is a great injustice, consider that your fortune is not all bad, because you have a wife and three children and they are all healthy. Even though you have to endure these difficulties, you will probably overcome them in the end, and your children will thrive and some day they will have children of their own. I wish I had a wife and children!” (http://www.nando.net/newsroom/nt/411rage.html)

With these comments one can truly observe another aspect of the Unabomber which is the opposite of a cold, evil, killing machine. Sanchez also had some comments regarding the Unabomber.s statements. Kaczynski often complained about not having a job, not having food for the winter, and getting fired from job because of his unkept appearance. Sanchez replied by saying: ” In Mexico, we have a word for people like that–perezosos–lazy!”( http://www.nando

.net/newsroom/nt/411rage.html)

The letters that Kaczynski wrote to Sanchez apparently were not limited to his views on

politics, but they also revealed a lighter side of Kaczynski’s personality. Other than his political beliefs, Kaczynski also held anti-technology convictions. His opinion on this topic emerged from the FC, a group that he belonged to, and also from the Manifesto which he authored.

The driving force in the construction of many of the Unabomber.s bombs was his views on anti-technology. Kaczynski belonged to a group called the “FC,” which stood for “Freedom Club.” This revolutionary group has an unknown number of members, but the group is known to have thousands of people who share its ideology. The FBI discovered this group because “FC” was written on the bombs that the Unabomber planted. It was also written on some of the letters he wrote. The “FC” believes in devolution. Devolution is the breaking down of society and bringing it back to a simpler times, without a lot of technology. In the Manifesto, Kaczynski wrote that it was appropriate to use technology in some cases:

“202. It would be hopeless for revolutionaries to try to attack the system without using SOME modern technology. If nothing else they must use the communications media to spread their message. But they should use modern technology for ONE purpose: to attack the technological system.”( Kaczynski)

The strongest and most apparent belief that Kaczynski had was the view on devolution. Devolution strongly influenced both the choice of bombs and as well as victims. Each of the victims he chose and the names that were on the hit list had something to do with technology. Many of the people whom he bombed were professors at u