Polonya’dan Amerika’ya göçmüş bir ailenin çocuğu olan Ted. Kaczynski 1942’de Şikago’da doğdu. 16 yaşında bursla kazandığı Harvard’ı yirmi yaşında bitirdi. Doktorasını yapmak üzere 1962’de Michigan’a geçen Kaczynski, 1967’de “matematiğin sınır fonksiyonları” adlı doktora çalışmasıyla “yılın en iyi matematik tezi” ödülünü aldı; ardından da Berkeley Üniversitesi’ne asistan profesör olarak kabul edildi. 68 hareketinin önemli merkezlerinden olan Berkeley’de hippi akademisyenler, sütyenlerini yakan feministler, cinsel özgürlüğü savunan isyancı gruplar arasında kendi dünyasında yaşıyordu Ted Kaczynski. Öğrencisinden öğretim görevlisine herkesin rengârenk giysilerle dolaştığı Berkeley’de nerdeyse bir tek o takım elbiseliydi.
Kaczynski, 1969’da hiçbir gerekçe ileri sürmeden öğretim üyeliğini bıraktı. Ailesiyle geçirdiği iki yılın ardından 1971’de, orman içinde bir buçuk dönüm kadar arazi alarak alternatif yaşam arayanlarının akın ettiği Montana’ya yerleşti. On iki metrekarelik bir orman kulübesinde elektrik, su, radyo, televizyon, bilgisayar gibi şeylerden uzak, sâde ve dingin bir hayat sürmeye başladı. Kendi yetiştirdiği sebzelerin yanı sıra, küçük çaplı avcı-toplayıcı tarzla besleniyordu.
Montana ormanlarında gözlerden ırak bir hayat sürdürüyorken nihayet uygarlık gelip kapısına dayandı: Bir otoban yapımı nedeniyle yakın çevresindeki ağaçlar tek tek kesiliyordu. Yaşanacak başka bir yer arayışındansa tekno-sanayi sistemine karşı eyleme geçmeye karar verdi. Böylece 26 Mayıs 1978’de, Montana ormanlarındaki yaşamının yedinci yılında, ilkini Chicago Northwestern Üniversitesi’ne yolladığı bombalı paketler serisine başladı. 18 yıl boyunca FBI’yı peşinden koşturan Kaczynski, Nisan 1996’da kulubesine yapılan bir operasyonla tutuklanıp müebbet hapse mahkum edilmişti. Özgün fikirleriyle anarşizme farklı bakış açısı kazandıran Kaczynski, 27 yıldır hapis yatıyordu.
Tercüme: Kaos Yayınları
Theodore John Kaczynski was born the May 22 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 6 months he had to be hospitalized due to a severe allergic reaction to medication. His mother was not allowed to visit him during that time, a standard hospital policy in 1943. In his early years Ted Kaczynski was extraordinarily shy. Despite his parent’s encouragements to go out and play with others, he remained aloof and a loner. Having an IQ of 170 (signifying genius intelligence) he skipped two grades going from the 5th directly to the 7th. In 1958 at the age of 16 he was entering Harvard University earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1962. He then earned a master and a Ph.D in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He had a successful research career here and taught undergraduate for three years though he continued to make few friends. He quit in the fall of 1967 and was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He resigned without explanation on June 30 1969. In June 1971 Ted and his brother David purchased a 1.4-acre lot in Lincoln, Montana. He built his infamous 10-by-12 wood cabin on the site by hand. In the mid-70s Kaczynski live and work in Salt Lake City.
On May 26, 1978 Professor Buckley Crist of Northwestern University received a package whose return address was not his but he had no recollection of sending the parcel. He became suspicious and called the campus police. When the police officer opened the package it exploded. He received minor injuries. That was the first bomb placed by whom the FBI later called “The Unabomber”. Over the course of 18 years (1978-1995), the Unabomber, generally accepted to be Ted Kaczynski acting alone, placed or mailed 23 package bombs. These bombs killed 3 persons and wounded 16.
On September 19 1995, the New York Time editor received a letter. According to the text, the Unabomber suggest a “bargain”: if his lenghty manuscript was published, he would cease sending bombs. The Washington Post and New York Times split costs and published the Unabomber’s manuscript, known as the “Manifesto”.
In 1996, David Kaczynski, Ted’s brother, began to make connections between his brother’s earlier writings and the manifesto. He contacted the FBI saying that he might know who the Unabomber was. Ted was arrested at his Montana cabin. Bomb-making material was found and a fully-functionnal live bomb was also found under his bed. In 1997 he was diagnosed suffering paranoid schizophrenia. In 1998, during his trial, the defense and the prosecutor reached a plea bargain: Ted would plead guilty to all charge and get a life sentence without possibility of parole, escaping the death penalty he might have received. He is currently serving his sentence at the supermax federal penitentiary of Florence, Colorado.
- Unabomber In His Own Words – Ted Kaczynski (Part 1 of 4)
- Unabomber In His Own Words – Ted Kaczynski (Part 2 of 4)
- Unabomber In His Own Words – Ted Kaczynski (Part 3 of 4)
- Unabomber In His Own Words – Ted Kaczynski (Part 4 of 4)
- The Unabomber – The FBI Files
- The Unabomber, LSD and the Internet
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