Reason First: The Unabomber- Dr. Theodore Kaczynski

Leopold and Loeb and Edmund Kemper dispel the myth that clever killers don’t exist. Dr. Theodore John Kacynski is no different. Named the “Unabomber” from “UNinversity, and Airline BOMber,” from an FBI profile of UNABOM for the unknown bomber, Kaczynski started creating explosive materials in the 1970s, but would evade identification and capture until 1995 when Kaczynski’s own brother alerted authorities after he noticed the bomber’s handwriting, used to draft a manifesto, matched his brother’s.

The manifesto alone makes clear how allegedly intellectually gifted Kaczynski is. Upon graduation from Harvard, he took a position as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, but his attempt at living a mainstream life as a professor was short-lived. He opted for a life much less ordinary, and moved to the hills of Lincoln, Montana to live out his life as a hermit.

While living in this isolated location, Kaczinsky assembled his bombs, and issued his threats to various individuals and airlines. These activities instigated a nationwide manhunt, for a man shrouded in mystery, that would drag on for almost two decades.

However Kaczysnki’s supposed intellect did nothing to help him contend psychologically with estrangement from his family. He thought he wanted complete solitude, away from a family he felt had abandoned him, but he was wrong. Instead of solace, he found alienation, not just from his family and society, but from his own rational mind. This may be why he ended up using his so-called intellectual prowess for destructive, rather than productive ends.

At one point, Psychology Today posited whether Kaczynski turned out to be the Unabomber because of Harvard University where he had first studied at the age of 16. Psychologists questioned whether his alienation from his parents, a girl who rejected his advances, and his supportive brother, had left permanent scars on his psyche. They even went so far as to suggest perhaps the university had essentially driven him crazy.

Of course this is absurd. An institution of higher learning cannot directly cause individual psychosis. It’s possible he found something while at Harvard that helped a process already underway, but that’s still not the university’s fault. Kaczynski knew what he was doing. He meticulously built those bombs, seeming to take pride in the intricacy of them, and leaving his own unique signature in the wiring, as bombers often do. There was nothing wrong with the parts of his brain that could calculate and process such technical matters. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his emotional health. The part of his brain that should have prevented him from using bombs and threats to destroy himself, as well as other people and property, was clearly diseased.

Kaczynski stood on his square as a person with paranoid schizophrenia. With a boost from his alleged intellect, the irrationalism of his mental illness turned him into a terrorist. The inclination to do as much damage to the American psyche became embedded in his entire being. Kaczynski deserves to be in a maximum security prison serving out his eight consecutive life sentences, however he should still be studied by experts in the field of psychology to better understand the detachment from reality that led to his obsessive commitment to instilling fear, and killing three people.

Most people with paranoid schizophrenia don’t live in a secluded place with bomb making material. If they’re not in a psychiatric ward, they could be walking down the street ready to catch a bus. Kaczinsky’s problem started when he secluded himself away from help and support that could have detected his illness, and treated it. Without the aid of the rational in others, like doctors and therapists, his psychosis was left to develop unhindered until it manifested in terrorist acts.

The psychology of a killer like Ted Kaczinski extends itself into the real world. from his twisted brain to his imprisonment, there is no sign that Harvard, his family, or the girl who turned him down, turned him into a monster. He did that on his own by wilfully turning away from society, especially when he clearly wanted to be accepted or recognized by it so desperately. We can see that clearly in the writing of his manifesto. He knew that he had a target on his back and he knew a nationwide hunt would put him in the spotlight and make him (ironically) sought after, and he probably liked it. Out there in the hills, Kaczynski felt that he could do anything he wanted, but instead of doing something rational, he chose to do the ignoble. His disgusting trail of blood transformed a promising young mathematics student into a brute.

The fact that Ted Kaczinsky chose to use his mind for evil instead of good reflects a man without scruples. With his morality in disarray and suffering a psychiatric disorder, he disintegrated, and ultimately self-destructed. His self-destruction in turn brought three lives to an end. He could have been just a recluse in the woods filling out crossword puzzles, left alone as he initially claimed he wanted. Instead, his behavior tells us he wanted the opposite: all the attention he could possibly get, even if it resulted in infamy.