Ted Kaczynski: The Psychology of Leftism

Transcript

In 1995, an American man took it upon himself to single-handedly challenge the entire post-industrial truth regime. Theodore Kaczynski sent bomb threats to mainstream media institutions along with a demand to publish his manifesto “Industrial Society and its Future”. These were not the ramblings of a deranged terrorist however, but rather the most pungent critique of industrial society since its emergence, conceived by a 167 IQ genius. The New York Times and the Washington Post responded by printing the essay in its entirety, marking the birth of an ideological movement that would later gain notoriety under the name anarcho-primitivism.

This two-part series is intended to cover the major points of analysis in Kaczynski’s manifesto. This video will explore his psychological deconstruction of contemporary leftism which he identifies as symptomatic for the deeply troublesome state of our society. The second video will highlight his assessment of the negative relationship between technology and human freedom.

Kaczynski defines contemporary leftists mainly as “socialists, collectivists, ‘politically correct’ types, feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and the like”. What these fragmented groups all have in common though are two psychological tendencies: “Feelings of inferiority” and “over-socialization”. The former is a trait that is often found in hypersensitive minority rights activists, who seek to radically limit speech that they deem to be offensive. He identifies low self esteem and powerlessness as the origin for these zealous positions. To find up to date examples for this sort of behaviour one must look no further than to Black Lives Matter or LGBT activists, who continually obstruct discourse in the name of social justice. The most extreme activists among them are overwhelmingly University educated white heterosexual upper-middle class males, who defend minority groups precisely because they see them as inferior and therefore identify with them.

He attributes a postmodern mentality to them, as they constantly deconstruct anything that is “strong, good and successful” such as Western civilization itself. Leftists lack confidence in their own ability and therefore seek to construct a society in which the state takes care of everyone. The concept of competition goes against their intrinsic nature because they feel like losers. Leftists fight against the fabric of reality itself, because they cannot bear the fact that human behaviour and abilities are genetic. Any group that ends up in an inferior position within society therefore is not to be held accountable for their actions, but rather society at large. Kaczynski concludes that leftist have a “deficit in [their] sense of power and self-worth, but [they] can still convince of [themselves] as having the capacity to be strong”. This however is only the case in the framework of large movements or groups, because the leftists “cannot conceive of [themselves] as individually strong and valuable”.

A perfect example for this would be ANTIFA, a terrorist organization that engages in street violence, but only in the context of large anonymous groups. The high levels of hostility present in the leftist activist type are intended to satisfy their emotional needs for power. This became apparent during the American race riots this year, in which ANTIFA was heavily involved. Acts of violence and destruction in the name of racial justice actually create more hatred toward the group in whose name these acts are committed. The leftist activists do not believe in the surface level issues they purport to care about; they are merely a way for them to cope with their frustration. As Kaczynski put it: “If our society had no social problems at all, the leftists would have to INVENT problems in order to provide themselves with an excuse for making a fuss”.

The latter trait, oversocialization, applies to people who cannot think, feel or act within the moral framework of their society, without experiencing feelings of guilt and inadequacy. If a child is raised by excessive moral shaming, they will likely develop self-hatred. A common phenomenon that can be observed in Western education systems is the wide prevalence of white guilt and postcolonial narratives, that create a situation of oversocialization: Western children grow up ashamed of aspects of their identity that they cannot change such as ancestry or skin colour. These children are often so oversocialized, that they cannot even experience “unclean” thoughts that go against the accepted moral narrative of the Western truth regime. Kaczynski therefore proposes that the most zealous leftists, such as university intellectuals, are also the most oversocialized people in our society. Leftists might be perceived as rebels, but in reality they are the most radical supporters of the system – to such an extent even, that they start to accuse the system itself of failing its own moral framework.

Liberal democracy, the predominant ideology of the Western world, cements the belief in equality as one of its moral principles. Leftists tend to critique this system, not because they disagree with its premise, but because it is taking equality not far enough. Communism is therefore their preferred form, because it is the reductio ad absurdum of democratic morality. Another example in the manifesto is the American left’s struggle for black empowerment. In reality this is an attempt by them to integrate the African American community into the industrial system, by making them conform to white middle class ideals, such as holding a respectable job, climbing the status ladder, being a responsible parent and so forth. The leftists are so pathologically oversocialized, that even when they break with the norms of society – for example when they commit violence – they do it in the name of mainstream values, such as fighting for racial equality.

Kaczynski therefore concludes that leftism is the result of a society that increasingly socializes its population.

Furthermore, he describes the dangers of leftism resulting from this specific psychology: Leftists are intrinsically collectivist and only care about satisfying their need for power. “They seek to bind the world together into a unified whole.” This can only be achieved by removing human freedom through the centralization of technology. Leftists may pretend to oppose power structures, but history has shown that they will only do this until they capture the systems of social control for themselves. This was the case in the Soviet Union or even more recently in Western academia. As outsiders they opposed censorship, but once they took control, they reimplemented it stricter than ever before. Kaczynski points out that leftism is a sort of religion because its adherents need to believe in it, otherwise their entire psychological self-conception will fall apart.

By convincing themselves that their inferior slave morality is in fact the moral high ground, they create an emotional dependency that cannot be broken by mere facts and logic. He also identifies this aspect as the cause for the totalitarian tendencies in leftism. Leftists can never be satisfied, as their true intentions are the gain of power. Even if society would satisfy all of their current desires, within a few years the leftists would again succumb to their desire to complain about non-issues, just to impose their solutions on others. Because of their high levels of socialization, the leftists cannot pursue power in a normal way - they have to force their morality onto others. Their belief in the greater movement is so strong, that especially weaker leftist types can never doubt it in public, even if they disapprove of its actions in private.

Again, one can look to the George Floyd riots of this year, where the leftist mainstream media in particular would outright deny any acts of violence and looting committed by so-called “peaceful protesters”.

Kaczynski identifies collectivism, social engineering and a disdain for any form of competition as leftist characteristics. The most dangerous type according to him, however, are oversocialized crypto leftists: They tend to work under the cover of bourgeois methods towards achieving their ideologically and psychologically motivated goals. Groups that often fall into this category tend to be bureaucrats, journalists, teachers and lecturers that are true believers in a collectivist ideology.

Ted Kaczynski’s great achievement in his ideological deconstruction is the conclusion that leftism should rather be classified as a mental condition, instead of a coherent political movement. When viewed from this perspective, a lot of absurd positions held by leftists suddenly make sense:

They never intend to solve issues reasonably, but ratheraim to satisfy their pathological need for power. Ultimately, this is the reason why leftism is a dangerous totalitarian forcethat always ends up being incompatible with human freedom.