The story is a parable demonstrating Kaczynski's views that identity politics within liberalism is a distraction from the issue of climate apocalypse and that revolutionary violence is justified.
He suggests to the crew that they kill the officers and turn the ship around, but he is increasingly frustrated as the others focus on their own demands and reject him for calling their grievances trivial.
[4] The short story was criticized by the Baltimore Sun for its "colorful ethnic language" and justification of revolutionary violence.
"[2] Kaczynski responded to accusations of homophobia by stating, "I mildly dislike homosexuality" but that "My contempt (as expressed, e.g., in "Ship of Fools") is not for gay people, women, ethnic minorities, or sweatshop workers, but for activists who think that the special problems of these groups are more important than the disaster with which the technoindustrial system threatens the world.
"[6] In 2006 the Norwegian artist Gardar Eide Einarsson staged a play based on Ship of Fools at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.