What is the unabomber manifesto and why did Luigi Mangione read it?

Luigi Mangione has been arrested as a suspect in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Mark Thompson. On his person was a ghost gun, fake identities and a three-page manifesto detailing his grievances with corporate America.

His manifesto featured references to another famous manifesto, that of the unabomber. Ted Kaczynski is one of America’s most famous terrorists, planting bombs that killed three Americans over a period of 20 years.

The “UNABOM” case, code-named for the UNiversity and Airline BOMbing targets, led to the arrest of Kaczynski. He wrote the 35,000-word essay, now dubbed the unabomber manifesto, officially titled “Industrial Society and Its Future”. The manifesto criticizes modern technology and industrial society, arguing that they are detrimental to human freedom and fulfillment.

“It’s easy to quickly and thoughtlessly write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out,” Mangione wrote about Kaczynski’s writings.

“He was a violent individual - rightfully imprisoned - who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”

The industrial revolution and its consequences...

The Washington post published the manifesto in full in 1995:

“The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of those of us who live in “advanced” countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world,” Kaczynski wrote.

“The continued development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in “advanced” countries.”

He argued that modern technology forms an indivisible, self-perpetuating system beyond human control, and that a revolutionary overthrow of the technological system is necessary to prevent this catastrophe.

This links with the CEO shooters suspected motive for killing the CEO. Attacking a modern industry that has privatised the very essence of life that humans should all have access to. It’s no wonder that Mangione holds Kaczynski as an idol.

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