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Note
When I wrote my first version of Truth versus Lies I had not had access to the written reports (Qb and Qc) of Scharlette Holdman and her investigators. Later, when I received copies of those reports, I had doubts as to whether Scharlette and her investigators had accurately recounted what their interviewees had said, and I also wondered whether they had manipulated the interviewees in order to elicit the kinds of statements that the investigators wanted. But I felt I needed to deal with the investigators' reports in the book in order to make sure that no one would think I was suppressing important information. I therefore rewrote Truth versus Lies , inserting a good deal of discussion of material from the investigators' reports.
I now wish I had left most of that material out of the book altogether, because its reliability is open to so much doubt that I consider it worthless.
In Appendix 10, written in 1998, I outlined some reasons for being skeptical about the reports of Scharlette Holdman and her investigators. A few years later, Scharlette and my friend, the late Joy Richards, were both involved in the disposition of my cabin, which had been moved from Montana to Sacramento and was then in the custody of the Federal Defenders Office. At that time Scharlette told Joy that the State of California had claimed the right to take possession of the cabin. Actually it was not the State of California but the Federal Government that had claimed the cabin, as Scharlette should have known. Scharlette never explained this error on her part; in fact, she never afterward answered any communication from Joy or from me. Needless to say, this incident intensified my doubts about Scharlette's ability to collect and report accurate information.
But there is something else that is much more important. At several points in Truth versus Lies I cited a declaration (Da) that my father's old friend, the late Ralph Meister, had signed at the urging of Scharlette and her collaborators. Much of the declaration was true, but some parts were false, and it was not clear how Ralph could have known even the true information contained in the declaration. So in July 2005 I sent Ralph a copy of his declaration and invited him to comment on it. In response he sent me a signed statement (reproduced below) in which he repudiated the entire declaration.
Clearly Scharlette and her collaborators manipulated Ralph Meister into signing a declaration that he would never have signed if he had been free of improper influence. It therefore seems very probable that Scharlette and her people similarly manipulated some of the other individuals whom they interviewed. Consequently, the reader should disregard all information in this book that is attributed to Investigator #2 (Scharlette Holdman), Investigator #3 (Gary Sowards), Investigator #5 (Charlie Pizarro), or Investigator #6 (Susan Garvey). The information to be disregarded includes, among other things, all information cited from Qb and Qc, since Qc consists entirely of information provided by Investigator #2, and most of the information in Qb was provided by Investigator #2, Investigator #5, Investigator #6, or other investigators working for Scharlette Holdman.
On the other hand, I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the information provided by Investigator #1 (Betsy Anderson), Investigator #4 (Jackie Tully) or Investigator #7 (Nancy Pemberton), none of whom worked closely with Schalette.
I ought to rewrite Truth versus Lies to eliminate all dependence on information reported by Scharlette Holdman and her collaborators, but for the foreseeable future I won't have time to do that. So, for the time being the book must remain in its present from, though with the foregoing warning to the reader.
Ted Kaczynski
May 15, 2007
[Transcription by TJK, 5/16/07]
March 5, 2006 Sunday
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 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. MeisterWitness: [signature: Janice Powell(?)]
Witness: [signature: Amy Incendela]
Date: 3/19/06
TRUTH versus LIES by Ted Kaczynski*
"An odd principle of human psychology, well known and exploited. . . holds that even the silliest of lies can win credibility by constant repetition."
--- Stephen Jay Gould **
* Copyright 1998 by Theodore John Kaczynski
** "The Paradox of the Visibly Irrelevant," Natural History, Volume 106, Number 11, December 1997/January 1998, p. 12.
Foreword
Though it's the first part of the book, this foreword is the last part to be written. Its purpose is only to tie up some loose ends.
To begin with, while this book contains a great deal of autobiographical material, it is not an autobiography. At some later time I hope to tell the real story of my life, especially of my inner development and the changes in my outlook that took place over the decades.
Before my arrest I never thought there was anything unusual about my long-term memory. I knew that I remembered things more accurately than my parents or my brother did, but that wasn't saying much. Since my arrest, however, several members of my defense team have told me that my long-term memory is unusually good. (See Appendix 11.) This is their opinion; I am not in a position to prove to the reader that it is correct. There are a few items in this book for which I have relied entirely on memory and which someone who is not locked up would be able to check against documentary evidence. If anyone should take the trouble to dig up the relevant documents, I hope I will prove to have been right with regard to most if not all of these items; but, whether that turns out to be the case or not, the number of such items is too small to provide a secure evaluation of my long-term memory.
However, the point I want to make here is that even if the reader doubts the accuracy of my memories or my honesty in reporting them, enough of the material in this book is supported by documentary evidence and/or corroborating testimony to establish that media reports about me have been wildly unreliable, and that in its most important aspects my account of myself and my family relationships is substantially correct.
As for my use of names, I almost always use the full names of persons who have spoken about me to the media. When referring to persons who have not spoken to the media I usually give names only in abbreviated form.
Some of the facts and incidents that I recount in this book will be embarrassing to the persons concerned. However, I assure the reader that my motive has not been to embarrass anyone, but to bring out the truth and correct false impressions, for which purpose it has sometimes been necessary to demonstrate the unreliability of an informant or show the factors that may have distorted his reports. If I had wanted to embarrass people there are other facts I could have related that would have caused a good deal of additional embarrassment.