So, another radical Joe hits the airwaves-literally. Last year it was Joe the Plumber and this year it’s Joe Stack the radicalized taxpayer. I can only repeat what I have been saying for some considerable time: The first strike from the dispossessed will come sooner or later and this may very well be the opening volley.
However we may dismiss Joe Stack’s angry, murderous ways he has perfectly articulated the frustration so many folk have with the system. There are a lot of disenfranchised people out there who will consider this guy a hero. Unemployed, homeless, in foreclosure, hopeless, powerless-millions of them.
All they need is a moment of clarity to start fighting for their lives.
Revolutions begin at moments like this. Everybody knows just how unfair the tax system is. This week I read that the top ten percent of taxpayers pay less tax than anyone else.
The ‘haves’ are not been factoring in the desperation of the ‘have nots’.
I write all the time about how little taxpayers in this country get for their huge tax bills other than unsanctioned or covert wars that line the pockets of the already super rich.
What is the government of a bankrupt country like the USA doing engaging in wars the people cannot afford whilst it cannot provide decent healthcare or education?
As for my friends who bleat about the loss of life-life is cheap isn’t it? How many of you howled when 12 innocent people were killed in your name in Afghanistan last week?
I am reminded again and again by my less philanthropic friends that America was designed without safety nets. Pity.
31 replies on “Joe Stack”
How the fuck is a guy with enough money to maintain a private plane and a huge fucking house that he burned to the ground, a “have not”? Give me a fucking break. I thought you were smarter than this, Duncan.
When I talk about the ‘haves’ I don’t mean somebody with a six figure income Cindy, I mean a person with a seven or eight figure income. Frankly, anyone with a six figure income in this country-a fast dissapearing breed-is a have not.
Which is exactly why I can’t stand it that so many people are painting this guy out to be some kind of hero patriot for the people. He was no common man. He was a well-educated, well-salaried at some point, mental case who blamed everyone else for his problems. He’s also a straight-up domestic terrorist, no better than those who committed the Oklahoma City bombings in the name of Small Government. The sense of entitlement from some Americans is flabbergasting. Like I Tweeted earlier. “White Whine: Flying your private plane into an IRS building because you don’t want to pay your taxes.”
I read the entire blog entery on thesmokinggun.com and while it is obvious the guy felt powerless and victimized I can not feel sympathy for him. He was very clearly paranoid and refused to take responsibility for his own failures. He even went so far as to blame the plane groundings following 9/11 for his business failures. Sorry but there comes a time when one needs to think of the greater good rather than their own business.
Also, the workers in the building in Austin were not the ones who were billing him and attaching his retirement accounts, they were people just going to work and thinking about going home at the end of the day, paying their bills and picking their children up from day care, why kill innocent people? He was also recently remarried and had a child, which he is leaving homeless since he burned down his house prior to getting into the plane.
I agree, there are a lot of victimized people living in the margins in the USA, this guy was not one of them.
The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights.
By reading this it seems as though you support his actions today… and that you are okay with this man taking the lives of innocents… he is a terrorist and a psychotic man who had serious issues way beyond the American tax system. Having issues with taxation is one thing, but taking it as far as he did is absurd and quite saddening.
I don’t see how this event can compare to the French Revolution. This crack pot flying his plane into a building is a far cry from the sybolism of the storming of the Bastille.
Change comes when the commoners..the masses band together for a “revolution” Flying an airplane into a building because you’re pissed at the IRS and setting fire to his house with his family inside is not a revolution. There are a lot of people disenfranchised and have it far worse than this clown did. He had an education, talents and oportunities he chose to give up and hurt innocent people with him. He is a far cry from the strong and brave revolutionaries that over threw the French monarchy to gain basic human rights.
I have no sympathy for this fucker. None. Cry me a fucking river. You came into my neighborhood and had your mental breakdown.
Yeah, IRS fucks people all the time, it’s the way it is. Had you and your company paid your taxes that you owed them years ago, you never would have been on their radar. They did their job.
Joe Stack was a coward. Maybe he should have just sold that plane he burned up yesterday.
I neither have sympathy nor do I support his actions but without an historical context, or an attempt at such, what is the point? History is surely a series of interconnected events that may or may not have meaning as life unfolds. There is a radical, violent movement growing in the united states that needs understanding. If we fail to understand we fail to evolve.
‘IRS fucks people all the time, it’s the way it is.’
This attitude dumbfounds me.
If the tax system in England is so grand because of free healthcare, then why do most of your countrymen haved fucked up teeth? ***This is what dumbfounds me***
You’re trying to draw a corralation between a “revolution” and a fucking nut job pissed off at the IRS. That is what dumbfounds me…perhaps you could make a movie about it, then you and all of the artsy want to be “deap thinkers” can sit around drinking merlot, whilst plotting the next big revolution.
I saw that too and wanted to vomit. Typical American. And Cindy: “He was a well-educated, well-salaried at some point…” Damn those well-educated!
Jenny, just because the British are not obsessed with superficial beauty does that make us bad people? Anyway, I have driven across the USA four times which is probably four times more than you and the teeth I saw were not so great. Rich people have great teeth but I’m sad to report that poor people are not doing so well in the teeth department. What a dumber thing to resort to-racial stereotyping. I think that three free years of education, free healthcare and many, many other examples of how we spend our taxes for the good of the people keep the people happy about paying their taxes. After all, government works for the people. I cant even be bothered to reply to the rest of your vicious note. Maybe I will make a film about it and maybe my arty friends will all talk about it and you can gaze at your perfect teeth.
My point was I can’t draw broad based assumptions “such as the British having fucked up teeth..and artsy folk sipping merlot.” The same way you can’t take such a broad statement that this murderous bastard Joe is a revolutionary for flying his plane into a building and trying to kill his wife and child.
I AM WELL AWARE OF THE MESSED UP TEETH IN MY OWN MOUTH, AND IN MY OWN COUNTRY. My comment was not vicious, it was an example that paralels the idea that Joe Stack is some sort of revolutionary in the same light that all British citizens have nasty teeth. You’re setting a dangerous precidence in aligning revolutinary ideology to a whack job who was pissed off he owed the IRS money. I too have owed the IRS money…far more then Joe Stack owed but never considered any other option then paying my taxes. You ask what do Americans get for their taxes? Well last time I checked children are educated K-12 from tax dollars, good bad or indifferent the system exists based off of tax dollars. Social programs exist to benefit those “without” albeit the system may have it’s issues, and may not produce the results we hope but I don’t believe violent uprisings are going to solve anything. If we as citizens, as Americans, want to bring about change, or revolution, as you profess, it is to find methods that invoke thought, not merely through acts of violence. These violent acts become footnotes to the lunacy and mental instability of an individual whose departure from reality has cost the lives of innocent people working to put food on their own table. I enjoy reading your blog but when comments that are contrary to your believes are offered you become defensive- sharing of ideas, differences of opinion, and the ability of individuals to find common ground through discussion is the hallmark of a developed society. Violence begets violence. Want to make change, then use your voice, your intelligence, and bring understanding of the concerns of the common everyday American to bear on those that can effect change in our political system. Ignore the processes of a civilized society and use violence as a statement of anger against the system one becomes classified as a fucking whack job – whether you like it or not.
Furthermore, superficial beauty isnt a desire of just Americans, in fact, I would venture to say any reasonable person with desires of companionship will have a concern for how they look be it simply combing their hair, or wearing fashionable clothes to make that first impression memorable.
Duncan, perhaps Jenny’s just bitter because she sadly sits around in her sad room all day writing sad comments on your blog in order to fill the sad hole in her life?
In all seriousness, it’s telling whenever people become so defensive (and offensive at the same time). I suspect Jenny and the others who responded so vehemently to your relatively tame post are not nearly as secure in their beliefs as they themselves might presume.
Actually Clarke, if you could see the forest through the trees you would realize the commentary was meant to invoke the concept that one nut job flying a plane into a building because he is pissed off that he owes taxes is just as absurd an assupmtion as all British citizens have fucked up teeth.
The real error in your thought process is that how are you to assume that those that post thoughts counter to yours are not secure in their own beliefs? What is telling is that its easy for someone to draw some historical correlation between a distrubed individual flying his plane into a builidng with the French Revolution.
Perhaps the next time an individual walks into his former place of work, and starts killing his former co-workers we should roll out the revolutionary banner because his action is a statement that “he is fighting for the rights of all workers?”
Hi Jenny. Don’t you consider that Joe may have started like you, I or anyone else. Never considering that he would ever do such a thing? Perhaps there are flaws in the system. Perhaps the system is not just. It appears Joe tried time and time again to sustain a livelihood and be an independent productive citizen. I don’t think anyone is completely shielded from being driven mad. We may fall on different locations of the approaching madness curve but no one is entirely immune to the rage, frustration, hopelessness, irrationality or resignation that some life situations may invoke. Aren’t you aware that going through the “proper” channels or steps is often futile (to say the least)? Its just a question, just a statment of fact so don’t get all up in arms now. There is more to Joe Stack than that last day of his life. I do wish he took another method of his getting his message across that didn’t involve taking the lives of others. Either way, it is a plea from the man. And those who fall on dangerous locations on this curve I mentioned, may take alternate methods to get their message across. Don’t you think these people exist? Don’t get on Duncan’s case for pointing this out. It is not condoning it. It is simply stating that it’s a possibility. Any movement takes a first ofcourse. This occurence may simply be the precipice. May be the start of a new momentum which will reveal a new curve.
Hey clarke
I for one am very secure in my beliefs…and I think Jenny is too. We all have the right to freedom of speech….my point being if you are going to complain about how horrible we Americans our with our poverty, wars etc…but you live in OUR Country then get off your soap box and do something about it….as I said actions speak louder than words…and this blog is full of words….
Hey NYC10021 I am not secure in my beliefs and proudly so. Always eager to be corrected, to learn, to be chided and convinced of other opinions. Who said you were horrible? I certainly did not. All I am saying is that the American people didn’t deserve this wholesale poverty or be paying for meaningless wars. And, as a tax payer in YOUR country I am entitled to do so. Pity is, it isn’t YOUR country at the moment as the Chinese own you. You and your horrendous debt. Blogs usually are full of words that’s what blogs are-words. I have written in past blogs what actions I take at a micro and macro level in YOUR country. As you obviously condone the actions you take illegally in OTHER people’s countries with YOUR money I wonder just how much YOU do? I have written about working in homeless shelters, traveling across the USA 4 times to try and understand who you are-probably four times more than most Americans. Immigrants like me made this country what it is. Investing what we have in YOUR country. I am not allowed as a non american to make donations to political parties but I have made donations to many different poverty action groups and also help war vets at war veteran alcohol schemes. I also teach gratis in Prisons. I just don’t write about these things as the essence of humility is to go quietly about ones charitable work. Could you imagine being at all humble NYC10021?
I do not know Jenny but I think that maybe she made the comment that she did because Duncan you seem to put down America and her people quite often….I do not remember all the things you have said but the gist of it is…you take aim at our problems..as if we all do not care about poverty in this Country among other jabs…I myself do find it interesting as you live a very nice life here in the USA….house in Malibu, apt in LA..etc..etc..do you do anything to change things or help the Country that you now reside in. I know you cannot vote…but do you volunteer at homeless shelters…etc.. As actions speak much louder than words!
I spend several weeks in Ireland each year and I hear what you are saying about America. Despite the problems in Europe right now, we think about moving there all the time. We have huge student loans and tax bills we will never pay off, but all we can do is keep slogging along because as we can see from this incident, this kind of debt can ruin your life.
From reading Duncan’s post, I don’t get that he is supporting Joe’s actions at all ! Duncan is just not surprised it happened. In Duncan’s words: “I can only repeat what I have been saying for some considerable time: The first strike from the dispossessed will come sooner or later and this may very well be the opening volley.”
What happened yesterday in Texas is unfortunate. I think we can all agree on that. These events DID NOT HAPPEN IN A VACUUM, is Duncan’s point. They are a symptom of the state of affairs in our country. There are millions of people unemployed, losing their homes, already homeless…millions feeling betrayed, disappointed, hopeless, forgotten, like they are backed into a corner…Most will not choose violence to make their voices heard, but they are still suffering, they still need help.
Our system is flawed and on the verge of collapse…a us citizen flew his plane into an IRS building…we can’t just call him a “mental case” or a “domestic terrorist” – like someone here in the comments did – and leave it at that.
We have to discuss and understand the “why” IN CONTEXT or we will turn into clueless, non-thinking robots watching Joe Shack after Joe Shack fall out of the sky without understanding “why” or moving any closer to a solution…
Duncan: I love that you wrote “If we fail to understand we fail to evolve.”
reminds me of this quote…
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana
I really enjoy your blog.
peace, hope and love,
lily
Finally a thoughtful and accurate post. “If we fail to understand we fail to evolve.”
I think this country has been on a devolutionary track for the last 30 years- the moment when we refused to look at our (then small but) mounting problems and put RWR into office.
Yes America’s over reliance on capitalism & a free-market economy has put our soul as a nation & the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in jeopardy.
BUT, only a seriously mentally-ill individual:
a) tries to burn down his home with his family inside
b) flies a plane into an office building when his attempt to have said home declared a “place of worship”, for tax exemption purposes, is denied.
Can people feel lost when dealing with the seemingly impenetrable bureaucracy involved in the government of our huge country? Yes, but his reaction was NOT sane.
Committing suicide was Joe Stack’s extreme version of free speech. Since our country is going into extreme debt for entitlements, our tax code is far and away the most complex and extreme bureaucratic nightmare in our American existence, and tax payers in general are going to extremes to avoid paying into a shithole of fraud, waste and greed aka Washington DC….
Yes Stack is/was crazy, but I believe there is a larger message in this, when thinking over the above.
[…] a change is happening in this country and it’s a wake up call for the government. Blogger Duncan Roy, (who appeared on VH1’s Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew), even likened Stack’s actions to the […]
It’s tragic, really. You’ll notice how quickly the FBI got his manifesto pulled from its website. His message is all too resonant with an American people. He’s been unfairly labeled as some kind of teabagger paleocon twat, when in reality his politically confused manifesto has a more left-ish slant to it. He doesn’t just attack the government, he attacks business, the unions, capitalism itself.
I am aware that you aren’t a socialist by any means, but I found this article to be most illuminating on the subject.
What is a “teabagger paleocon twat”? If you are referring to “neocons,” most people would say that their foreign policy philosophy is expensive, ineffective and counterproductive. If you are referring to the tea party movement, most people would say that teapartiers are the only sane politicos left in America. If you are referring to twats, and I am just guessing here, but I think Slack was more of a dick than a twat, but I’m open minded on that point.
Manda-
I assume Joe didn’t “start out like this” or he would attempted this type of action at the sign of the first tax bill. Of course “these” people exist. I am not on Duncan’s case about anything. I disagree with some of his points. Of course I am aware that the proper channels can be futile, and circumstances can trigger some one to go mad. However I would not call his actions revolutionary. And no I don not believe his actions are a precipice of a new movement.
Actually I am a very humble person, and spend hours each week giving back to the great City I live in. A Blog is just words for people to express their opinions and those opinions are sometimes taken the wrong way. I (like you) am open to correction, do not consider myself a “know it all” (a big mouth perhaps) and am very open to others opinions….but I wlll express mine and by the way I NEVER buy anything made in China,they will NEVER own me and I did not make reference to you being horrible….actually I really like you and am looking forward to another lunch….or perhaps even a dinner! xo
This was on my mind today, again, for some reason. I wrote this on Facebook: Everyone on the left, right & center needs to unite & say “NO!” to violence. “NO!” to anyone who promotes violence & excuses in any way what Joseph A. Stack III did. He is a domestic terrorist just like McVeigh & it is only by the grace of God that more people weren’t killed. Nip the growth of extremism in the bud: …… http://bit.ly/cdAJPC (Scary article.)
As for the civilian deaths every week in Afghanistan & Iraq… I mourn them. Not only for the loss to their countries but for us because we’re sowing dragon’s teeth. It breaks my heart.
Blessings to all.