The Villain and His “Manifesto”—A View from Austin (UPDATED)
Feb 19th, 2010 | 6 responses
I have been watching and listening to the pundits and talking heads pontificate about the tragedy that struck my beautiful city yesterday—a tragedy that may have taken at least one innocent life and injured several other innocent human beings. I have also been watching these same experts wave, quote and expound on the killer’s so-called manifesto, as if it were some new Magna Carta of terrorism rights. And I have just had enough.
I have had enough of the attempts to politically characterize and exploit the motivations and the motives of this criminal—attempts to make political hay out of this horrible tragedy. I have had enough of the finger pointing and recriminations. I have had enough of the parsing and of the semantics debate on whether this was an act of (domestic) terrorism, or not.
But, most of all, I have had enough of the attempts to make us “understand,” to extenuate, excuse and even justify the despicable criminal acts of this pathetic coward.
In my opinion, there are no grudges against the IRS or against any other government agency or person; no personal financial setback; no political or religious belief; no amount of rage against “the system;” no twisted personal philosophy that will ever justify the killing and injuring of innocent Americans. Just ask the family and friends of Austinite Vernon Hunter, age 67, who is still missing following the crash, or ask the family and friends of Shane Hill, 38, an IRS employee who is now at the Brooke Army Medical Burn Center with second-degree burns over 20 to 25 percent of his body.
I also have concerns—hopefully unwarranted ones—about the debate that will inevitably follow over our rights and freedoms vis-à-vis the need to prevent similar or possibly worse recurrences of what struck our city yesterday.
There will be those who will want to impose additional restrictions, regulations and security safeguards and those who will fight such every inch of the way.
The tragedy did expose some vulnerabilities and, while I was gratified that there wasn’t a much greater loss of life, I am very concerned by what could have been.
Had the pilot modified his flight path by just a few degrees he could have hit the State Capitol or other crowded, multi-story downtown buildings.
But in a free society there will always be risks and vulnerabilities.
I offer no solutions, but I do hope that, this time, those entrusted with such a responsibility—in effect, all of us—will be able to find that delicate and difficult balance between, in this most recent case, preserving the rights of the private aviator and ensuring the safety of the general public and, in general, between a free and open society and one cowering in fear and under excess governance.
UPDATE:
According to Fox News, authorities have now identified that the person missing, Vernon Hunter, was indeed killed in the crash. Hunter was a Revenue Office Manager for the IRS.
Also, the wife of the pilot of the aircraft that crashed into the IRS building, released a statement through a friend today:
Words cannot adequately express my sorrow or the sympathy I feel for everyone affected by this unimaginable tragedy. Due to the ongoing investigation related to this tragedy, I feel it best to make no comment beyond this statement, and to not respond to questions of any nature.
While I deplore the actions of Andrew Joseph Stack, my condolences and sympathy go out to his wife and his family.
UPDATE II:
During an interview tonight with the local “KVUE” TV station, the son of Vernon Hunter spoke lovingly of his father and had this to say about the tragedy:
I was listening to the radio and I kept hearing everybody say [Andrew Joseph] Stack this, and Stack that…Oh he’s a great person.
No he’s not!
A great person would not have done that. Part of being an American and whether you agree with what’s going on in the government or not, is you pay your taxes…
Ironically, Vernon Hunter’s job at the IRS was to arrange payment plans for people who couldn’t afford to pay their income taxes. Kid Hunter said that his Dad would have gladly helped Mr. Stack.
Vernon Hunter joined the Army when he was 18 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was the father of six.
6 Responses to “The Villain and His “Manifesto”—A View from Austin (UPDATED)”
Yves Smith makes an excellent point about this man's possible state of mind (without condoning his actions). The average US citizen is put through the wringer to ensure they pay the correct amount of taxes, while AIG is given billions upon billions after committing what is essentially ponzi fraud. A moderate citizen has to stand back and marvel at it all…
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/02/violent-…
IdahoSpud:
Thanks for your comment and the link.
I read Smith's article (“Violent Backlash Starting?”) which consists mainly of quotes from the killer's manifesto, and is exactly one of the reactions I refer to in my post. While the article doesn't mitigate (“advocate”) Stack's actions, it certainly does not condemn them:
“
While I am, not comparing Stack's deeds to the deeds of Islamic terrorists, I am sure one can find thousands of articles elaborating on their “plight” and “causes”, and on connecting the dots….
That still doesn't make it right.
Well said. The man was a crazy and murderous criminal. Thats all that is important to know.
I do condemn anyone who is trying to make political hay out of this. I don't think Stack could really be characterized as left or right, and even if you could there is no justification for what he did.
Having said that, one of the first things that came to my mind were the comments post-9/11 (I think from Maria Cantwell among others, though I could be wrong) on how in order to prevent further attacks we had to understand the terrorists motives. There were comments that the US hadn't helped to build schools in the Middle East so flying airplanes into buildings somehow became more understandable.
There is a thin line between understanding why things happened and trying to justify that they happened. While what happened is purely the fault of Stack, just about everybody who pays taxes can identify a little bit with the frustrations in trying to understand the tax code. It looks more like Stack was trying to get away with something as opposed to making honest mistakes, which to me makes him much less of a sympathetic figure.
As with most things a middle ground is probably appropriate, looking to understand why this happened while not condoning Stack's actions or trying to score political points.
You make an excellent point, DG, something with which I have been struggling, too.
There is certainly a thin line between “understanding” and sympathizing, and I am sure most people see that line clearly and don't cross it.
I have seen way too many opinions advocating that we should try to understand why the 9/11 terrorists did what they did to us. Perhaps we should, but there are certain acts, so heinous, that it just goes against the grain of many decent people to even categorize them as deserving examination, or “understanding”, and I will not be one to blame them. Had I lost a loved one in the Austin tragedy, I would be the last one to try to “understand” or give a damn about the motives of this killer.
But, having said all this, yes, we must always try to prevent such acts, including by rectifying conditions that are truly wrong.
There are right ways and wrong ways to get something changed. This man might have had a real concern, but he went about it the wrong way.