Under no circumstances did they ‘have to hand it to him.’ That’s the lesson CBS News seemed incapable of comprehending during this past weekend’s Sunday Morning when veteran journalist Ted Koppel led off the show’s programming with a story about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s brother, which featured a chat where they touted how the terrorist and murderer may have been right about somethings. They also hinted that his nearly two decades of terror was the only way that people could look back on his warnings about technology.
The main crux of the story was about the journey David Kaczynski had under taken since 1997 to try to make amends with his brother’s victims. “David began contacting family members of those killed and injured by his brother's bombs to apologize. Most did not engage, but Gary Wright did,” Koppel noted.
Throughout the story, Koppel marveled at Ted Kaczynski’s writings and his own reflections of his reign of terror:
KOPPEL: Do you remember what he wrote as to his motivation for using the violence?
D. KACZYNSKI: Yeah. He said it was to take revenge against society.
KOPPEL: More than that. More than that, he says, “if we had never done anything violent and had submitted the present writings to a publisher, they probably would not have been accepted. In order to get our message before the public with some chance of making a lasting impression, we've had to kill people.” Wow.
Kaczynski's manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” seemed to have a position of prominence in Koppel’s mind.
“As for Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, it's doubtful that it would have received the attention it has without the campaign of violence he unleashed. He got that part right. We're still talking about the carnage almost 50 years later,” he pontificated.
Koppel even questioned Wright, one of Kaczynski’s victims, asking if he had read the manifesto. Surprisingly, Wright said he did and agreed with some of the arguments made in it:
KOPPEL: Have you ever read it?
GARY WRIGHT: Read it? Yeah.
KOPPEL: What do you make of it?
WRIGHT: There is some truth to it. When you is to make the choice between technology and something else, you lose some freedoms.
David Kaczynski chimed in and touted how his brother was “kind of prophetic” in his warnings about technology:
His essential argument was that we think technology gives us more control over our lives, but at a certain point it becomes an illusion. In some ways to looks kind of prophetic as we are looking at A.I., artificial intelligence. Will this take away from us our ability to think through things? Will we replace human creativity and human thought with something inhuman?
Of course, they story ended with a wink and a nudge toward today’s political climate and coming together:
KOPPEL: But in what was otherwise a very dark story, it does offer an unexpected glimmer of hope.
D. KACZYNSKI: I think Gary has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. It shows that friendship across difference and barriers is really possible. It helped to heal my belief in the possibility that he human beings can live together in peace, in mutual respect, and in love.
It’s kind of difficult to take Koppel’s lip service about different sides coming together seriously when he was just suggesting that the Unabomber’s terror campaign had some upsides.
Clearly, the liberal media’s recent pearl clutching about political rhetoric and violence was all for show; especially when they were arguing that certain violence was warranted for the right cause and given enough time.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS News Sunday Morning
September 28, 2025
9:16:34 a.m. Eastern(…)
TED KOPPEL: As for Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, it's doubtful that it would have received the attention it has without the campaign of violence he unleashed. He got that part right. We're still talking about the carnage almost 50 years later.
Have you ever read it?
GARY WRIGHT: Read it? Yeah.
KOPPEL: What do you make of it?
WRIGHT: There is some truth to it. When you is to make the choice between technology and something else, you lose some freedoms.
DAVID KACZYNSKI: His essential argument was that we think technology gives us more control over our lives, but at a certain point it becomes an illusion. In some ways to looks kind of prophetic as we are looking at A.I., artificial intelligence. Will this take away from us our ability to think through things? Will we replace human creativity and human thought with something inhuman?
KOPPEL: Ted Kaczynski died by suicide in prison in 2023. He was already dying of cancer. He never reconciled with his brother. But Gary Wright, one of his victims, has become one of David Kaczynski's closest friends. You are an unlikely pair.
WRIGHT: I agree with that.
KOPPEL: Because?
WRIGHT: I look around the world today, and I don't find many folks who cross the courtroom and come to some reconciliation.
KOPPEL: I always try to keep a little space in the back of my head for one guy who is saying, ‘come on, Koppel, this is really weird.’
WRIGHT: Yeah, I would agree with you. I am not going to tell you there is a script for this.
KOPPEL: But in what was otherwise a very dark story, it does offer an unexpected glimmer of hope.
KACZYNSKI: I think Gary has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. It shows that friendship across difference and barriers is really possible. It helped to heal my belief in the possibility that he human beings can live together in peace, in mutual respect, and in love.