unibomber-manifesto

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INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND rrs FUTURE
coUoctivi,ns. "politically comet" types, feminist!, gay and disability activists, animal rigms activists
and the likt. But 1101 everyone who is associaled with one of these movements ill a leftist What we
arc trying 10 gel at in diuuing leftism is 1101 so moch I movement or an ideology as a psychological.
type, or ralher a COllteMn of lated types. Thus, what we mean by 1eftUm" will. emerge more
clearly in the COIll"5C of our discussion of leftist psychology (Also, lee paragraphs 227.230.)
8. Even so, our conception of leftism will remain I good deal less clear than we would wish, but
there doesn't seem to be any remedy for this. All we are trying to do ill indicate in a rough and
approximate way tnc [wo psychological tendencies that we believe arc the main driving force of
modem leftUm. We by no means claim 10 be telling lhe WHOLE ttuth about leftist psychology.
Abo, our diCtWion is ,
[ to apply 10 m odern leftism only. We leave open lhe question of the
,
eJ;tent 10 which our diSCUSSIon could be appUed to the ICftillU oflne 19th and early 20th cenllll'y.
?,' The tv:'0 .
psr:ho , Ogi ca1 .
tendentS at .
underlie modem leftism we call "feelings of inferiority" and
ovmoaa1i.zat:ion. Feelings of mfenonty are cl\at1IC1eristic of modem lel'tism as • whole, whilc
ovenocializAtion is characteristic only of a certain segment of modem leftism; but this segment is
highly influential.
FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY
10. By fcellngs ofinfcriority" we mean 00( only inferiority feelings In the strictest sense but a whole
sp m of .
reillfed traiu: low self-esteem, feelings of powerlenncu, depressive tendencies,
defeawm, guilt, self·hatred. etc. We argue that modc:m leftists tend to have such feelings (possibly
more or less repressed) and that these feelings decisive in determining tbe direction of modem
leftism.
1. When some I erpttts as derogatory almost anything lhat is said about him (or about groups
Wlth whom be Identifies) we concludc [hat he has inferiority fcclings or low self-estccm. This
tendency is prounccd among minority righu advocaJes, whether Of not they belong to !he minority
groups woose nghts they defend. They are hypcncMrivC about tbe words used to designate
orities. The terms "negro," .
.
oriental," "handicapped" or "chick" for an African, an Asian, a
disabled person or a woman onginally had no derogatory connol:allon. HBroad and "chick" wen:
merely the feminine equivalents of "guy," "dude" Of ·fellow. The negative coonot_dono; have been
anached .
to tbese terms by the actistl lhemsclvC3. Some animal rights advOCates have gone so far
I.'l to rq the word "pet" and insist on ill replacement by "animal companion.·· I...eftjSl
anthropologuts go to great lengths to avoid saying anything about primitive peoples that could
conccivably be interpreted as negative.. They want to rnplace the word "primitive" by "nonlitcral:e."
They seem almost paR.Doid ,bout anything that mighl: sngge$llh81 any primitive cuJrure is inferior
to .
our own. CNe do not mean to imply that primitive cultum ARE inferior to ours. We merely
pomt out the hypersensitivity of leftish anthropologists.)
12. Those who are o scntive about ·politically incorrect" terminology are not the avr:mge black
gbetto-dweller, ASlan 1lIlrrugrant, abused woman or disabled person. but a minority of activists,
m y of wh do not even belong 10 any "oppressed" group but come from privileged nrala of
.
5OCJ.ety. Pouuca1 coTnlctness has It.! stronghold among university professors who have seeure
employment with comfortable salarieJ, and the majorlly of whom are beterosex . while males from
middle--class (amiliel.
13 :
Ma.ny leftists have an intense identification with the problems of groups that have an image of
being (women). defwed (American Indians), repellent (homosexuals), or OI:herwise inferior.
The leftists themselves fccl that these groups are inferior. 11Jey woold never admit it to themselyes
thal thcy have luch fedings, but it is precisely because they do see these groups II.ll inferior tha.t they
identify th th problems. (We do not suggest that women, Indians, etc .• ARE inferior; wc arc
only making a pomt about leftist psychology).
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THE UNABOMBER
14. Feminists are desperately anxious to prove that women are as $U'ong as capable as men. Ceady
they are nagged by a fear that women may NOT be as strong and as capable as men.
15. Lefti.m tend to hate anything thAI has an image of being strong. good and successful They hate
America, they hate WC$lem dviliz.ation. they bate white males, they hate rationality. The reasons
that leftists give fOf hating the WCiI, etc. clearly do not copond with their real moriyC$, They
SAY they hate lhe West because it is warlike, imperialistic, sexist, ethnocentric a.nd so forth, bUI
where the1e same faults appear in IOCialist countriea Of in primitive cW.tW'CI, the leftist finds.eJlcuscs
for them, or at best be GRUOOINGL Y admits lhat they WSl; wherell$ he ENI'HUSlASTICAU. Y
points out (and often gteII1ly exaggerates) tbese faulu where they appear in Western civilization.
Thus it is clear that thele faulu: are not the leftiSl', real motive for hating America and the We5l. He
hates America and the West bccawe they an: Itronl and successful.
16. Words like "sclf-oonfideoce," "-reli.ance, M "initiative", ClIt.erpril;C, M "optimism." etc. play linle
role in the liberal and Ieftisc vocabulary. The Ieftisc is anti-individualistic, vist. He wants
$OCiety 10 solve everyone" nccda for them, cate of them. He is not the lott of person who has
an inner 5CnJe of confidence in his own ability 10 50lve his own problems &tid aarisfy his own needs.
The leftist it IUllagonistic to tbe concepe: of competition bcc&use, deep inside, he feels like a lORl".
17. Art fOI1ll$ that appcallO modem leftist intellectuals tend lO focus on sordidness, defeat and
despair, or cbe they an orgiastic tone, throwing o1f rational oontrol as iItbc1e were no bopc of
accomplliihing anything through rational calculation and all that was left was to Uomene oocsc1! in
tbe sensaLiOIU of the molllCl\l.
18. Modem leftist philosoplten tend to dismiss IU.$on, science, objective tealiIy and to insist lhal
everything is culturtlly relative. It i.s true that one can aU 1Cri0Wl qlleJltions about the foundations of
scientific knowledge and about how, if at all, the conc::epl of objective JUlity can be defined. But if is
obvious that modem leftist philosophen are not simply cool-headed logicians syltCmatically
lIlIlyzing the foundations of knowledge. They are deeply iIlvolved emotionally ill their anack on
truth and reality. They attaclt [hese concepti because of their own psychological occds. For ODC
thing, their mack is an outlet for hostility, a.nd, to the extclll that if is successful, it satisfie.t the drive
for power. More imponanliy, the leftist hiles science and rationality because they classify oenaia
beliefs a.o; true (i.e., luccellful, superior) and other beliefs as fa15e (i.e. falled, inferior). The ).eftist·,
feelings of inferiority IUn so deep that be cannot tolera1e any classifiCllion of lOme things as
successful or superior and other things as failed or inferior. ThiJ wo undedics the rejection by
many leftists of the oonccpt of mental illncss and ofthc utility of IQ tesa. Leftists are antqonisCic to
genetic explanations of human abilities or behaviour because luch CJtplanations tend to make some
persons appear superior or inferior to othc:n. Leftists prefer to give lOciety the acdU or blame for an
individual's ability or lack of iL Thus if a person is "infcrio(' it is not his fault, bw 1OClety' •• because
be Iw nOl been brougbl up properly.
19. The leftist is not typieally thc lcind of JlClSon whose feelings of inferiority make him a braggan,
an egotist, a bully, • self-promOlCr, a ruthleSi compctilOr. ThiJ lcind of perIOn bas not wholly lost
faith in hinueU. He hu a delicit in his sense of power and self-worth, bill be can aiU conceive of
himself as having the capacity to be strong. and his dfons lO make himsctf iIrOng produce his
unpleasant behaviour I. But the leftist is too far gone for that. His feelings of inferiority are so
ingrained that he cannot conceive of himself as individU&lJy strong and valuable.. Hence the
collectivism of the leftist He can feel strong only as II. member of II. large organUation or • mas.
movement with whicb be ideruifiu himself.
20. Notice tbe masochistic tendency of leftist tactic,. Leftists protest by lying down in front of
vehicles, they intentionally provoke police or racistllO lOOse them, etc. Thc5c taaiCi may often be
eflective, but many leftisu tbem nol: lIS I means to an end but because they PREFER masochUtic
JaCtics. Self-hatred is II. leftist. trait.
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