Is He Serious? (An opinionated report on the Unabomber's Manifesto)

Essay by AxeCollege, UndergraduateA+, January 1996

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There comes a time when everyone has something to say. The next step would be

to find someone to listen. If that doesn't work, I suppose you just have to make them

listen.

The Unabomber's Manifesto was probably one of the most interesting and

thought provoking points of view that I have read in a while. It's just too bad that every

time he made a point that I could relate with, he would contradict himself before I was

finished with the paragraph. In my opinion, the entire manifesto and every viewpoint

expressed therein, was a strange mix of confusion, fact and storytelling. Although

written with an abundance of detail and many strong convictions, I finished reading the

selection without being able to see the purpose behind it all and what he stood to gain.

I'm sure that wasn't exactly his intentions when he wrote it.

I feel there is one thing the author deserves credit for right from the start; his

uncanny ability to set a pessimistic mood.

From the minute you glance at the

introduction, he, assuming the author is male, begins to paint a picture of destruction and

demise of the world in which we live. What could cause such a catastrophe? According

to the author, it would have to be industry and technology of all things. He was convinced

that due to the industrial-technological system in which we live, ultimately humans are

going to be subjected to world wide suffering and inevitably a total shut down of

humanity. Now at this moment I felt a little disbelief. I had heard he was actually an

intelligent person, but I was starting to wonder.

His whole theory was based on the fact, that at one point or another, the human

race will be taken to the point...