Theodore John Kaczynski (
Chicago, Illinois, May 22, 1942), also known as the "
Unabomber", is an American
anarchist,
serial killer, and
domestic terrorist.
A mathematical prodigy, he abandoned a promising academic career in
1969, then between 1978 and 1995 killed three people, and injured 23
others, in a nationwide bombing campaign targeting people involved with
modern technology. In conjunction with this campaign he issued a
wide-ranging social critique opposing industrialization and modern
technology, and advancing a nature-centered form of
anarchism.
As a Harvard undergraduate, Kaczynski was among twenty-two students who were
research subjects in ethically questionable experiments conducted by psychology professor
Henry Murray from late 1959 to early 1962.
Seventeen years after beginning his mail bomb campaign, Kaczynski sent a letter to
The New York Times on April 24, 1995 and promised "to desist from terrorism" if the
Times or
The Washington Post published his
manifesto,
Industrial Society and Its Future
(the "Unabomber Manifesto"), in which he argued that his bombings were
extreme but necessary to attract attention to the erosion of human
freedom necessitated by modern technologies requiring large-scale organization.
The Unabomber was the target of one of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's
costliest investigations. Before Kaczynski's identity was known, the
FBI used the title "UNABOM" (UNiversity & Airline BOMber) to refer
to his case, which resulted in the media calling him the Unabomber. The
FBI (as well as
Attorney General Janet Reno)
pushed for the publication of Kaczynski's "Manifesto", which led to his
sister-in-law, and then his brother, recognizing Kaczynski's style of
writing and beliefs from the manifesto, and tipping off the FBI. Kaczynski tried unsuccessfully to dismiss his
court-appointed lawyers because they wanted to
plead insanity
in order to avoid the death penalty, as Kaczynski did not believe he
was insane. When it became clear that his pending trial would entail
national television exposure for Kaczynski, the court entered a
plea agreement, under which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to
life in prison with no possibility of parole. He has been designated a "
domestic terrorist" by the FBI. Some
anarcho-primitivist authors, such as
John Zerzan and
John Moore, have come to his defense, while also holding some reservations about his actions and ideas.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário