I think just considering the difference between Kaczynski and McVeigh is an interesting one. As people, to the extent that we know them, they were entirely different. As narratives, entirely different. And as well in terms of their own consciousness of what they were doing, apparently entirely different.
I have no interest in the life of Ted Kaczynski. I can read what he wrote–I don't agree with the main premise, but I appreciate its being written–and that's all I need. I feel I know everything about the man, expressed with impressive clarity. I don't feel there's anything in his relatively ineffectual acts or in his hermitage of any value beyond the extent that his lifestyle and his actions allowed that text to crystallize.
McVeigh, on the other hand, wrote little of note. His essay on "hypocrisy" is an interesting look at the limits that his reaction (and it is not a reaction isolated to him) to imperialism could possibly reach. His statements during the 60 Minutes interview get even closer:
>I went over there, hyped up, just like everyone else–not only is Saddam evil, all Iraqis are evil. What I experienced was an entirely different ball game. And being face to face with these people, you realize, they're just people.<It's hard for people to come to grips with you as the same person who was commended by the army, as being the same person who was convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing. They cant put the two together.>I do understand. Many people say, well Tim, if we think you're guilty, imagine the paradox. In the Gulf war, you were given medals for killing people. So I've faced that issue quite a few times.<How do you explain it?>At that point, I usually just leave it at that. And say that…it is an interesting paradox.He couldn't express himself–he already had. The only real statement of truth that Timothy McVeigh ever made was in the singular bombing itself, which must stand as the greatest artistic statement to have come from the US in the twentieth century. It is the purest juxtaposition–the daycare in an Iraqi institution is a "shield"; the daycare in a US federal government building makes it an atrocity–that once illustrated, demands no further words. Everything else about his story–wh
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