Old Darb Alum Speaks Out

Editor’s Note: The following is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The California Tech.

Like many in the greater Caltech community, I’m sure I’m not the only one who was stunned when I heard that Caltech alum Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate President Trump. Already the conspiracy theories have spread throughout the internet. A false flag? After the moon landing was faked, NASA wants us to believe we flew a helicopter on Mars? Yipes.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, I’m including the beginning text of an email sent by Cole just minutes before he rushed the magnetometers. It was published by the Washington Post, and copied to Darbnet, the email list of Dabney Hovse alums. As a scientist, I see this text as raw data, that should serve as the basis for all further discussion of this topic. Journalists see this as a primary source on which to anchor the narrative. Well, at least they should.

Right now, we are at an inflection point. The story may fade into the distance, or it may spark a historic tidal shift in global politics. Most likely it will be somewhere in between, and the exact outcome may depend more on the butterflies in Tuvalu than anything we do.

I’m writing this letter as a fellow Caltech alum, who feels like many of Cole’s experiences at Caltech and the following years are similar to my own. His letter powerfully resonates with me, and I suspect it does with countless other alums as well. Especially the line “What my representatives do reflects on me.” It would be easy to see this as a dumb mistake made by a mentally ill guy. I don’t see it that way at all.

Before going any further, please read for yourself:

In Cole’s own words:

Hello everybody! So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today. Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused. I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for “Most Wanted.” I apologize to my colleagues and students for saying I had a personal emergency (by the time anyone reads this, I probably most certainly DO need to go to the ER, but can hardly call that not a self-inflicted status). I apologize to all of the people I traveled next to, all the workers who handled my luggage, and all the other non-targeted people at the hotel who I put in danger simply by being near. I apologize to everyone who was abused and/or murdered before this, to all those who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure. I don’t expect forgiveness, but if I could have seen any other way to get this close, I would have taken it. Again, my sincere apologies. On to why I did any of this: I am a citizen of the United States of America.What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. (Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.) While I’m discussing this, I’ll also go over my expected rules of engagement (probably in a terrible format, but I’m not military so too bad).

The email continues with his rebuttals and objections to rebuttals, which are easily available elsewhere. I read this and think there must be millions of others who feel the same way. These are not the words of an insane person. These are the words of a very intelligent, compassionate person who has been cornered and pushed to the brink. No longer willing to allow horrific crimes to be committed in his name, but feeling there were very limited opportunities to do something about it.

I know full well the internet trolls will go ballistic over this. But that’s okay. The truth will persist long after their echos have faded. I hope Cole will read this and know that he’s not alone in this apocalypse. It’s easy to say that an assassination attempt is a colossally bad idea. Well, obviously. And so is going about your day as if everything is fine. As if extreme weather isn’t generating hurricanes more powerful than we’ve ever seen. As if the arctic ice sheet isn’t melting. As if $38 trillion in national debt is someone else’s problem. As if science is irrelevant and critical thinking is un-American. As if.

Well, the primary goal of this letter is to encourage others to work collectively to create opportunities that Cole could not develop on his own. Obviously, taking up weapons is not the answer, and no human being should ever be faced with such a choice. A trolley problem of galactic proportions.

Attacking individual people won’t do it. Violence just creates more violence. Destroying property won’t do it. The billionaires won’t suffer the financial losses; it’s the rest of us who will. The answer is to connect one-on-one with other people. To work together to build resilience and independence within this collapsing empire. The system we live in is inherently unstable. We are not at Lagrange Points 4 and 5. We are at 1, 2, or 3. The Trojan Asteroids don’t have to do any work. Unfortunately, we do.

It may feel like we are at the bottom of a pit, but the view from the pinnacle gives us opportunities. We just have to open our eyes and look around. We have to be extraordinarily creative as we develop these opportunities. Techers can do that. Yes, we actually did fly a helicopter on Mars. Voting blue and hoping for the best is clearly not going anywhere. Giant public protests in the streets certainly have their value, but are clearly not enough to turn the tide right now.

Many valuable lessons can be learned from what has happened at Harvard and at several other institutions across the country. We don’t have the walled campus that Harvard has. We don’t need it. Harvard has all the money, but Caltech has all the brains. (Settle down, internet trolls—judicious use of metaphor here!).

I was very disappointed to see that the Harvard administration was at odds with the students, rather than provide a space for thoughtful debate on a serious issue affecting us all. All members of the Caltech community must work together on this. This is what we do. This is who we are. Internal squabbles cannot be allowed to mutate into internal enemies. The real enemy is the disintegration of higher education and trust in science, and the social consequences that follow.

Case in point: Brute-force Ditch Day stacks may be fun, but it’s the much more elaborate ones that are really unique to Caltech. I may have invented the “switch stack.” A simple board of 42 wall switches wired in series such that only the correct combination of on/off positions completes the circuit to power a motor that opens the door. 2 to the 42nd is a REALLY HONKING BIG NUMBER. Not as big as the Enigma Machine, but big enough to keep the frosh busy all day. The switch board is simple, but it’s the rules of engagement that make the stack fun. Ask any nearby darb for the rest of that story.

Let’s take the curiosity and inventive spirit of Ditch Day and turn it into action. There are Caltech alums embedded quietly throughout the world. Yes, the public may be aware of all the DEI on Mars and the steam tunnels, but there’s so much more they don’t know about. The butterflies I mentioned at the beginning of this letter refer to the “butterfly effect” whereby small actions have vast effects over time.

So here’s the script: “Hey, have you heard of Violet’s letter in the Tech?” Yes, open your mouth right now and say it! What? Just do it! That’s crazy! Yep. It doesn’t matter if anyone can hear you. The point is, you have spoken out. Used that mouth to wiggle Avogadro’s number of atoms.

If you’re alone, yell it loud enough to scare the cat. If anyone can hear you, great! You just started a conversation. Talk about what’s happening in the world. Read Cole’s email and DO SOMETHING… literally anything to get started. Please, please, PLEASE don’t involve guns or bombs. That won’t work. Use your brain to figure out some small action you can take with the person who heard you speak. Two people can do so much more than any one of us can do alone. Or three. Or four… Non-violent collective action is how we change the world. Phone calls. Showing up. Speaking instead of silence. Writing letters to the editor. One butterfly at a time.

— Violet Zitola
BS ‘95, Planetary Science, Dabney