the rix mix: Definition of insanity

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Definition of insanity

Man angry at IRS crashes small plane into Texas office building
He recounted his financial reverses, his difficulty finding work in Austin, and at least two clashes with the IRS, one of them after he filed no return because, he said, he had no income, the other after he failed to report his wife Sheryl's income.
He railed against politicians, the Catholic Church, the "unthinkable atrocities" committed by big business, and the government bailouts that followed. He said he slowly came to the conclusion that "violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer."
"I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well," he wrote.

In the end, he flies a plane into an office building & - I suppose we have to say luckily - kills only himself & two others. He stopped the insanity alright. A reminder that terrorist acts by deranged individuals are impossible to prevent.

Labels: in the news

# posted by Bob : 6:34 PM

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Comments:

Except that the right wing nut jobs are saying this is NOT an act of terrorism. When a white male assaults a building under "pressure" from the establishment, it is NOT terrorism ... as opposed to the boogey man version that was heaped on the American public by the Bush adminisration ... well, what can I say except ... bottoms up!

# posted by

Carrie : 2:11 AM

It falls into a gray area, but we're better off thinking of it as a terrorist act. We unrealistically believe terrorist acts are always conspiracies & therefore hypothetically preventable if the conspiracy is exposed. But all this guy lacked was a more consistent ideological rationale.

# posted by

Bob : 3:11 AM

I don't think it is gray at all. I also don't believe terrorism is always group oriented. Even the word "terror" is not exclusive of just an individual, such as say, an ex boyfriend stalking the ex girlfriend.

The man was a terrorist. He flew a plane into a building to make a statement. Seems like I heard this story before about New York. Hmmmm.

# posted by

Carrie : 12:27 PM

True. But some distinction has to be made just to decide who deals with it, the CIA & FBI or the local police. My point is that we have to accept guys like this can get through, where someone like Nidal Malik Hasan could & should have been netted before he (allegedly) shot up Fort Hood. Hasan went through a long process of focusing his anger ideologically, & he telegraphed every step.

# posted by

Bob : 1:53 PM

I am not 100% sure of this at the moment, but didn't this guy have a suicide note AND a written diary, either online or otherwise, that went on and on and on about his feelings (and hence, his decline)? With all the corporate cooperation in this country of monitoring everything we do, doesn't it make more sense to have found this guy and what he intended to do, before we would have drawn any conclusions about the intentions of the underwear bomber?

# posted by

Carrie : 12:30 AM

An angry unemployed or underemployed person being hassled by the IRS or some other agency? You'd have to detain half the people in western Pennsylvania for a start.

# posted by

Bob : 4:53 PM

I think you're missing the point. He put his feelings out there on the internet, which is monitored, despite the fact we think and try to believe it isn't. It's McVie all over again, except more accessible manifesto. If we were truly worried about the safety of America, then the surveillance that occurs because our government believes we need to be monitored, should pick up on the home grown terrorists. They are not going to find foreign terrorists listening in to our private telephone conversations, texts and internet interactions. They will, however, be able to develop quite a list of white Christian males who should be on the American No Fly list.

# posted by

Carrie : 9:13 PM