Really sad. Anytime someone decides to aggress against another they lose everyone's sympathy - especially mine. This guy Joe Stack is a scumbag, not a hero. Violence is an abhorrent plague of the human condition.

Let me repeat this: Joe Stack is a scumbag, not a hero.

I've read his 6 page suicide letter, and although I agree with nearly all of it (sans the violent call-to-arms at the end), what he did on 2/18 was cowardly and senseless.

There's nothing brave about killing innocents. There's nothing brave about committing suicide.

People who say that guy is a hero are also saying the 9/11 hijackers were heroes, and that every single suicide bomber was a hero.

At any rate, fuck those guys. This guy was scum, using his plane to do the most cowardly thing, the consequences of which he knew he wouldn't have to face.

There's absolutely nothing brave about that.

Ken is amazingly composed for having just lost his dad. His dad sounds like a great guy who raised an even-tempered, well-adjusted son.

Regarding Stack, fuck that fucking cunt. Everyone who knew him said he never talked about the stuff in his manifesto. What kind of activist is he if he never publicly shared his grievances? He's not an activist or a hero, he's a terrorist and a murderer.

I'm not going to read his manifesto, because I agree with the previous comments that this guy is scum and you don't get a seat at the philosophical table by murdering people. The mainstream press seemed to be doing a little bit of hero worship for this guy which is sickening. How is he less of a terrorist than the 9/11 hijackers? Does the aircraft need to be heavier?

If you work for the IRS, you aren't innocent.
>> ^demon_ix:
There's nothing brave about killing innocents. There's nothing brave about committing suicide.

A hero sacrifices himself for his cause, a villain sacrifices others.

>> ^demon_ix:
There's nothing brave about killing innocents. There's nothing brave about committing suicide.
People who say that guy is a hero are also saying the 9/11 hijackers were heroes, and that every single suicide bomber was a hero.
At any rate, fuck those guys. This guy was scum, using his plane to do the most cowardly thing, the consequences of which he knew he wouldn't have to face.
There's absolutely nothing brave about that.


I agree to an extent.

But brave does not simply equate to Heroic.

It does take a brave person to take their own life for a cause. If the cause is wrong in your eyes, then they are not a hero.

But objectively, they do have ballzz

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
A hero sacrifices himself for his cause, a villain sacrifices others.


What about a Colonel who sacrifices his soldiers on the battlefront?

>> ^Lodurr:
What kind of activist is he if he never publicly shared his grievances? He's not an activist or a hero, he's a terrorist and a murderer.

Read the manifesto, he did a fair bit of stuff.

>> ^Raaagh:
>> ^Lodurr:
What kind of activist is he if he never publicly shared his grievances? He's not an activist or a hero, he's a terrorist and a murderer.

Read the manifesto, he did a fair bit of stuff.


I found it hard to not skip around while reading it before, I didn't want to imbibe pure crazy.

So he did get pretty active in 1987 in response to a 1986 tax law, the ramifications of which I still don't quite understand. He spent $5,000 on a letter campaign and seemed to expect quick results from that investment, which proves he was already looney long before his kamikaze flight. But in the years leading up to his attack it sounds like he kept well to himself. In a democratic system, just the act of venting your grievances and exercising your voting rights relieves some of that weight on your conscience.

I don't mind people agreeing with Stack's sentiments or statements--I certainly agree with some--it was his methods that were inexcusable. The fact that I agree with him is pure coincidence, like if I found out he drives the same model car I do.

His real grievance, just like the gym shooter from last year, and the Korean American student a few years ago, was that he felt like a victimized social outcast and couldn't empathize with people. It's normal to feel some pity for these guys, but this case frustrates me because there are already people salvaging political momentum out of an innocent person's charred remains.

^practicing human sacrifice, and on the battlefield no less, is not the sign of a hero. (consider yourself zung!)

Biden said it best on the campaign trail: Paying taxes is our patriotic duty. Freedom isn't free. A standing Army isn't free. Clean running water and reliable electricity aren't free. Either the government provides services directly, or it regulates the industries that do, and neither course of action is free.

If you want to see the smallest of small governments, I urge you to visit Somalia. There, everyone is armed to the teeth, and government is impotent. Sounds like the Tea Party's wet dream to me.

This guy was an un-American shitpile who got into trouble with the law, and decided to hurt innocent people on his way out. Before people say "IRS employees aren't innocent (or people)," let me remind you that the IRS was not the only tenant in the building this nutjob decided to fly his plane into.

And most of the west coast tax return mail traffic goes through Austin's IRS branch. This guy probably just added a delay into you getting your tax return back.

I want to find out where his remains will be buried. He doesn't even deserve to rest in piece, but pieces would work just fine for me.

I'll finish the quote for you,

...but it ain't freedom without the choice to be free.
>> ^kagenin:
Freedom isn't free.

Maybe I'm being too technical, but I'm not condoning this guy flying a plane into a building; I'm merely stating that IRS employees are not innocent. Why are people downvoting - because anything remotely supportive of this guy is immediately wrong, or because they think IRS employees are in fact innocent? From my perspective, you lose your innocence when you commit violence against others. I happen to believe that the IRS uses violence against others in order to relinquish a very large portion of their wages. Maybe you don't agree, and maybe you should support your position. It doesn't mean they deserve to die via airplane. Why not state, "its not brave to fly your plane into a building of people" instead of insinuating the people in question are innocent little white-clothed devout newborn babies, as if flying your plane into a building of murderers would have been heroic? Again, maybe thats too technical for this community?

Its ignorant to think that all civilians are innocent regardless of occupation. Is a police officer enforcing drug laws innocent? Is a lawyer defending a knowingly guilty man innocent? How about a doctor prescribing drugs he knows have serious, if not lethal, side effects? Do any of these people deserve to die instantly via a plane crash? Of course not, which is why I never suggested that. I'm sorry but I can't take the time to explain every nuance of every position I take. I post what I think, nothing more. Why is anyone making assumptions outside of what is explicitly stated?
>> ^kagenin:
Before people say "IRS employees aren't innocent (or people)," let me remind you that the IRS was not the only tenant in the building this nutjob decided to fly his plane into.

IMS, your logic makes everyone guilty. It's the same reasoning al queda sympathizers use to justify their acts against americans.

So anyone, in any capacity that works for the IRS, a credit card company, an oil company, etc is guilty? Even a janitor or secretary? The cafeteria workers have blood on their hands?

What about the families of the employees of those evil institutions? They're living off blood money, so they must die also.

Also, I think the burden of proof is on you to show that the IRS uses violence. Where is the evidence of that.

Where do you rate Eva Braun on the evil scale? Certainly the (voluntary) husband/wife of an evil doer is not that innocent themself. How about the close, confided-in friends of the 9/11 hijackers? Stalin's gardener? LexCorp janitors?

If you are paid with blood money, well I think you could make an argument that yeah, you aren't that innocent. Still doesn't mean you deserve to die in a plane crash...
>> ^longde:
What about the families of the employees of those evil institutions?

*dead

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