POLITICAL EXTREMISM AND VIOLENCE--- THE UNABOMBER

Victor Bloom MD

Reports of the capture of the probable Unabomber brings to consciousness the tendency for political extremism to prompt an unbalanced person to go over the edge. Ted Koczynski is very bright, but unstable. He tried to hide his mental disturbance by withdrawing from society and interpersonal contact, retreating to a small cabin in the wilderness, without electricity or water. He was a survivalist, and reading his Manifesto, it was clear that he rationalized the use of violence to make war on what he thought were evils of society. These included academics, industrialists, public relations experts and scientists. People who feel small and weak want to make a powerful impact. He rationalized violence because some environmental extremists also thought that violence was necessary to make an impact, for instance, on the logging industry.

A few months before, an Israeli extremist, assasinated the prime minister, Yitzakh Rabin, hoping to curtail the peace process. A Talmudic scholar, the young man was convinced by extremist orthodox rabbis that a certain interpretation of a passage in the Torah gave permission to kill a person who was a threat to the Jewish people. Rabin was considered a threat to the security of Israel because he broke the rule of "no land for peace", and shook hands with the former enemy and terrorist, Yasr Arafat. Rabin was considered by some to be an enemy to the security of Israel, and it was rationalized that killing him would be an act of "self-defense" and therefore indicated. The extremist rabbis were considered by many to be religious fanatics, and urged to moderate their teachings.

A few months before that, a young man shot and killed several people in an abortion clinic. He was also unbalanced, but convinced by radical pro-lifers that the doctors and nurses were murderers, and they needed to be stopped from killing any more babies (fetuses). The abortion clinics were likened to the Nazi genocide, which good people would want to stop, by violence if necessary. As a result, a doctor was killed, along with other assistants, to spread fear among those who would support abortions. Some clergymen supported the violent act, but fortunately, most religious leaders condemned the action. Where is the 'sanctity of life' if those who support life would kill?

Before that, we remember the man who shot many passeners on a commuter train in Long Island. His defense attorney, the now deceased Kunstler, argued "black rage", suggesting that the enslavement of African-Americans and their continued disadvantaged state could drive a sensitive person over the edge and commit a form of justifiable homicide. The implication is that many other blacks could also act out their hatred of whites. Here again, politics and ideology could push a person into commiting violence and murder.

Similarly, the various inner-city riots were rationalized and excused. It is as if people who are angry can justifiably murder and destroy. It is time to reconsider extremist ideologies on the basis that they lead to irrational and antisocial acts. The vast majority of mentally ill and unbalanced individuals are conforming and trustworthy as the rest of us, who are, fortunately, a bit less unbalanced. We are all susceptible to messages in the media, perhaps now more than ever, but we try to evaluate those messages and consider what actions, if any, are necessary to promote fairness and justice in our society. We have at our disposal the vote, the spoken word and the written word.

We are protected by the First Amendment to free speech, but there are limitations. We must not yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater; we cannot organize a demonstration without a permit, we cannot incite to riot or call for the overthrow of the government or start an insurrection. The point is that we should obey the law and consider the common good; therefore, since we are all in the same society; there is no "we" and "they". All Americans are "us".

Whatever changes have to be made should be made without violence, destructiveness or assasination. We need, as a society, to restore the principles of Jesus, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. Each assasination was followed by an increase in violence. Violence begets violence, and the media is full of it and we seem to crave more and more of it. This is evidenced by the box-office receipts.

In order to improve our society and the social order, we should incline more toward moderation than extremism, watch what we say, what others say, and think carefully about consequences.