edit: looked into it a bit and it seems genuine ngl
He also wrote about how he wanted to murder a three year old and would have if her mother's presence wouldn't have complicated the cleanup so maybe don't read into this angle specifically too much
wakes up in the morning do I want to transition?
Hm.. no, I think I'll just mail some bombs
Not gonna lie, this is me in 2019 when I'm watching "The Last Problem" (season 9 episode 26 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
Yeah, he also was a subject of mk ultra experiments iirc. So I wouldn't exactly be trying to make any points with that.
In essence he was subjected to traditional interrogation tactics, he was never dosed with any hallucinogens or other drugs, the actual experiment he was part of was that he had to write an essay on his ideological convictions under the false premise that he was going to debate other students, then instead in regular sessions a guy came in and ruthlessly mocked and belittled every aspect of the essay.
He himself dismissed the alleged effects of this and I'd be inclined to agree that I think the main effect of it would just be radicalizing his already held views and positions.
It's true there were no drugs involved, that he knows of. But I don't think you give enough credit to the effects of the experiment. If you read the details of the experiment it's not too far fetched to argue that it didn't just enhance extreme beliefs, but manifested them.
Tbh I am HIGHLY pessimistic towards any MKULTRA shit just because of how much annoying dumb bullshit conspiracy shit has spawned from it, but yeah that is also a pretty plausible possibility that it could totally fuck him up like that since the people running all this shit didnt give a fuck if it ruined people.
IIRC it is real, though the exact details are a little fuzzy. But I don't think that really changes any of my thoughts around ol' Ted
the main sauce i can find is a washington post from the trial, here's the quote:
In the psychiatric evaluation, Johnson reveals that Kaczynski had persistent and intense sexual fantasies about being a woman. While he was a graduate student at the University of Michigan in 1967, he went to a psychiatrist to discuss his wishes for a sex change operation. But in the waiting room, he decided he could not go forward. Instead, he told the psychiatrist he was depressed about the possibility of being drafted.
His near confession of his feelings so filled him with rage, in this case directed at psychiatrists, that he went through a major transformation.
"As I walked away from the building afterwards," Kaczynski wrote in documents released today, "I felt disgusted about what my uncontrolled sexual cravings had almost led me to do. And I felt humiliated, and I violently hated the psychiatrist. Just then there came a major turning point in my life. Like a Phoenix, I burst from the ashes of my despair to a glorious new hope."
so idk, maybe there's more about it in the unabomber manifesto or something idk
Most of the manifesto is just a rabid reactionary screed, I cant recall any mention of this stuff specifically but he certainly thought that modern sociology and psychiatry is leftist and bad.
I would personally interpret that episode as part of his general identity crisis and process of radicalization more than it being emblematic of his core identity and person. Sure trans people can repress pretty hard but I feel like I gotta go with his perspective here in him denying there was anything to it and apparently never pursuing it again or even writing particularly about it afterwards.
Ted K is the authority on Ted K.
