Ted Kaczynski's funny burn of Student Insurgent newspaper

The Student Insurgent newspaper at the University of Oregon sent out free issues of its lefty student newspaper to any prisoners who wanted one, though it seems some also got sent to people who it turns out very much didn't, such was the case for Ted Kaczynski:

“I would really appreciate it if you would stop sending me the UO Student Insurgent. You are wasting precious natural resources by doing so, because every time I receive a copy, I just throw it straight in the trash. I kept the latest issue only long enough to get your address from it so I could write you this letter.”

They published the above note in their letters section of the next issue, along with this note in their editorial:

“Oh, and we also received a warm salutation from Theodour [sic] John Kaczynski, affectionately known as the Unabomber. Cheers man! We know how much you loved our kind in your more active days and, hey, maybe sometime [sic] in our office could show you how to construct an actually functioning pipe bomb.”

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Appendix

Here's a funny advert in the Earth First! Journal in 1996, where it seems the Student Insurgent were promoting a primitivist-esque fundraising event. They asked students to donate appliances they wanted to excise from their life, plus the lives of their friends and enemies, so that they could be smashed up by the highest bidder. Then the money would go towards taking action to help defend the salmon runs:

Second Annual Appliance Bash

The madness driven by the gleeful whirl, hum, and flash of many, many appliances as they suck down the power of rivers and dash what is left of the region's salmon runs is once again reaching critical mass. It is high time to start smashing.

Tentatively set for early March in Eugene, Oregon, will be the second annual Appliance Bash. Appliances or anything else that plugs in will be auctioned off, with the smashing going to the highest bidder. Implements of destruction will be provided and proceeds will 100 percent benefit direct action efforts in the defense of the wild salmon.

We need donations of all your appliances, your friend's appliances, and especially sought after are appliances belonging to Larry Craig, Mark Hatfield and Slade Gorton. They can be dropped off at the Student Insurgent office (ERB Memorial Union, University of Oregon) or call (541) 942-8589.

Salmon are the most beautiful, mysterious, and powerful critters to ever grace our planet.

For centuries they have been the life and blood of our region, shaping its culture, economy, and religion. We cannot stand idle as they die. Donate ! and stay tuned for further information.

Here is how the journal advertised itself in Anarchy; A Journal of Desire Armed in 1995:

The Student Insurgent Vol. 6, #7 (1228 U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1228) "The Newspaper of the Left on the University of Oregon campus," 12 pp. This Issue: Chiapas and NAFTA, marijuana activism, Indonesian army repression in East Timor, Black History Month, campaign to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, plus several poems. Subscriptions are $15/yr; free if you're a U. of Oregon student.

Finally, here are some passing reviews of the journal:

Quoting Igniting a Revolution in 2006:

Five years had passed when George Bush Sr. started his pet war in Iraq. Protests sprang up across the state and I followed the corporate news stories about the anti-war anarchists being handily defeated by the long arm of the law. One day at school, a kid I knew handed me a newspaper called The Student Insurgent. I took it home and read an analysis of the war I had not previously been exposed to. My first encounter with alternative media brought tears to my eyes and anger to my heart. 1 would never trust my television again. One page had several pictures of victims of the US bombings alongside an announcement for a rally against the war that very night. Soon I found myself down at the Federal Building for my first protest, and my first confrontation with law enforcement.

Quoting John Zerzan in 2023:

I might have a little report on the Radical Anthropology Group in London. Jamie and I are frankly getting a little bit impatient with the how radical it is, or how radical it isn't, but a group of scholars and they do think of themselves as radical and one can be a little bit disappointed as to the pace of people turning into a deeper critique.

And I notice just walking through the EMU studio this evening to the station. The student Insurgent. This is the despair issue is just the concern. Just before the show. Yeah, despair issue. And there's a fair amount about anarcho nihilism. I thought that was only. Some kind of kooky anarchist you talking about nihilism a lot, but. Yeah, there's a piece called introduction to anarcho nihilism. I don't know where the anarcho comes from. There has never been any anarchy in in in the student insurgent. I forget to say, say the name of the magazine student insurgent been around forever, decades and decades. It's always been clunky. Socialism occasionally put a circle in there somewhere, but it's it's really far from anarchy, the spirit of anarchy, or the substance of anarchy. If you want my opinion. 'Who are you to say what's anarchist and what isn't?' Well, I've been reading it quite a while and that's the take I have. I don't know who would actually defended it as anarchists, and so this.

I mean, it's not without any interesting stuff. I mean there are some. Somewhat interesting articles about all sorts of things, but. There's one called anarchist leaks. The TSA no fly list. I guess this was a surprise to somebody who found, found himself or herself on the No fly list. Anyways, yeah, you know this. This and that in the magazine. I don't know, conceivably someday it'll be somewhere in the anarchy world. Who knows? It would be odd if nihilism is the door to anarchy for the Student Insurgent, but who knows? Who the heck knows?

Well, I want to let's get into some political news, some resistance news here...