Self-proclaimed anarchist and nutter Ted Kaczynski joins Hakim Bey

Submitted by Entdinglichung on June 11, 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/10/unabomber-ted-kaczynski-81-dies-in-us-prison-cell

adri

1 year 5 months ago

Submitted by adri on June 11, 2023

Just a taste of how reactionary some of his ideas were (from a letter sent to a Turkish anarchist),

In the third place, the objective of securing the rights of women, homosexuals, animals, and so forth, is incompatible with the objective of eliminating civilization, because women and homosexuals in primitive societies often do not have equality, and such societies are usually cruel to animals. If one’s goal is to secure the rights of these groups, then one[']s best policy is to stick with modern civilization.

... I think I'll just do that!

adri

1 year 5 months ago

Submitted by adri on June 11, 2023

He was certainly an anarchist though, directly taking up Bakunin's advice that Americans can always escape the capitalist system by just moving West and living in the wilderness (kidding):

Bakunin wrote: A worker who finds no work or is dissatisfied with the wages which capital offers him can in the last resort always make his way to the Far West and set about clearing a patch of land in the wilderness.

Since this possibility is always open as a way out for all the workers of America, it naturally keeps wages high and affords to each an independence unknown in Europe.

Onward to the forests comrades (but also try not to disturb the Native Americans who are already sort of living here)!

Steven.

1 year 5 months ago

Submitted by Steven. on June 11, 2023

Did he ever actually claim to be an anarchist?
Apparently people are saying his death was a suicide

adri

1 year 5 months ago

Submitted by adri on June 12, 2023

I don't think so, or if he did it wasn't really worth much. He corresponded with green anarchists like John Zerzan, but he was also critical of green anarchism/"leftism" and their concern for stuff like improving the condition of women.

Agent of the I…

1 year 5 months ago

Submitted by Agent of the I… on June 14, 2023

There are people in the "anarcho" primitivist subreddits mourning his death. They hold him in high regard, even though he criticized them.