First, and foremost, I feel horrible about the loss of life in this tragedy. I wish this tragic event had cost no lives.
It
has been referred to as another 9/11. I see the correlation between the
two tragedies: The senseless killing of innocent people.
But I seek to understand and explain a bit about the common feelings we all share with this tortured soul.
And expose the media for the corporate shills they are.
My first two paragraphs have given more thought to the innocents that were killed than all the "news" shows I watched today.
******************************
I spent quite a bit of time watching TV today. Glenn Beck (featured in the video), Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann all took time to talk about the attack in Austin, Texas on the IRS building.
Glenn was by far the most entertaining, spending about a minute on the facts and the note left by Joe Stack (he erroneously stated it was no longer available online, but made sure to note the HE, Glenn Beck,
had a copy. But would choose to ignore it.) and miraculously turned the
incident into a Glenn Beck dissection about Glenn for Glenn.
Before
I get into the laughable coverage of the event, let me state what I
thought I'd hear after reading the six page suicide/murder letter
several times. I expected to hear discussions over what drove this seemingly "affable" man to commit this act of "terrorism".
His letter touches on many of the same frustrations many American's are feeling. He just blew his top, this was a crime of passion.
He
became disillusioned with a system that had failed him. He had fought
the system for 30 years, his beliefs had eroded to the point he knew he
had lost and could not stand to struggle to rebuild one more time.
He felt he had nothing to lose, because he had lost it all, including hope.
I don't believe this man is the only person in America feeling betrayed, disillusioned and angry.
Glenn Beck took about a second to get his rhetoric machine into high gear, showing pictures of Osama Bin Laden and pointing to President Obama and calling him a communist (it's in the video above). Glenn pretends to be one of us, when he clearly is not.
Glenn was not alone in whitewashing this into the act of a madman, a lone wolf.
It
became clear that no one was going to call attention to the fact that
this man was not alone in his feelings. The masses are fed-up with the
status quo. This man should frighten the elite, we, the people, it.
Alas,
the "news" channels are owned by the elites and their puppets must do
damage control. "Don't talk about the issues in the note. Paint him as
a total loon, a terrorist. Do not paint him as a martyr. Do not let
this event unite the masses."
Granted, killing others is not usually the answer (usually being used in the American revolutionary "usually").
Mr.
Stack viewed this as the beginning of a revolution. I do not approve or
condone his actions. But if the news people would talk frankly, we
might be able to humanize a man that was so obviously a tortured soul.
The
talking heads went into "smoke and mirror" mode, enlisting the help of
"experts" to ask hard hitting questions such as: What do you think
drove Mr. Stack to do something like this?"
You've got a six page letter which highlights Mr. Stack grievances. Why not refer to that?
Here are few of Mr. Stack's grievances from his letter:
*We
are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society,
only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have
been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and
service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further
brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we
should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals
represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no
taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my
adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood.
These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly
labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
* Why is it that a
handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and
in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s
time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony
and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government
has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at
the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including
the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of
people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple,
and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a
few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives”
(thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have
endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of
the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as
long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits
rolling in.
* However, this is where I learned that there are
two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for
the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and
enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in
this country.
*... the incredible stupidity of the American
public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their
“freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face
of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
*...
and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by
the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later
brought us Enron and other such calamities)
*... no one gave a
shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street
after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan
companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall.
Again, I lost my retirement.
*... and this happens because the
justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about
serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
*...
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great”
depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping
out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything.
Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that
they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal
from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a
joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the
wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a
clever, tidy solution.
*... Nothing changes unless there is a
body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the
government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to
bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
*...
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand.
It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their
freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor
immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are
sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to
the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking
over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose
not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend
that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
*...
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; it will take
nothing less.
*... 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. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at
the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using
this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I
saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the
same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be
different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big
Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh
and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
I need to re-state:
I do not condone Mr. Stack's actions, but I understand his
frustrations. He shares many common frustrations with the bottom 90% of
American's scratching for 30%+/- of America's bounty.
A corrupt government in the pocket of big money, that does not represent the majority of the people.
A corrupt legal system pandering to big money.
A tax code favoring the rich (this includes corporations, since they've now been given "individual" status by the Supreme Court).
Bailing-out the same geniuses (they're only geniuses at stealing billions of our dollars. Any investigations going on?) that caused this recession, while not bailing out we, the people.
The
list of grievances we, the people, have is long and fighting against
the system is nothing more then an excercise in futility.
Now, back to
Glenn Beck and his fear-mongering, fact-retarding brain: Glenn decided after calling
President Obama a communist and equating Mr. Stack to Osama Bin Laden went on to destroy history with his big, Jethro Bodine, brain.
Glenn
said: Our revolution was about Men. The French Revolution was about
MAN. "Do you see the difference? Men are people, MAN is just a
generalization. Our revolution was less violent...".
My brain atrophied at this point.Glenn is correct:
Our founding fathers were just talking about land-owning, white males when they referred to equality.We
did have a superior revolution in that we found men willing to not be
gluttons. George Washington could've been our emperor, he chose to give
up power.
However, we do not have these selfless people here
today. It just took us longer to get corrupted (not very long/please
read: A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn).
Which means,
Glenn,
we have a problem. Right now, today. With serious problems being dealt
with by people as though they all arrived in clown cars. Their
embarrassing televised meetings mock us all.
Their re-writing of laws to benefit themselves and their cronies should have us up in arms.
Enough.
I'll
just close with a lesson anyone can learn from a decent history book:
When the inequalities of wealth become too much for the lower classes
to bear, revolution will occur. The pursuit of happiness will include
happiness over the redistribution of the 70-90% of the wealth the top
10% currently have.
I, for one, do not want cake.
*****
This was an attempt to humanize Mr. Stack in lieu of the demonization shown on TV.
I do not agree with his actions, but share many of his frustrations.
