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I Am An English Teacher

If the Unibomber had only had a good English teacher, everything might have been different.

As you might remember, this guy sent bombs into universities injuring and killing people. Many years later, his brother found out about him and, after agonizing over it, turned him into the FBI; they then found him hiding out in a homemade cabin in Montana, arrested and convicted him.

His supposed reason for doing what he did was that he was upset that he couldn't get academia, or anyone else, to publish or even read his lengthy treatise on computers and their effect on society. At one point, he agreed to stop if a major newspaper would publish his paper intact and unedited. I believe the New York Times agreed to do this and published it alongside an article about him and his violent acts. If I remember right, he went right on being a bomber; maybe he didn't like the New York Times article about him.

I do remember that I [i]did[/i] read his treatise in full, as well as the Times article about him and his destructive ways.

Immediately, one thing struck me as soon as I began to read his paper--this guy was a stunningly boring writer! He wrote his paper in unnecessarily complex and amazingly long sentences. His thesis, all about the future of computers, was almost impossible to decipher, if indeed the reader didn't fall asleep first. Academic writing is some of the most boring writing to read anyway, but the Unibomber's screed was plodding and purposely obtuse. I struggled and got through it, sweated it out and eventually comprehended what he had to say, but I am quite sure not many did.

If only he had been in my English composition class! Perhaps with some coaching and a little practice, he might have worded his thoughts so that they would've been published in the first place.

He wrote about the down side of putting the PC into our society and making it part of our daily lives. He was quite intelligent and prescient about what was to come; social media making communication both easier yet in some ways less authentic, less immediately personal. He foresaw many types of cybercrimes and showed a responsible citizen's concern over how it could be a used in terms of voting and politics.

The guy no doubt needed a good psychiatrist early on in the game. By the time he had his intelligent but boring paper rejected a few times, he had completely lost his sense of humor. This is an unhealthy situation for any of us, but for him, and his victims, it turned tragic.

This dude really, really needed a good English composition teacher. I am sorry he was not in my class long before he went bad. I taught a lot of my classes at the state forensics mental hospital, so my class would've been perfect for him.

The value of a good English teacher--and early intervention in cases of mental illness--should never be underestimated.
MikeSp · 56-60, M
I don't think anything would have been different regarding the Unibomber. Many mass or serial murders are or were intelligent people, such as Ted Bundy. They committed their crimes, due in part, to a lack of conscience which is a common trait among virtually all criminals. If he were your student, he would have been a murderer who could write better than most.
greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@MikeSp You may well be right. I admit I took a light and facetious look at a complex subject. I've taught a lot of locked up sociopaths and many are exactly as you've described them.
GJOFJ3 · 61-69, M
I remember reading part of his treatise, but certainly didn't get much out of it. Bless your heart if you could make that rambling scrambling into a readable script
greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@GJOFJ3 The irony of it is that he turned out to be right about a lot of what he had to say.
GJOFJ3 · 61-69, M
@greenmountaingal Yes, he was very intelligent.
greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@GJOFJ3 Indeed he was. Of course, so were many of the university educated top Nazis.
Quizzical · 46-50, M
I feel very much the same about some of my lengthier posts that get few hearts 🤔
greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@Quizzical As long as you don't wind up hiding out in a cabin in Montana...It gets pretty cold there in wintertime.
Quizzical · 46-50, M
@greenmountaingal Unlikely... I haven't a clue where Montana is, lol
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greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@IstillmissEP I've heard that theory, but admit I have never read up on it. I will now do so. MKUltra and it's techniques certainly did a lot of damage in other cases I've read about, such as Sirhan Sirhan.

Don't know if you have seen it, but I highly recommend a film I saw recently, a very accurate historical drama about the CIA funded MKUltra experiments done in Montreal in Canada during the 1950s and 60s. It is a riveting drama made for Canadian television in the 90s. I found it for free on YouTube. The title is:
[i]The Sleep Room[/i]
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