Because You Never Asked

     (This essay was written in 1995 . I think.)

     I've been trying to piece this essay together for a number of weeks now, its inspiration being some repetitive news footage shown when the person alleged to be the "Unabomber" was taken into custody. The footage in question had me vaguely uneasy from the first time I saw it --- which, I repeat (repetition being the theme here), was shown to us every time the Unabomber story appeared on The Nightly News, Action News, Headline News, Business News, Financial News, Music News, Black News, Mulatto News, Gay-Lesbian AC-DC News, The World Today, The World Tomorrow, The World That We Make Up For You, The Week In Review, First Edition, Not So First Edition, Hello America, Get Your Ass Out Of Bed America, Good Riddance America, Rotate On This America, CNN Today, CNN Tomorrow, CNN On Mars, Internet, Windows, On Line, Off Line, Frontline, Hotline, Crossfire, Hellfire, Geraldo, Oprah, The Christian News Network, The Pagan News Network, we must give equal time in a free and open society, The News, The News, and the real news is we are more confused than ever, their attempts to perfectly misinform us having reached sublime, Herculean proportions --- More on this news footage later.

     Having pieced together the fragmentary accounts our wonderfully self-righteous news industry has given us, it is probable that the overall philosophy of the Unabomber could be looked upon with some degree of sympathy by this writer. This is not to say that my alienation has reached a point where I could murder people I still consider innocent, even if I might believe their way of life is mistaken. A world full of Unabombers saving us in such a way is undoubtedly less acceptable than the current "frequent flyer-business class" society he is lashing out at.

     Whatever kinship I might find with the Unabomber's worldview is premised upon his questioning of some of the most routinely accepted concepts of the predominant western mindset. We both dubiously assess our use of technology and question as to where this use is leading us. However, if my media induced understanding of the Unabomber is correct, we differ on some fundamental things: whereas the so-called Unabomber seems to consider the advance of technology an evil thing, I favor technological progress, not finding fault with the technology, but with the role it has taken on within a mistaken set of cultural values.

     As long as this technology is being manipulated in a society whose almost singular goal is to sell goods; as long as it is at the call of a society that gluttonously seeks more production; as long as it is the driving force in a society that seeks fulfillment almost purely through material acquisition; as long as the incentive to make money is the motor driving this technological explosion; as long as it is a function of our current economic system's way of developing and distributing the resources of this planet, the question as to whether this technology is a positive-constructive force or a negative-destructive one, will still be in doubt. Even if we accept the premise that this business incentive has accelerated our technological accomplishments (and I suppose I grudgingly do), I'd still be willing to rein in this acceleration in exchange for a more harmonious existence. What good is technological advancement if the system used to spur it on is setting us back emotionally?

     A classic example of wonderful technology used negatively is the automobile. Because our economic system demands the sale of millions of vehicles every year; because this system demands the delivery of billions and billions of dollars worth of goods everyday; because this system demands that the millions of people who are the employees of this system get in their cars and ride off to work each day; because these vehicles demand a noxious fuel, not because we can't find a substitute for this fuel, but because our economic system dictates its use, the wonderful nature of this splendid invention has been perverted. Our life style, based almost exclusively on consumeristic incentives, is "satanizing" the use of our technological genius. We artificially induce people to need more and more, enslaving ourselves to the intricacy of the technology needed to make it all work and the search for the fuel to power it. The important ecological questions that have become so fashionable to trumpet these days, are only a part of a much bigger problem, that being the psychic effects of this competitive, stressful way of life.

     It's not the technology that's leading us astray, Mr. Unabomber, but the economic system it's being forced to operate in.

     One of the reasons I've continued to live in my current home for more than 23 years is the opportunity to live without owning a car. The terrain is flat, the distances short, and the bicycle has become my primary form of transport. Even in such circumstances, in specific moments of need, I will ride the bus, rent a car, or hire a taxi. The automobile is put to wonderful use everyday.

     But the fossil fuel burning habit has become an addiction that is greatly abused and difficult to kick. Most disconcerting is the behavior of the mobs of tourists that come to my town each year. In spite of the fact that a bicycle can be rented for almost nothing, they overwhelmingly choose (10 to 1?) to go belching and farting around town on noisy, filth-burning mopeds. Unlike the Unabomber, who I'm sure would agree in calling such moped madness an anti-social act, I will not start sniping at these people for their mistaken behavior. My sniping will be confined to writing these plaintive cries from the obscure wilderness of my humble home, an admittedly feeble act, but the only civilized recourse now open to me.

     I mention my preference for the cleanliness of self-powered, bicycle use, because it ties in with the news footage that inspired this essay (I told you I'd get back to it). It is probable that when the Unabomber becomes news again (his trial, etc.), this footage will be dragged out and we will see the rustic wood cabin --- no two car garage, no central air, no refrigerator busily plunking ice cubes into a tray while we sleep --- in the woods of the Rocky Mountain wilderness. You remember his cabin, don't you? Do you remember the bicycle in this familiar scene of the Unabomber Estate?

     Our news industry's portrayal of the bicycle is what caught my attention. They did not look positively upon this innocent bike, as I would have. With their usual fine crafted ability for subliminal suggestion, the bike was given a villainous role, as if it were an accomplice to this man who blew up strangers in carefully devised crimes of cultural protest . and did not use a car! "He got up, got out of bed, pulled a comb across his head" . and did not ride off in a car. This is, ipso facto, a suspicious act. Where is your car, Mr. Unabomber?

     The bike must be sitting in some FBI storage room, a numbered tag on its handlebars, an incriminating piece of evidence.