Inept Terrorists, Wasted Lives, and Fuzzy Thinking
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
I never heard of Joseph A. Stack until yesterday, despite the fact that he lived about a hundred miles South and West of me. I would have preferred never to hear of Joseph A. Stack.
Asia–our segundo, not the continent–came in to say he had heard of the crash on the radio, and he and Charles insisted I Google it–where the first answer was that an oil man and his six-year-old grandson had crashed near Lockhart, killing both of them, unfortunately. Eventually I turned up some blocked video, and finally we worked out a sketchy outline of the tragi-comedy.
Early reports accused Mr. Stack of stealing the plane he crashed ineptly into an office building containing a couple of hundred IRS workers, although current word is that a federal official told the local paper (The Austin American-Statesman) that the plane was registered to Stack. My first, perhaps reprehensible, thought (which echoes an old joke) was, “Isn’t that just like a nut, not to steal an airplane big enough to do the job?” A single-engine Piper Cherokee doesn’t sound like enough airplane to me to guarantee taking out an igloo, although it would probably suffice for a small, flammable chicken coop.
Al Quaeda and Ahmahdinejad must be laughing uproariously over the Great Satan not being able to carry out a simple suicide mission successfully.
Mr. Stack was a software engineer, and I find myself wondering if he worked on fantasy warfare games.
An alert friend and talk show host sent me the purported “suicide note.” (What a bore it is always to have to use “alleged” or “purported,” even when speaking of confessed killers like Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the panty bomber caught in the act, and anything else which may or may not have happened. Excuse the small rant, please, but making a simple declarative sentence is beginning to approach the standard in Egyptian hieroglyphics, where it was most emphatic, arrogant, and shocking to assert that “I, myself, say this thing.”)
I have read what purports to be Stack’s “suicide note” or “manifesto,” depending upon one’s preference in terminology, and it reads like an Obama speech; nothing was ever Joseph A. Stack’s fault. Time and again, he whines, he was set to be successful but in every instance “they”–usually the IRS–destroyed his plans. I find it difficult to understand how setting fire to his house–perhaps with the assistance of a small bomb–destroying his airplane, and killing himself under conditions one would think would invalidate his life insurance is supposed to protect his wife and daughter, and it wasn’t much of a “social protest,” either. Certainly my sympathies are with the families of the two bodies found, but I hope you can understand my annoyance over Stack’s typical incompetence. I don’t remember this line from reading Stack’s Screed, but an Austin paper quotes it as saying, “”I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white-washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt,” the author said. “Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.” His words are as offensive as his grammar.
The American-Statesman, says, “A long, rambling anti-government rant posted on the Internet was dated today and signed “Joe Stack (1956 – 2010).”‘ The online manifesto, which was later taken down at the request of the FBI, berated the government, the justice system and the Federal Aviation Administration, but especially the IRS and the tax system. “How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand,” the statement said. One would suppose that eventually Mr. Stack would have worked out the necessity of having a tax expert fill out forms for him. How many times does a man have to fall afoul of the IRS to conclude that money on a CPA is well spent?
Stack is unlikely to be remembered for his closing as well as for being a lunatic who set fire to his house and attempted quite unsuccessfully to destroy a major IRS outpost . Stack quoted the Communist Manifesto, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” and followed with his flawed version of a “Capitalist” Manifesto: “From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.” That has a surface cleverness, but it is not a sensible statement of complex facts. The American Tax Code has nothing to do with Capitalism other than to damage and deter it, and Capitalism has no connection to the welfare state. This free-marketeer (not to be confused with a free-booter) holds that charity is the purview of individuals, churches, and private organizations formed for that purpose, not government.
Stack’s selfish stupidity ruined several lives, and only his own was within his right to destroy. He smeared those who engage in legitimate protest against a government grown far too large and costly, and a couple of thousand of Arianna Huffington’s newspaper’s readers jumped into the frey with eager cries of, “Tea-Baggers!” There is no evidence that Stack ever so much as observed a Tea Party in progress, but even if he had that would in no way indicate that those who gather peacefully will approve of Stack resorting to violence. I have never been to a Tea Party, either, and I condemn this escapade roundly from start to finish.
Linda Brady Traynham
Linda Brady Traynham says:
February 22nd, 2010
5:00 pm
Friends, this went to publication before I could incorporate two other reactions friends had. One said, basically, that however misguided his actions we should recognize that Mr. Stack had the courage of his convictions. I still disapprove of Stack’s behavior, but I can certainly agree that Mr. Stack had a great deal of physical courage. I think I would fall on a live grenade to save friends and comrades (and would probably do it without any thought more conscious or complicated than “This must be done” as I landed), but I do not believe that I could bring about my own fiery death as a form of social protest, or that I would target civilians, even those who can stomach working for the IRS.
The objection I received was from someone else who has been through the same sort of wringer Mr. Stack had and has now had to rebuild his life for the eighth time. This gave me considerable pause to think, because my friend is NOT the sort to find himself in difficulties through lack of forethought or preparation. He has been successful in at least three fields I know of and I always respect his opinions and thought processes. He made me see that I had been impatient and we might even say judgemental. I’ve been very lucky in life, and while I have certainly had hard times and heartaches, I have never been anywhere near desperate enough to kill myself in a grand gesture. Just because I cannot imagine–up until the present, at any rate–being so bereft of hope does not mean that Joseph Stack was not pressed beyond his limits and did not genuinely think that sacrificing his life would would be a shock sufficient to arouse his fellow citizens to protest against a government grown too big and two powerful.
The FBI has removed the Stack manifesto from where he wrote it, but I will send my copy to our publisher to post if he thinks this is appropriate. I need to re-read it myself, because context counts. I had been dealing with firebrands who were eager to take up arms in response to my article “The New Secessionists” on W&G. My hope is to work out a sensible, polite, diplomatic solution not start an unnecessary revolution or get a bunch of us put on the “no fly” list! Any such revolt would be repressed ruthlessly and quickly, in my opinion. As I had just said to one of the “Wahoo!” types, the Declaration of Independence begins, “When in the course of human events it becomes NECESSARY…” We have not exhausted ballot and diplomatic solutions, and it is neither necessary nor wise to engage in violence when there are more effective ways to deal with problems.
I saw the episode through pragmatic eyes, and perhaps I should have been more in counselor mode…aren’t we all funny? I am always able to recognize and even understand all sides of an argument, but I continue to hold that most issues are black and white. Even considering that we can all be stressed beyond our ability to function intelligently, poor, tortured Mr. Stack did more harm than good.
Let us know what you think, and I’ll re-read the manifesto and consult the best clinical psychologist I know. She can almost certainly shed insight on Mr. Stack, and may even be able to sort out whether I have been mean-spirited and heartless. And why it bothers me to think I may have been. All we can do is our best, which is quite enough to keep most of us busy. Hugs to all, Linda
Essie Feldhacher says:
February 24th, 2010
8:32 am
They say everyone “has a price” if you are talking in the correct and personally parsed form of payment.
And IMO every human being can be driven to a point where in a sane and rational moment they discern that life, indeed, is no longer worth living.
God have mercy….For ALL.
Ernie says:
February 24th, 2010
3:51 pm
Linda,
I think I hear what you’re saying. This is the reason why right thinking people are so angered by the abuses of leviathan. The tea party folks kind of get it, despite their common lack of intellectual integrity. I have been pondering this recently and personally had a bit of an epiphany.
Good people oppose unjust laws, because they weaken the necessary laws. We recognize that when a person breaks the law, he does little damage by definition, but when governments break the law, whole societies suffer.
We despise bad cops because they besmirch the good ones. We repudiate “law enforcement” because it has no place in a free society- because when the law is properly respectful of sovereign individuals, no “enforcement” is necessary. Real crimes will be prosecuted by the victims- that is to say an interested party will make the complaint, not some busybody.
When injustice reigns, acts of insanity such as this will erupt. We despise gun control, because when the people are better armed than the government, a state of civilization can flourish- whereas when there is a ruling class capable of oppressing the people, there is barbarism, the constant threat of terror (think IRS, traffic cops, child support bureaucrats, etc.) and instability. This situation can only breed acts such as Joe Stack’s.
Our society is terminally ill. I for one wish to be as light and salt to the world, as wise as a serpent but gentle as a dove. We cannot cure our society, but by carefully quarantining ourselves from it, we may be in a position to comfort the survivors. I have come to realize that I am not really an outlaw, but one with some reverence for truth and justice. And we are living in a world where there is anarchy- no rules except what the connected make for themselves.
Best-
EP
CheriVNB says:
March 20th, 2010
4:32 pm
Ernie,
Nicely said. We are in the middle of a political Melee. Be cautious, it is hard to affect things when you are “quarantined”. Thanks for helping to sort it all out.
Cheri