Extremist Ted Kaczynski Biopic Profile

Extremist Ted Kaczynski

Biopic Profile of Ted Kaczynski

Ted Kaczynski is considered to be one of the most brilliant masterminds, evil genius and excellent mathematician, who was responsible for using letter bombs as method of attacking universities as well as airline companies. He had adopted the alias of Unabomber, which represents University and Airline Bomber, as he particularly targeted universities and airline companies.

Biopic Profile of Ted Kaczynski

Ted Kaczynski is considered to be one of the most brilliant masterminds, evil genius and excellent mathematician, who was responsible for using letter bombs as a method of attacking universities as well as airline companies. He had adopted the alias of Unabomber, which represents University and Airline Bomber, as he particularly targeted universities and airline companies. He conducted his attacks by using letter bombs, which claimed the lives of three individuals and injuring about twenty three people. Since early childhood, he had shown exceptional level of intelligence, which distinguished him from his classmates. During his high school years, he had been successful in solving mathematic problems, which his classmates could not solve. Success met his path as he had been successful in getting a scholarship program at Harvard University. At the age of 25, he became the youngest assistant professor at the University of California. However, he left his job and concentrated on connecting himself to nature.

During his time in Montana, his intentions became evil as he witnessed the destruction of nature by technology and development. Therefore, he went on to become a terrorist and took part in series of bombings from 1978 till 1995. His prime targets were educational institutions and airlines companies. He claimed that technology was the enemy of mankind and it had destroyed the natural environment. His goal to use letter bombs was to create awareness and gain attention on the ills of technology and how it can be used to destroy mankind. Such methods of terrorism are still being used in United States by other terrorists and extremist groups in order to promote terrorism in United States.

The question arises that why individual extremists or extremist groups resort to terrorism or what goes wrong that they deviate and indulge into deviant behavior? This research paper aims at discussing the profile of Ted Kaczynski and the events that shaped his twisted behavior and compelled him to become a domestic terrorist in the light of broad and diverse academic resources. For this purpose, a brief overview of his life would be presented. A literature review would be conducted in order to analyze his life and behavior and what were the primary reasons for indulging into immoral and terrorist actions. In short, this paper would explore how Ted Kaczynski became an extremist, which compelled to plan his bombing attacks and made him a domestic terrorist.

Timeline

He was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, on 22 nd of May, in the year 1942. His parents were of Polish background. Since an early age, Ted Kaczynski had demonstrated exceptional level of intelligence and brilliance, which allowed him to standout from his classmates. During his time at middle school, he was allowed to skip sixth grade as he participated in a testing, which proved his IQ was high[footnoteRef:2]. At the age of fifteen, he had successfully completed his high school as he was allowed to skip eleventh grade because of his extraordinary mathematician skills. At the age of sixteen, he attended Harvard University[footnoteRef:3]. He took part in a psychology study aimed at studying multiple personality and the results concluded that he was stable emotionally. In the year 1962, he passed from Harvard and went on to participate in PHD program at University of Michigan[footnoteRef:4]. He had been successful in obtaining his PhD degree in mathematics as he had the ability to solve mathematic problems easily as compared to other professors. When he was twenty five years old, he had been successful in becoming assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley. However, at the age of twenty seven, he left his job. [2: Bowers, Stephen & Kimberly Keys. 2007. Technology and terrorism: The new threat for the millennium. Conflict Studies May 2007: 1-24.] [3: Cooper, H. 2008. Terrorism: the problem of definition revisited. American Behavioral Scientist 44 (6): 881-893] [4: Brophy-Baermann, Bryan & John Conybeare. 2007. Retaliating against terrorism: Rational expectations and the optimality of rules vs. discretion. American Journal of Political Science 38 (1): 196-210.]

In 1969, he moved with his parents and after two years, he moved to Montana, in order to explore the wilderness and to survive without technology. In order to support himself, he went for odd jobs. He was also supported financially by his family. He concentrated on buying land from the funds he received from his family and later on wards, the same fund was used to finance his terrorist attacks. He had also taken a job at a foam-rubber factory, which was owned by his father and brother. However, he was terminated from the job because he had harassed a female supervisor[footnoteRef:5]. During his stay in Montana, he had been successful in living without technology and became self-sufficient to a certain extent. However, there he witnessed the destruction of nature and natural habitat, which ultimately led him to believe that technology is evil and therefore, he went on to plan his bombing campaign, which started from 1978 and lasted till 1995. During this time, he had sent more than 16 bombs to different airline companies and universities, which injured about 23 individuals and claimed lives of three individuals. [5: Cooper, H. 2008. Terrorism: the problem of definition revisited. American Behavioral Scientist 44 (6): 881-893]

Literature Review

Early Years of Ted Kaczynski

The early years of Ted Kaczynski demonstrated that he was a brilliant, intelligent and gifted as compared to other students and this ability allowed him to skip sixth grade[footnoteRef:6]. This period is considered to be the crucial point of his life as he joined seventh grade, where he excelled academically but not socially. Since he was the youngest of all children, he had been subjected to bullying. He lacked the social skills to interact with other children and therefore, he used to spent time alone. [6: DeLong, Candice, and Petrini, Elisa, Special Agent: My Life on the Frontlines of the FBI (Headline Publishing, 2001)]

During his time at high school, he showed extraordinary mathematic skills and therefore, it became his obsession. This phase of life is particularly important as he would spend most of his time in solving mathematic problems. This was another turning point of his lives, which allowed him to master mathematics and directly jump to twelfth grade at the age of fifteen. In the year 1958, he had been successful in getting admission in Harvard University.

Records reveal that he had taken part in a study conducted by Dr. Henry Murray. The study concentrated on using brutal techniques in order to psychologically overwhelm the students in order to create stress. The goal of the study was to see that how long the student could tolerate the stressful, psychological attack. According to Kaczynski records, he was stable psychologically and emotionally when the study had started. It is believed that when he had taken part in this study, he had been affected psychologically, which primarily influenced his later life decisions.

At the age of twenty, Kaczynski had been successful in becoming a Harvard Graduate. His higher level of intelligence and mathematic ability allowed him to solve mathematic problems, which ultimately allowed him to obtain his PhD degree from University of Michigan in less than a year. During this time, he has been successful in impressing his professors as he was different from his classmates. At the age of twenty five, he had been successful in becoming assistant professor at the University of California in Berkeley[footnoteRef:7]. He was the youngest assistant professor. Reports also reveal that he was not comfortable with the profession of teaching because of his lack of social skills. These were easily seen during his early school years, where his family reported that he did not interact with other children. During high school, he would spend more and more time alone. [7: DeLong, Candice, and Petrini, Elisa, Special Agent: My Life on the Frontlines of the FBI (Headline Publishing, 2001)]

Since his early years, it is clearly seen that he was intelligent and brilliant in terms of studies and yet, he did not have the ability to interact with his classmates. Furthermore, he had been subjected to bullying, which further had an influence on him on his later life. His success as a young mathematician was short lived when he became uncomfortable in teaching his undergraduate class. When he had successful in completing his studies at Harvard, he had attended the University of Michigan. There, he had been successful in gaining a positive reputation among his professors but he had gotten his PhD on basis of teaching. It had been suggested that Kaczynski was not fond of teaching and that he lacked the social skills to teach and therefore, found it to be a difficult activity. He was active in research and was viewed as an intellect by his professors but he did not have social life[footnoteRef:8]. [8: Douglas, John, and Olshaker, Mark, the Anatomy of Motive (Scribner, 1999)]

Early life records and analysis of Kaczynski also reveal that he would have strange dreams during his stay at University of Michigan. His personal writings have been analyzed and researchers assert that he would dream about psychologists, who would convince him that he was mentally ill and required psychological treatment. These psychologists would then help in controlling his mind. In order to avert their attacks, he would dodge them and then in anger, he would use violence to kill them. Using violence would allow him to feel liberated and free from control.

Researchers and critics assert that his students complained about his style of delivering the lectures and he was nervous during his class. Furthermore, records also reveal that he was uncomfortable around the students[footnoteRef:9]. This is true as Kaczynski was a loner. He has spent several years of his life in isolation as he lacked the social skills. It is also reported that at a young age, he had fear of people. Therefore, Kaczynski did not have ability to interact with the students and thus, he resigned from his job after two years. [9: Douglas, John, and Olshaker, Mark, the Anatomy of Motive (Scribner, 1999)]

Experiences of Montana

In the year 1969, Kaczynski had moved with his parents. However, in 1971, he went to Montana to explore nature and wilderness and to experience a new thrill. He had the desire to lead a simple life, without technology and to become self -sufficient. This is clear that Kaczynski was a loner and to keep himself busy, he would get engaged in an activity, which he would enjoy. During his early life, he had been busy in solving mathematics and becoming an exceptional mathematician, which allowed him to achieve something people of his age could not achieve. However, this success was short lived as soon as he reached the peak of his career at a young age and therefore, he had resigned from his job in order to pursuit a new activity[footnoteRef:10]. [10: Graysmith, Robert, Unabomber: A Desire to Kill (Pocket Books, 2000)]

To become self-sufficient, Kaczynski had concentrated on building his own cabin. Furthermore, he wanted to become independent and therefore, did not use electricity. His jobs primarily comprised of odd jobs or menial labor[footnoteRef:11]. In 1978, he has lost his job at a foam rubber factory, which was owned by his father and brother. He had been dismissed as he had harassed a female supervisor. [11: DeLong, Candice, and Petrini, Elisa, Special Agent: My Life on the Frontlines of the FBI (Headline Publishing, 2001)]

It was here in Montana, where he had experienced and witnessed the destruction of natural land. His goal was to explore the nature and to become self-sufficient. Critics assert that Kaczynski had concentrated on living in Montana in order to isolate himself from society as he had previously used mathematics to isolate himself from his classmates. The fear of people compelled him to spend his time in an activity, which would allow him to pass time. During the time in Montana, he had also experienced the destruction of natural land by industrial and technological development and growth. Therefore, he primarily concentrated on protecting nature by sabotaging developments were under progress near the vicinity of his cabin. Since he had grown to love nature, he had a strong dislike for technology. His interaction with nature compelled him to resort to bombings and terrorist attacks when one of his favorite spots for tracking was destroyed completely[footnoteRef:12]. [12: Graysmith, Robert, Unabomber: A Desire to Kill (Pocket Books, 2000)]

Since then, his rage, which he had earlier hidden, emerged and surfaced to take revenge against human society and for his loss. The fear of people during early years, the experiences of bullying and failure to interact with students during his teaching career, all had a psychological impact on his personality, which ultimately ignited his aggression, which came out after the destruction of his natural habitat, which made him to believe that technology is evil and is solely responsible for the destruction of human society[footnoteRef:13]. [13: Mello, Michael, the United States of America vs. Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power, and the Invention of the Unabomber (Context Books, 2009)]

New Objective and New Meaning: Letter Bombings

Ted Kaczynski interacted with nature and witnessing the destruction of nature, he soon began a campaign to conduct terrorist attacks, which had claimed lives of three people and injured more than twenty people. To actively plan his bombings, he had concentrated on studying politics and sociology. From his perspective, he believed that industrial revolution is responsible for the destruction of human society and that violent solution can only be used to tackle this problem. This was the new ideology, which Kaczynski believed. This is the reason that he had resorted to bombings and that the years of isolation that twisted his personality and therefore, he had become engaged in deviant behavior. For a new goal in his life, Kaczynski concentrated on using letter bombs, which had been designed by him. His level of intelligence allowed him to create such bombs, which are still being used by other domestic terrorists.

The time from 1969 to 1996, is considered to be a crucial time of Kaczynski. He had also documented his life in writing, which provides information on his deviant behavior. From his early years of schooling, he lacked social skills and therefore, this problem still remains in him. His personal account also revealed that he had issues with people and that the fact that he had experienced bullying. He had further issues with his relationships with females[footnoteRef:14]. Majority of his life has been spent in isolation and he rarely interacted with his class fellows. Personal writings written by Kaczynski also demonstrated his desire to lead a simple and primitive life and completely isolating himself from society. [14: Mello, Michael, the United States of America vs. Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power, and the Invention of the Unabomber (Context Books, 2009)]

The early years of his life demonstrated his inability to express rage and anger and therefore, he remained calm and serious. He had indulged in activities in order to suppress his anger. In his personal words, he asserts that "I would therefore indulge in fantasies of revenge. However, I never attempted to put any such fantasies into effect because I was too strongly conditioned ... against any defiance of authority. To be more precise, I could not have committed a crime of revenge even a relatively minor crime because of my fear of being caught and punished was all out of proportion to the actual danger of being caught."