His manifesto is worth reading. Although he was obviously a twisted man many of his predictions for the future were eerily prescient.
Ted Kaczynski has died
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Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#32Anyone who disagrees with Kaczynski's ideas because they came from a convicted terrorist should read the works of Jacques Ellul instead, of which Kaczynski's was largely a popular reduction. The Technological Society is the clearest influence on Kaczynski's manifesto, but Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes is possibly more pertinent in this day and age.
Ellul was a professor, a pacifist, and a Christian anarchist. Attacks the ideas, not the man.
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#33[flagged]
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#34[flagged]
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#35Ted Kaczynski was a genius, a mathematical child prodigy, became a professor at Berkeley at 25 and had a bright future. I completely blame CIA experiments for his downfall into radicalism and extremism. His ideas were very valid, but his mind was too tortured to deal with them in a healthy manner.
Rest in peace.
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#36No mention of MKUltra, it doesn’t excuse his behavior but does explain why he may have been pushed over the edge.
Yeah I don’t think it excuses it at all but I wonder at what point it would? If MKUltra had removed 70% of his brain, would that excuse his actions?
This line of thinking has always puzzled me. At some point one’s brain must be so compromised that we really can’t expect them to function as a human, but most people’s reaction to that is “excusing” their behavior.
If you’re willing to admit that they don’t really have self-agency at that point, don’t they become an object at that point? Like we would have no problem putting down a dog that bit a child, let alone a dog that blew up buildings. The only reason we’re so accepting of putting down the dog is its lack of human status.
In our courts, claiming insanity seems to give you a defense against crimes you’ve committed but also maintaining all the rights and privileges of personhood.
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#37[flagged]
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#38[flagged]
Not to mention nearly every prediction in the Manifesto came true. He was a genius broken by the government.
We should blame the CIA, not him. He was just a math nerd in the beginning.
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
But how does it make him a hypocrite?
I you talk big, you must act big. You can't go around using a post office and subjecting yourself to prison time and lawyers. It's as simple as that. Otherwise you are not pure and sane and a real naturalist. In fact you're insane and a hypocrite living in prison for ~40 years.
Can you zero on a particular espoused belief and how he practiced other than he preached? What specifically should he have done differently that would've made him not a hypocrite?
I'm honestly trying to figure out what your point is.
Re: Ted Kaczynski has died
#40[flagged]
Please don't post unsubstantive comments.