Ted Kaczynski he was ahead of his time. The solitary citizen at war with the part of “society” he detests. An individual terrorist similar to those striking today. The real lone wolf able to live away from everything and by all in a forest in the American West, refuge and at the same time “base” for his destructive campaign.
Unabomber, this is his “nickname”, passed away forever on Saturday, at the age of 81. They found him dead in Butner Jail, North Carolina. It seems he committed suicide. He died alone as he lived alone for a good part of his existence dedicated to him a personal battle timely again in these difficult times.
Originally from Chicago, the son of an entrepreneur, Ted has always been different from others. Very high intelligence quotient, forced by his parents to spend hours reading books, without friends, a reserved character has chosen his own personal path. Very good in high school to the point of skipping two years, at 16 he entered Harvard, graduated in mathematics, becomes assistant professor in Berkeley, California. He excels but the others “don’t see him”, because he is estranged, he has no social relationships. Someone later argued that perhaps he was already ready to commit acts of violence when he was not even thirty years old. The fact is that Professor Kaczynski leaves the world and the prestigious university in 1969, with an apparently sudden decision. He immerses himself, increases his detachment, abuy a small piece of land in a wooded area of Lincoln, Montana, and here in 1971 he built a wooden hut made up of a single room. He is like a pioneer. No water and light, nothing at all, just many books, Nature and the game needed for food. A choice consistent with what he will start doing later. A move that will turn him into a super wanted.
In the quiet of the shed Ted makes crude bombs, be very careful not to leave traces on the components. They are the weapons of his challenge. For 17 years he will send parcel bombs around the United States, it will kill three people and injure 23. It will target colleagues, airline executives, entrepreneurs, scientists. The first attack is in July 1978, a guard gets involved while in November 1979 one of his traps explodes on board an American Airlines jet, an attack that only narrowly turns into tragedy. His scheme is glacial, perfect. He puts the pieces together in his “den”, prepares the package, gets on the bike to reach the nearest post office where he starts the shipment. Then he waits for the result. On one occasion, in February 1978, change mode of operation: leaves the bomb in front of a computer store in Salt Lake City. The witnesses will provide a meager identikit of a person with glasses and a hood, the only clue together with a «signature», FC.
The FBI reacts by creating its own task force with 150 officials, offers a million dollar bounty, search in every direction, imagine different scenarios, also because the targets are different. It’s a tiny needle in a haystack, it doesn’t have too many elements and the hunting ground is huge. But as often happens, it is the killer who makes the mistake. In September of 1995 Ted sends his “manifesto” al Washington Post and al New York Times, an elaborate where he clearly explains the motive and proposes a barter: publish it and I will stop hitting people. For Kaczynsky, the threat is represented by a development that imprisons man and deprives the individual of all control, by systematic attacks on the environment, by a technology that makes you dependent, by the decisions of others. We are pawns, no longer masters of our choices. A message where anarchy, ecology, good principles and personal frustrations converge.
The document is powerful, the editors of the newspapers decide to print it after a long consultation with the feds. The turning point is approaching. It is David, Kaczynski’s brother, who unearths similarities between the language used in the manifesto and the thoughts expressed so many times by Ted, when they were still dating. Or rather it is his wife who points out the points of contact. And so Warn the investigators providing them with a path to explore, promising and full of ideas. The story closes on April 3, 1996. After long patrols, observations from afar with the help of the rangers, the agents take action and they arrest the Unabomber. He will be sentenced to several life sentences, they will lock him up at Super Max, the maximum security prison in Colorado, where inmates are in solitary confinement. In spy cellsthe worst terrorists, El Chapo Guzman. It will remain there until two years ago when it is transferred to North Carolina. In the meantime he has become a source of inspiration – they have renamed him Uncle Ted, a subject of study, revised and almost «re-evaluated». Writings, letters, correspondence – underlines the New York Theatermes – were sent by the Unabomber to an archive dedicated to radicalism at the University of Michigan. The Legacy of the Invisible Man.