ARGUMENT: Unabomber RevivalWhy Right-Wing Extremists Love the Unabomber

“The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.” This is the opening line of Theodore Kaczynski’s 1995 manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future—a 35,000-word call to arms for a revolt against technology.

Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, was an American domestic terrorist whose 17-year bombing campaign killed three people and injured 23 others. Seeking to protect wilderness and destroy technology, he targeted scientists and businessmen.

Kiernan Christ writes in Lawfarethat Kaczynski’s contemporary influence, however, is not strongest among environmental activists. Rather, his manifesto and ideology have found a home on far-right websites, where Kaczynski is cited as a key radicalizing influence and thought leader in spaces generally extremely hostile to modern environmentalism.

She adds:

Kacyznski’s critique of industrial society as harmful to human freedom has been co-opted and incorporated into a broader yet still explicitly ethnonationalist critique of modernity. On imageboards, Twitter and TikTok, young right-wing extremists create memes and engage in discussion about Kaczynski, referring to him fondly as “Uncle Ted.” Reverence for Kaczynski is one manifestation of a broader trend: right-wing extremists using environmentalist language and perspectives on topics like pollution and wilderness preservation to support violent mobilization. This phenomenon can be understood as an attempt to strengthen the allure of far-right ideology by appealing to popular concerns regarding the destruction of the environment to justify fascist beliefs.

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The far-right’s valorization of Kaczynski is evidenced by the degree to which his words and ideas have spread both on the broader internet and in right-wing spaces in recent years. While some anarchist admirers of Kaczynski have attempted to live out his ideology by learning survival skills and adopting a primitive lifestyle, Kaczynski as a figure has been profoundly meme-ified by right-wing fans. For instance, their invocation of the phrase “the industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race” as a response to perceived failings of modern society has spread beyond far-right corners of the internet and begun to permeate mainstream spaces, including YouTube and TikTok. Adopting both joking and sincere tones, documents describing Kaczynski’s ideology to a right-wing audience circulate on spaces like 4chan’s “Politically Incorrect” board. In a thread titled “Ted Kaczynski General,” a document that explains Kaczynski’s appeal responds to concerns that the real problem is “International Jewry/Zionism, blacks, diversity and Multiculturalism” by arguing that “nobody is denying” those things are a “net negative” but that those “grave problems are dwarfed when compared to industrial society and its consequences.” The thread also links to a document full of instructions for “prepping” for the inevitable fall of industrial society, including tips on self-improvement, nutrition, medicine and combat. These are just a handful of examples of a broader trend. A search for “Kaczynski” in archives of 4chan’s politics section turns up 17,214 results.

Though environmentalist concerns are often associated with left-wing politics, Christ writes, this new hybrid ideology demonstrates that concern for the environment is not confined to any one part of the political spectrum. “Anticipating and responding effectively to extremist threats requires a nuanced understanding of how actors justify their beliefs and their violent mobilization, and the far-right’s appropriation of Kaczynski’s work is a telling variation in the story some extremists tell themselves.”