Ted Kaczynski’s Correspondence with Stella & Ralph Meister

Sources

Plus, the book Truth versus Lies by Ted Kaczynski.

Ted to Stella — Unknown Date (T-161)

Dear Mrs. Meister,

Having composed some duets, I want to show them off to someone, and I have chosen you as my victim. The rhythm of the “Martian Dance” may sound perculiar at first, but it doesn’t once you get into the swing of it. The Minuet I composed a long time ago and I regard it as inferior, but I threw it in anyway just for the hell of it. Taking a page from J.S. Bach’s book, I have so arranged that when the first piece is played upside down and backwards, it spells out the letters of my name, over and over, in varying permutations taken from the alternating group on 18 letters. The second piece is not actually my own composition — I cribbed it from Euclid’s Elements*. The third piece is a paper that I intend to publish in the American Journal of Mathematics as soon as I get around to translating the music into mathematical notation. I have almost finished 2 more marches and am working on a waltz, but I won’t be able to quite complete these until I have resolved Fermate Conjuncture. [...]

Ted to Stella — Unknown Date (T-162)

Dear Stella:

You write “I wish in this lifetime I could master enough math to enjoy what you had in your head when you ‘composing’.” So I had best make it clear that I was being purely facetious when I wrote all that stuff about mathematics in the music. All nonsense. Of course, it was the first time in my life that I was even facetious, and I promise never to be facetious again. As for learning “how it really should be played” — really, it’s nothing so pretensious — correct timing and intonation is all there is to it. And don’t talk about “appraising the work technically.” It is not serious music. If it is fun to play, that’s all I intended. Now, if I were to compose seriously ... well, let me hark back a few years. When I was in Leyden in 1886, I happened to encounter a gentleman of [ILLEGIBLE] extraction who proffered me, at a relatively modest price, a fiddle which he privately assured me was an impeccable ...

Ted to Stella — Unknown Dates (T-160, T-164, T-165, T-166 & T-170)

The Adventures of H. Bascomb Thurgood

Episode 1

When I was in Leyden in 1886 I happened to encounter a gentleman Hebraic extraction who professed at a relatively modest price, which he positively assured me was impeccably attested ...

Episode 7

...

I was returning to my hotel as it was very late on the evening of the third day when I saw three sinister-looking individuals lurking in a dark alleyway. They immediately began approaching in such a stiff and cautious way, frequently glancing at one another their shifty eyes, that my suspicions were aroused. Nevertheless I stood my ground, awaiting their approach. As they advanced I recognised one of them as the notorious “Doctor” Simon Biolivar Brascardio de Escudo y Rodas himself, chief agent of the infamous “Professor” B.L.W. Neggro.

Episode 8

There could no longer be any doubt of their murderous intention. I accordingly assumed my Sumo-wrestling stance and loudly challenged them to come forward one by one and meet me in single combat like honorable gentlemen. But, scoundrels that they were, their only response was to draw thin revolvers, and being unarmed I was reduced to the indignity of taking to my heel amidst a hail of bullets. In my youth I was a skilled runner ...

Ralph to Ted — March 5, 2006

Refutation of Declaration

To Whom it may concern:

On July 18, 2005, Theodore John Kaczynski asked me in a personal correspondence to reconsider a declaration I made on February 2, 1997. This document is written in response to that request. The information and opinions herein represent the truth to the best of my knowledge and correct the declaration that while in fact has been signed by me, upon re–reading, I now feel strongly misrepresents my statements and the true meaning of those statements.

So much of the declaration is false statements it is difficult to separate what is true. Paragraphs 1 through 4 are true.

I strongly object to the indiscriminate and inflammatory use of the word intellectual which appears 12 times in this short statement; true intellectual, intellectual subjects, to be an intellectual, intellectual world, intellectual image, intellectual thought, intellectual giant, this “almost from the day he was born” rubbish, intellectual development, intellectual ideals, again intellectual development, successful intellectual, intellectual investment, intellectual achievement, I propose to strike every use of the word, intellectual. In the declaration, it is obviously misused and meant to mislead.

Theodore Kaczynski’s mother Wanda wanted her sons to be smart just like every mother wants their children to be smart and successful in life, to have the things she never had, just like every mother who has had an especially difficult life and wants to improve herself and provide an example for her sons and steer them in the right direction. After her sons were older, Wanda went to college and became a school teacher. Her sons both pursued a college education. Wanda followed a generally accepted method of raising intelligent children. In my experience with testing children, many many parents wanted to get their child into kindergarten or first grade early, as soon as the child passed intellect barriers. My wife, Stella, had a friendly competitiveness with Wanda since their oldest children were born months apart and they compared progress. My objection is that the declaration portrays Wanda as an extremist, a neurotic who “seemed to have only an intellectual (dirty word) investment” in her son, once again, rubbish. She was a loving and devoted mother and I never meant otherwise.

In paragraph 7, the first sentence is obviously impossible and once again, inflammatory. Also, she was not “obsessed with his intellectual development.” In the third sentence, all mothers record milestones, what is religious about baby books?

Paragraph 8 is another complete fabrication, total out of control fabrication. I repeat, the last sentence, “She seemed to have only an intellectual investment in Teddy John” is pure mean spirited nonsense.

I totally reject paragraphs 9 and 10. These are not my words, they sound like a script from a soap opera on television. In fact, considering knowledge I did have of the Kaczynski’s home life during these years, I could never have reasonably made the statements in paragraphs 9 and 10, and if I did state anything similar to what was signed, I now realize I was being completely biased and unjustly judgemental. The words “badly injured”, “feared social contact”, “social deficiencies”, “lost control and verbally abused”, “lied to protect”, “intense pressure”, are not what I remember at all. No one but Teddy John could have known exactly how he was feeling, and the last two sentences are pure conjecture, more soap opera script. Finally, and most importantly, I never once felt that the Kaczynski family needed any sort of counseling and I never recommended they seek professional help. That fact in itself says more about their homelife than all the hypothesizing and colored statements in this faulty declaration.

Paragraph 11 is close to accurate. My wife, Stella Meister greatly admired Theodore for the manner in which he lived alone in the mountains. She corresponded with him for many years and looked up to him as a true aesthete. She more than I understood what joy and solace Theodore found living in the mountains. “Protection from social deficiencies”, Stella certainly never ever would have thought that. “Autonomy in the absence of other social skills represents salvation.” What great philosopher thought of that one, it does not apply here. Unfortunately, the last sentence of the declaration is just too profound.

In short, I believe that it would be best to refute the declaration I signed in its entirety, and in the future think twice before I sign a declaration written by someone else who may have questionable motives rather than seeking the truth. I hereby do exact exactly that. I, Ralph K. Meister, refute the entire attached declaration that I signed on February 2, 1997.

Sincerely,

Ralph K. Meister

[signature: Ralph K. Meister]

Witness: [signature: Janice Powell (?)]

Witness: [signature: Amy Incendela]

Date: 3/19/06