Posted on 02/19/2010 5:31:47 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Most were shocked by the charred scene of Joe Stack's kamikaze attack on a Texas IRS office, but for an alarmingly growing number of Americans Stack is a hero.
The Web was studded with praise for Stack almost immediately after his plane slammed into the Austin office complex Thursday morning. The admiring salutes appearing on sites ranging from Facebook to the pages of extremist groups reflect what experts say is an "explosive growth" in the anti-government patriot movement.
"Extremist groups are already aligning behind [Joe Stack], beginning to talk about him as a hero," said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center which studies American militia and hate groups. "The growth of those groups has been astounding."
Stack's suicide note, an angry rant against the IRS and the government which was posted online the morning of his death, got around 20 million hits before it was taken down at the request of the FBI, according to Alex Melen, president and founder of T35, the network service provider for the Web site where the note was posted.
Melen, 25, said within minutes of taking the note down, the company was "bombarded" with around 3,000 e-mails demanding Stack's words be reposted. Some of the e-mails contained personal threats against Melen.
"What's funny is most people were pretty much praising him," Melen told ABC News.
Bob Schulz, founder of the anti-government We the People Foundation, said that while he only advocates non-violent means of protest, he can understand Stack's motives and said it is a reflection of a movement unlike any he's ever seen.
"There's a huge patriot movement," Schulz said. "I've been doing this kind of work for 30 years. Never have I seen the likes of what's going on now. It's delightful."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Potok’s mommy has to tuck him in at night...he sees monsters everywhere.
No word that he is being praised by the lefties at HuffPo. Just an allusion to “patriot” movement trying to tie him to the right.
I have never heard of Mr. Potok. But before I clicked on the link, I had now doubt that the outfit he was the director of was SPLC. Truly a fraudulent organization.
And on another note... People also like watching TV shows like 24 (myself included) where the hero also routinely is outside the mainstream when it comes to taking the law into his own hands.
THEY do it, then blame *US*.
He was a lefty to the core —I guess Ayers was one of OURS..?
People identify with him because they understand somebody being driven insane by government harassment - as the state grows larger and more invasive, people will do more extreme things.
That said, this man is nobody’s hero. He endangered the lives of many innocents, stole personal property, and in general sounds totally self centered and crazy. He is not one of us.
And frankly, after reading his manifesto I know he was not a tea partier. He just says too much that smacks of MSNBC propaganda.
Let me be the first.
B.S. Anybody who thinks someone who fly’s a plane into a building trying to kill innocent people is a hero should be taken out back and shot, plain and simple. The guy is/was a coward and those that “hero-worship” him are even worse.
These idiot cowards and NOT the people we want in the conservative movement, and to let the media lump them in with us is criminal.
We need to speak LOUD and OFTEN about how those nut-jobs are NOT conservatives and are simply taking a very “Liberal” approach with their misplaced “Hero-Worship”.
We should make the mantra, “ He was as far to the right as Amy Bishop”.
He has a beard. 99% sure he’s a Liberal.
Libtards and their obsession with symbolism reminds me of a cat watching the swirling water in a toilet...toss in a little floating thingee and they just might jump in after it.
Come on Potok NAME NAMES...Lawyers are eagerly waiting for the media types to slander people.
You obviously have no ability to anaylize. You must have a dwindling bank account over at the SPLC. Spreading your hate. Like all good Socialist.
If you read the “manifesto”, you say...”Okay. He has an issue with taxes. Could be a Tea Party type...”
Then you read further, and you see:
1.) Hates George W. Bush.
2.) Hates Capitalism.
3.) Hates the Insurance Companies.
4.) Quotes Karl Marx.
He is a deranged moonbat. Game. Set. Match. I reject that POS completely. I have a small degree of sympathy because he appears to be mentally ill, but he squandered that by taking out innocent people instead of flying his worthless ass into the side of a deserted mountain.
This is bull!
Almost immediately after the atrocity in Austen, at this site Freepers were posting that Joe Stack was a flaming liberal cry-baby and a murderer.
Hardly a right-winger.
Let me be the first. B.S. Anybody who thinks someone who fly’s a plane into a building trying to kill innocent people is a hero should be taken out back and shot, plain and simple. The guy is/was a coward and those that “hero-worship” him are even worse.I agree with you 100%. But let's not also forget that the guy's rant was 98% liberalism. Anti-capitalism, ant-corporations, anti-religion, pro government health care. And he ended his rant with an ode to Communism and a slam on Capitailism.
The liberals own this one!
Just another bitter communist who wanted an easy way to avoid the responsibility to “pay his fair share”, as so many of them do. He should have gone into a different line of work - some kind of cash business, perhaps. For example, my neighbor sells dope for a living and that's what he has done for 30 years. He never has a complaint with the IRS because the rest of us pay “his fair share”. He has to go through the revolving door at the local jail from time to time but it doesn't seem to bother him all that much.
There were a number of threads about this yesterday. As the facts gradually came out, the general conclusion was:
a) This guy was a leftist nutcase. Despicable for nearly murdering his wife and daughter as well as crashing the plane.
b) The press would predictably pretend that he was a “right wing extremist.”
Correct on both counts.
We are not extremists. The left would like us to be. They’re using Stack because they can’t find a TEA leader to do an Alinsky on, so they’re trying to Alinsky US via the lone psycho.
There are only two descriptive phrases for Stack:
KOOK BALL
COWARD
There is nothing else.
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