John Jacobi
John Jacobi is an American radical conservationist writer, best known for advocating the ideas of Ted Kaczynski.[1] He has published numerous articles on rewilding, primitivism, and the negative effects of technological civilization.
Life
Jacobi was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States and raised in Alabama and North Carolina. After graduating high school he traveled to Chapel Hill to get involved in anarchist politics, and there he was introduced to the works of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. During this time he made inroads with the radical environmentalist and green anarchist subcultures,[2][3] and shortly after began corresponding with Kaczynski and some of his political associates in Spain.[1][4]
In 2014 he enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he began two student conservation magazines that advocated societal collapse as the only way to solve the modern world's ecological and social problems.[1][2] One magazine, The Wildernist, published works from several well-known conservationists and early founders of the radical environmental movement. Notably during this period he wrote an article for the publication Dark Mountain that defended Kaczynski and his ideas, as well as his use of political violence.[5] He also manages one of the largest online archives of Ted Kaczynski's writings, believed to have influenced the revival of interest in Kaczynski's ideas.[6]
In 2017 Jacobi dropped out of college to hitchhike through the U.S., ending up on a primitivist commune in Western North Carolina. There he experimented with the possibility that humans could live alternative ways of life, but after several months he returned to Chapel Hill, convinced that political action was necessary.
Views
Jacobi believes that the development of civilization is inherently counter to human needs and human freedom in particular. In "Taking Rewilding Seriously" he argues that the expansion of technological environments does not only destroy the external environment, but makes it necessary to modify human beings psychologically.[7] According to Jacobi, this is an unavoidable consequences of civilization, since civilized life is fundamentally contrary to the nomadic hunter/gatherer existence humans lived for their millions of years of pre-history.
Works
- "Ted Kaczynski and Why He Matters," Dark Mountain
- "Taking Rewilding Seriously," Dark Mountain
- "Apostles and Heretics," Atassa, no. 1[8]
- Repent to the Primitive
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Henderson, John (December 2018). "The Unlikely New Generation of Unabomber Acolytes". http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/the-unabomber-ted-kaczynski-new-generation-of-acolytes.html.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smith, Ian Erik (2015-01-11). "Interview with John F. Jacobi" (in en). https://uncivilizedanimals.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/interview-with-john-f-jacobi/.
- ↑ Carico, John (2016-04-15). "Interview with Wildist John F Jacobi" (in en-US). https://thefifthcolumnnews.com/2016/04/interview-with-wildist-john-f-jacobi/.
- ↑ Hennessy, J R (2016-09-19). "The End of the Whole Mess". https://medium.com/@jrhennessy/the-end-of-the-whole-mess-42a3fd34d21e.
- ↑ Jacobi, John (2016-05-06). "Ted Kaczynski and Why He Matters" (in en-GB). https://dark-mountain.net/ted-kaczynski-and-why-he-matters/.
- ↑ Hanrahan, Jake (2018-08-01). "Inside the Unabomber's odd and furious online revival". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unabomber-netflix-tv-series-ted-kaczynski.
- ↑ Jacobi, John (2017-07-31). "Taking Rewilding Seriously" (in en-GB). https://dark-mountain.net/taking-rewilding-seriously/.
- ↑ "Atassa 1: readings in eco-extremism" (in en). https://littleblackcart.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=614.