Joseph Andrew Stack (1956 - 2010), a 53 year old Austin, TX resident, alt-country bass player and software engineer, crashed his Piper Cherokee PA-28 aircraft into an Internal Revenue Service government building yesterday and authorities are stating that two unidentified bodies have been found along with two people left injured in the incident.
Before setting his $250,000 home on fire and setting out in his plane, Stack wrote a suicide note that was apparently e-mailed to IRS officials and posted on his companies website (http://www.embeddedart.com/). In the letter, Stack urges his outright contempt for capitalist America and the unfair governing tactics that have seemed to haunt the man during his entire adult life. Although friends assure us that Stack was a soft spoken man, his brooding intensity was unleashed in the only he saw fit. The letter urges revolt and revolution in a country where many see "the American dream" in the "land of the free" as the product of false consciousness:
"I can only hope ... that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. 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 [sic] and using this awareness against, fools like me all along."His suicide letter is an interesting read into the helpless and articulate mind of a man's efforts against the governing power-block over the course of his life, which eventually lead to his tragic end. Read the entire letter here.
Those that end up losing in this tactical confrontation are the two IRS employees, along with families and friends of all those injured, that were killed during the attack. Stack seemed to believe that what he did was necessary in order to embarrass and force a justification from government officials that had taken advantage of the man throughout his life.. but despite this, a strike against humanity based on mere employment is sincerely unnecessary.
Stack ended his letter with this:
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.It will be interesting to see how American citizens react to Stack's actions - the tyrant vs. the revolutionary - and how he will be labelled on a global front.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
References:
Mediaite.com :: Joseph Andrew Stack ID’d As Austin Crash Pilot; Online Screed Revealed
CNN :: Wife of Texas pilot expresses sorrow for victims
Statesman.com :: Pilot was in Austin band, described as kind and quiet
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