Tea Party Suicide Bomber?

[jsteele]

Today a guy named Joe Stack burned down his house and flew an airplane into the side of a building housing the IRS office in Austin, Texas. He left behind a suicide note on his website. The site has been taken down, but the note is available here:

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/02/18/stack.letter.pdf

The manifesto includes many of the themes popular among the Tea Party movement, including:

1) Claiming to have paid too much in taxes;
2) Saying he has been victimized by a government that does little in his interest and shows no concern for him;
3) Opposing the bailout of GM and Chrysler;
4) Opposing the bailout of the financial industry;
5) Really, really, hating the IRS.

Curiously, he seems to be a supporter of healthcare reform. He is also anti-Catholic.

His crash into the IRS building was clearly a pre-mediated act motivated by political beliefs (assuming he was sane, which is probably a bad assumption). So, the incident would seem to meet the definition of an act of terrorism. In as much as it was not a bombing, the plane was full of fuel similar to the 9/11 aircraft and that is often referred to as a bombing. I can say with some certainty that if this guy's name was Muhammad rather than Joe, there would not be a dispute on this issue.

But, since his name was Joe, I predict the following:

1) the media will not call it an act of terrorism;
2) It will not be described as a suicide bombing;
3) There will be much condemnation of people like me who appear to be politicizing the incident;
4) Rather than looking inward and reconsidering some of their rhetoric, the Tea Partiers will launch a full-scale attack on anyone who links this incident to them;
5) Much will be made of the guy's mental state.

My goal here is not to blame the Tea Party movement or even declare this an act of terrorism, but rather to point out the lack of consistency between how similar events are treated.

[Anonymous]

Maybe there is a photo of this guy at the Teabaggers convention with Palin?

Ironic if she was the one "palling around" with terrorists....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe there is a photo of this guy at the Teabaggers convention with Palin?

Ironic if she was the one "palling around" with terrorists....

Well, when it's about someone occupying your country, it's terrorism. But when the cause is tax relief, well that's just like our founding fathers, but with airplanes.

[Anonymous]

I found his statement very interesting. I suspect that once they dig out the background on his tax problems it will become apparent he is screwy but on the other hand I found his political arguments quite lucid. Additionally the guy says that only violence will work to change the screwed up political situation we have now.

Yet the media is saying that this wasn't a terrorist incident. I'm somewhat sympathetic to some of his complaints (but not all) but regardless, he killed himself in order to make a political statement and he hoped to take some IRS employees with him.

How is this NOT terrorism?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Yet the media is saying that this wasn't a terrorist incident. I'm somewhat sympathetic to some of his complaints (but not all) but regardless, he killed himself in order to make a political statement and he hoped to take some IRS employees with him.

How is this NOT terrorism?

This is exactly my point above. It won't be described as terrorism because the guy's name is "Joe" and many in the US will be sympathetic to his complaints.

On a related note, I just spent some time reading the reaction to this event on Free Republic. Before the pilot's name was released, the nut jobs were saying this was obviously a Muslim attack caused by Obama's policies (and joking that the ashes would would be Mirandized). Then, when they first heard the guy had an Anglo name, they started inventing all kinds of scenarios in which it was an accident. Finally, after finding the suicide note, they started calling it a communist terrorism act and blaming it on Obama. Incredibly, the contradiction between Obama being both a Muslim and a Communist never cracked their skulls.

[Anonymous]

17:19 again -- btw it would be interesting to compare this statement to the Unabomber's statement -- which seemed really wacky. Stack on the other hand writes as if he is fully functional.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a fringy terrorist. Why are you equating him to tea party members again? They stand peaceably in front of government office buildings and chant after seeking permits. What is the similarity you see between them and divebombing a building with a plane?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a fringy terrorist. Why are you equating him to tea party members again? They stand peaceably in front of government office buildings and chant after seeking permits. What is the similarity you see between them and divebombing a building with a plane?

The themes of his suicide note have a lot in common with the Tea Party movement. But, I believe you may have confused the Tea Party movement with Code Pink. Here are some of those peaceful chanters:

At a Tea Party event in Washington State, speaker expresses desire to hang Senator Patty Murry:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/02/17/2204884.aspx

Tea Party activist warns they can go to the ballot box or the bullet box:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/145197/tea_party_becomes_the_'vote_our_way_or_we_shoot_you'_party

Tea Partiers hang Congressman in effigy:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/28/dem-effigy-afp/

CPAC Conference going on right now invites attendees to strike Pelosi pinata and punch Reid punching bag:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/17/cpac-pelosi-pinata/

Virginia Tea Partiers want to burn Congressman in effigy:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/tea-party-group-to-get-fired-up-for-freedom-burn-rep-perriello-in-effigy.php

Obviously, not all Tea Partiers are violent. But, it is undeniable that a strong current of violence -- often expressed in terms of self-defense from an oppressive government -- runs through the movement.

Actually, I'm editing to add the obvious. The Tea Party movement is called the Tea Party movement as an allusion to the anti-tax actions of colonial Americans -- i.e. the Boston Tea Party. Stack's major issue was taxes which he felt had been unfairly taken from him. His target was the tax collector. He says in his suicide note that he hopes that his actions will inspire others to rise up against the government. The Boston Tea Party is celebrated because it rallied Patriots in such a manner.

[Anonymous]

There are actually a frightening number of people out there who believe they are perfectly justified in using violence in lieu of paying taxes. The rhetoric that was considered "on the fringe" for years is very similar to what many in the tea party movement are trying to make mainstream.

I have worked with a number of IRS agents, including some in that building, and they live with threats all the time and know that the threat level it is on the rise. It is terrorism, plain and simple.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:
On a related note, I just spent some time reading the reaction to this event on Free Republic. Before the pilot's name was released, the nut jobs were saying this was obviously a Muslim attack caused by Obama's policies (and joking that the ashes would would be Mirandized). Then, when they first heard the guy had an Anglo name, they started inventing all kinds of scenarios in which it was an accident. Finally, after finding the suicide note, they started calling it a communist terrorism act and blaming it on Obama. Incredibly, the contradiction between Obama being both a Muslim and a Communist never cracked their skulls.

Wow. Just wow.

[Anonymous]

Am I reading this right? You are all trying to link the Tea Party to Terrorists because this idiot slammed a plane (intentionally) into an IRS building.

Throwing tea into Boston Harbor and causing economic harm doesn't equate with slamming a plane into a building.

He was a nut and a terrorist just like Timothy McVeigh. Period.

There is no justifiable reason to resort to killing someone when you think you are taxed too much. Vote the bastards out instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I reading this right? You are all trying to link the Tea Party to Terrorists because this idiot slammed a plane (intentionally) into an IRS building.

Throwing tea into Boston Harbor and causing economic harm doesn't equate with slamming a plane into a building.

He was a nut and a terrorist just like Timothy McVeigh. Period.

There is no justifiable reason to resort to killing someone when you think you are taxed too much. Vote the bastards out instead.

Agreed, but it's interesting that you characterize him as a nut.

If someone loses their job and all their savings, grows desperate and attacks the IRS in a revenge suicide, he is obviously mentally ill.

If someone takes his faith one step too far and bombs an abortion clinic or kills a doctor, he is a fringe wacko.

But if a muslim kid with no opportunity in life because there is 50% unemployment, can't afford school, can't afford to get married, and he gets sucked into a group that convinces him to strap bombs to himself to become a martyr for the cause, he is not described as mentally ill. He is described as a devout muslim. We want to know how his religion encouraged this. We tend to look at him not as someone who is insane, but someone who is rational in his evil.

When people of our own kind do something like this, we are quick to recognize that they are deviant, mentally ill, or otherwise some wort of fringe type. But when someone not like us (foreign muslim) does the same, we somehow attribute religious devotion and fail to recognize the emotional desperation of the act. Clearly, muslim suicide bombers are pretty unstable types. The ones who have survived have some real issues. And of course the Hasan case clearly shows emotional issues. But we don't recognize this. We want to know how Islam encourages it.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Am I reading this right? You are all trying to link the Tea Party to Terrorists because this idiot slammed a plane (intentionally) into an IRS building.

That is an amazing amount of reading incomprehension. What I said is that his manifesto shares many of the themes of the Tea Party Movement, most notably, opposition to taxes and a strong dislike of the government. If his name was Mohammad instead of Joe and had left behind a document with Islamic overtones, this event would be treated much differently.

Anonymous wrote:
Throwing tea into Boston Harbor and causing economic harm doesn't equate with slamming a plane into a building.

Both actions are types of violent anti-tax protest. The first became a rallying point for patriots. Stack clearly hoped that his action would do the same.

Anonymous wrote:
He was a nut and a terrorist just like Timothy McVeigh. Period.

There is no justifiable reason to resort to killing someone when you think you are taxed too much. Vote the bastards out instead.

Of course I agree with your last point. However, as I posted above, at least one Tea Party leader has threatened a turn to the bullet box if the ballot box doesn't work for them. This kind of rhetoric is not condemned by the movement.

It seems that Joe Stack had become a hero of sorts and now has a fan page on Facebook. I noticed that a number of the fans also have Tea Party connections. See for yourself:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-philosophy-of-Joe-Stack/494318700579?ref=mf

[Anonymous]

Timothy McVeigh was involved in the militia movement.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Steele, this is a shameful smear of the Tea Party movement -- particularly the headline of your post -- and it's really beneath you.

Addressing your comments on the "themes," 2 and 4 are at least as much an objection made by people on the left as well as the right.

And in your subsequent post you say, "obviously, not all Tea Partiers are violent." This is grossly misleading -- what is striking about the Tea Parties is how little violence or destruction has been associated with them. Quite a contrast to what you see at left-wing anti-globalization protests, as far as I can tell.

As for the name of the terrorist being used by the media as a reason to disavow that an act is terrorism, did you miss the whole discussion of the Ft. Hood incident, where bunches of people tried to say that what Major Hasan -- not Major Joe -- did was not necessarily terrorism? That he was a crazy lone gunman? Did that offend you in the same way? Did I miss the thread where you posted speculation entitled "Muslim Terrorist?"

I know that you and I would agree on basically zero issues politically, but this is beneath you.