The consequences of incendiary rhetoric

On Thursday, February 18th, Joseph Stack, a software engineer, flew his plane into the federal Internal Revenue Service building in Austin Texas, leaving behind an angry anti-government rant on his personal website. Miraculously the attack had only one fatality (other than Stack), but that is one too many. The victim killed in the incident was Vernon Hunter, an army veteran who served two tours in Vietnam. Many others were injured and substantial damage was done to the building. The image of smoke pouring from the side of the structure immediately conjured images of the September 11th attacks. 

Within hours of the attack, the battle over Stack’s intentions and motivations was on. Bloggers on the left asked why those on the right weren’t calling him a “terrorist,” while bloggers on the right insisted that he wasn’t on either side of the political spectrum, but was just a lunatic. Stack’s suicide note has elements of both left wing and right wing radicalism, he rails against the health insurance industry as well as corporate elites, but most of his ire is directed at the government and the IRS. He describes the government as “totalitarian.” He retells a long story about his tax troubles and he concludes his writing with, “Well Mr. Big-Brother IRS man, lets try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.”

The debate about whether Stack had a particular political agenda seems disingenuous to me. It’s unfair to say he was explicitly liberal or conservative, but those on the right who argue that he had no specific ideological underpinning are ignoring the single greatest fact about the case: he flew his plane into a government building. Whatever other beliefs he may have held, Stack subscribed to the belief that the current government is a totalitarian state bent on instilling “draconian regulations” and stealing from citizens through taxes.

The notion that our government is heading toward tyranny has been at the forefront of political debate during this past year and has manifested itself most prominently in the Tea Party protests and organizations. Robert Wright, writing in the New York Times, says, “In the end, the core unifying theme of the Tea Partiers is populist rage, and this is the core theme in Stack’s ramblings, whether the rage is directed at corporate titans (“plunderers”), the government (“totalitarian”) or individual politicians (“liars”).”

Obviously the distinction here is between Stacks ideology and his desire to fly planes into buildings, but as Wright says, “You could, on the one hand, follow this logic to the conclusion that Joseph Stack was the first Tea Party terrorist.”

Some may see this comparison as going too far but it’s important to remember that Stack’s beliefs, and even his embrace of violence, are present at the fringes of the Tea Party. The New York Times did a revealing exposé in which it profiled a Tea Party chapter in the eastern region of Washington State. The leader of the chapter Pam Stout “said she has begun to contemplate the possibility of ‘another civil war.’ It is her deepest fear, she said.

Yet she believes the stakes are that high. Basic freedoms are threatened, she said. Economic collapse, food shortages and civil unrest all seem imminent. ‘I don’t see us being the ones to start it, but I would give up my life for my country,’ Mrs. Stout said. ‘Peaceful means,’ she continued, ‘are the best way of going about it. But sometimes you are not given a choice.’” And that’s from the president of an official Tea Party group. 

The Republican Party has not been immune to courting this type sentiment. That’s why Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa said after the attack, “It’s sad the incident in Texas happened, but by the same token, it’s an agency that is unnecessary and when the day comes when that is over and we abolish the IRS, it’s going to be a happy day for America.” He continued, “I can tell you I’ve been audited by the IRS and I’ve had the sense of, ‘Why is the IRS in my kitchen? Why do they have their thumb in the middle of my back?” So according to an elected Republican official it’s sad, but totally understandable that someone would fly a plane into a building to kill innocent people, as long as those people worked for a bureaucratic government program. It’s this sort of mentality that makes it perfectly clear which side of the political spectrum Stack is connecting with. 

The scariest part in all of this, for me, is the way in which Stack parrots right wing rhetoric emanating from talk radio, television and other media. He mentions “Big-Brother” twice, and as was previously mentioned, firmly believes that government is “totalitarian” and “fascist,” robbing him of his life’s work. This immediately invokes the high priest of hysteria himself, Glenn Beck. Beck has, on more than one occasion said we are being watched by “Big-Brother” and said, “like it or not, fascism is on the rise.” He contends that the government will “take away our guns, they’ll take away our sovereignty, they’ll take away our currency, our money.” Comparing the Obama White House to vampires, Beck said, “There’s only two ways for this movie to end: either the economy becomes like the walking dead, or you drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers.” Beck has been one of the primary mover and shakers behind the Tea Party movement, himself being the founder of the 9/12 project which hosted a Tea Party rally in D.C. last year.

Now, I’m not saying Glenn Beck told this guy to kill people; in fact, Beck spent a large portion of his show after the attack denouncing the act explicitly and calling on people to be non-violent (though he also spent lots of time obfuscating Stacks views). Media talking heads must realize however that they are playing with fire. The constant outpouring of incendiary rhetoric that defines today’s cable news and talk radio is driving people to believe they must take more and more drastic action. Remember, Mrs. Stout said that she would willingly “give up my life for my country.” It wouldn’t be the first time Beck has been linked an act of right wing violence. According to MNDaily, “Glenn Beck may have influenced the man responsible for shooting three police officers in Pittsburg last April. The gunman regularly watched Beck and posted clips from the show to a white supremacist Web site.” Speech has consequences, and pretending it doesn’t invites more and more of this brand of right wing extremist violence.

Incendiary and violent speech of the left or the right should, of course, be criticized, but as of late it’s been a very one sided affair. The paranoid rhetoric of the right has created an atmosphere where normal people involved with the Tea Party movement are convinced they must be ready to sacrifice themselves and Republican politicians sympathize with a man who kills innocents, because those innocents worked at the IRS. The decision by Joseph Stack to engage in violence directed against innocent people working for the government is tragic, but to write him off as just another crazy is to ignore the ways in which mainstream paranoid rhetoric is creating an environment where this action is possible.