Saturday, February 20, 2010

What Hero?

I just got through reading the online suicide note of Joseph Stack, the software engineer who flew his single-engine Piper Cherokee into an Austin, TX, office building. Apparently he not only killed himself but took another person's life as well and injured a dozen more. And he missed the IRS office he was aiming at in the first. This was not only suicide but also murder and assault.

But before setting foot in the cockpit, he sets fire to his house - apparently with his family yet inside! Was he trying to kill them also?

Of course no one in their right mind will condone these actions; my intent is not to affix culpability- Stack alone is responsible for his actions - nor to flail away at the government, although there is a wealth of material to be covered there. I am more interested in the notion being bandied about that Joe Stack is some kind of anti-tax Tea Party hero.

He is not a hero, far from it.
He is also not deranged.
He is most certainly selfish, self absorbed, perhaps narcissistic. Any man who loves his family more than his own life would not have chosen the path he took. His hatred for whatever the government did to him should not have taken precedence over his concern for the welfare of his family. And his blind, breathtaking disregard for the lives of other people stuns me.

His actions are more like that of a spoiled child.
If Joe can't have his way, then Joe is going home.
And he is taking all his marbles with him whether they like it or not.

In retrospect, how bad can life be if you can afford to own and operate a Piper Cherokee PA-28 airplane to fly around and visit your clients?


6 comments:

Toaster 802 said...

Stack's rant paints him as an anti-capitalist leftist who's anger is that he thought the gravy train he craved for himself was given elsewhere. Selfish is what he and the wookie in Alabama have in common, along with lashing out with violence when their pleasure center needs were not met by the obammy.

Obama-banzi!

sig94 said...

Toaster - no bandana around his forehead huh? Yet the MSM is trying to paint him as a kamikazi dive-bombing tea bagger.

I guess when you off yourself there's just no pleasing everybody. And he should have had that Alabama nutbag in the plane with him.

Anonymous said...

I knew that likes of Kostards and Huffing Poo would blame the "teabaggers" within seconds, but I'm surprised that it took the MSM so long to start spinning, distorting, and omitting things to cast the blame on the Vast Right Wing Teabagger Terrorist Conspiracy.

One of the True Heroes of the day was the glass contractor who was on site and used his ladder to help evac folks from the building. I don't remember his name, but they interviewed him on FOX NEWS on the day all this happened.

O/T - Sig, I'd appreciate a LEO's $.02 on a radio call I heard on the scanner Friday. Would you mind weighing in at my place??

sig94 said...

There was an IRS employee killed in the crash. Fortunately everyone else is expected to recover. The true heroes always come out on their own and then fade away when they are no longer needed.

Fredd said...

This guy was just plain nuts. Nothing more needs to be said about whack jobs like this guy.

Snarky Basterd said...

You know, you can link back to your site when you post at mine. Just put a note at the bottom of your post that says, "Cross-posted at Signal 94" and link back here. You can do the same here, linking to ADHD. Makes people think you're in demand. :^)