Joseph Stack and the limits of Heinleinism

Yesterday morning Joseph A. Stack flew his small plane into an IRS building near Austin, Texas, killing himself and at least one other person, wounding many people, and causing massive property damage.

This caught my attention because of the obvious similarities to 9/11, but soon after some other similarities came to my attention and totally hooked me.

The guy was my age, 53, and he was a software engineer, like me. He had written a manifesto, like Ted Kazinski did, and although the FBI took it off the internet as soon as they found it, the archive copy was already made, and you can find it at the Smoking Gun.

You really should read it, although I figure few people will bother. Still, I plan to copy it into another blog post here, to retain a copy.

The obvious question yesterday, once they figured out who "did it," was "why'd he do it?"

The soundbite answers started to dribble in, and they pissed me off, because they were obviously supplied by law enforcement and they were designed to slant the coverage from the start. I wanted an in-depth answer, and I know that that takes time to discover, but I did not like it that they were shutting off primary sources such as the manifesto. I did not see that as necessary.

I know that I am probably starting to sound like a trouble-maker, perhaps someone who is himself going off the deep end, like Joseph Stack, and I understand that concern. Please bear with me and you will see how I have some similarities to Joseph, but I also have some key differences too.

Also, before I begin, I should say that recently I have been re-reading some of Heinlien, and I am amazed to discover just how much his writings influenced me during my formative years. I think some of this is pertinent in the Joseph Stack case as well.

One key protagonist Heinlein came back to again and again was the everyman who was completely competent, in control, and more or less a rugged individualist with a moral code based on chivalry. This is an extremely attractive character for young men to emulate, especially intelligent men with a scientific or engineering bent, and I think it accounts for much of the popularity of modern libertarianism amongst those men today.

I think Joseph Stack, like me, drank that koolaid long and deep. I can empathize with that part of him. Part of that appeal of that persona is the assumption that we live in a meritocracy, and people like that will be rewarded for their work ethic, ingenuity, and good character. I also used to believe this, down to the core of my being.

Unlike me, who after college entered the safe and warm and sticky and boring embrace of a large multinational corporation, Joseph Stack struck out on his own, forming a one-man corporation in computer consulting. I am sure this suited his character very well, and I am sure he was good at it, but I am equally sure that he found out very quickly that the business world is not a fair jousting competition, that people are out to screw you, that the large corporations are out to exploit you and take everything you have and give as little as possible in return, and that nobody really give a scatological reference about you and about what happens to you.

This is tough stuff, but Joseph Stack faced it head on, and he redoubled his efforts. I think this is a BIG difference between myself and Joseph Stack, and I think this shows a BIG potential problem in being a 'Heinlein hero.' While perseverance is a good trait in general, like every trait, it has a down side. At some point, if one is attempting an impossible task, one needs to acknowledge that, learn from it, let it go, and walk away.

Joseph Stack did not do that. He refused to give up on his dream. Along the way, it seems he did have many nice things - he played bass in a band or bands with some great pals, and he learned to pilot his own small plane.

At the same time, he had tax problems, some of which were created by the multinational corporations to keep guys like him down. This hurt him, badly. Over the years he struggled with that, and it seems that this Spring the tax problems once again sprang up for him in a big way, and enough was enough.

In addition to his personal problems Joseph Stack started looking around and he found out that much of what he had been told when he was growing up was a lie. Specifically, we are NOT living in a meritocracy, we do NOT have a representative government in any meaningful sense of the word, and we ARE not, as a society, rising up, we are falling down. I think Joseph Stack was finally confronting the fact that in a sense he had been living in a fantasy world, and his 'ideal man,' the 'Heinlein hero' does NOT get rewarded in the real world. Our power structure is designed to keep those with power on top, and power corrupts, so we are destined to face corrupt people with power over us, and we are powerless to change that.

There are plenty of examples of that with us today, and I believe the FBI counted that Joseph lashed out at either 27 or 37 examples. The FBI is using that fact to claim that Joseph was a loony who hated everything, but that is not the case. The truth is that we have numerous examples, today, of the injustice and unfairness that is perpetrated by our society, where those on top reap the rewards and can do no wrong, and the rest of us pay the price and can do no right.

Since I agree and have empathy with so much of what Joseph Stack did, how, then, am I different from him, and why do I know that I will not 'snap.'

For one thing, I do not think I am a 'wound collector,' which is how the profiler characterized Joseph. I have had my share of wounds, sure, but to a good degree I think I have learned from them, and I am moving on. I think I am able to do this because, unlike Joseph, I faced my disillusionment with individualism and our modern society awhile ago, and I gave up fighting the impossible fight. I still try to be a 'Heinlein hero,' but now I do it because for me it is 'right,' and not because I expect any external rewards. Also, I am stepping off the money treadmill, and I am seeking my personal fulfillment in living a good life conforming to my moral code, and in some of the simpler and more fulfilling pleasures that life has to offer - the enjoyment of beauty, in nature and in people, the enjoyment of fellowship with like-minded people, and the deep fulfillment that comes from helping others. I think Heinlein would totally agree with my choices. The world I face is different from the world he faced.

But I suspect that there will be more cases like Joseph Stack coming up, and I suspect there is nothing we can do to stop them. At this point nobody other than, perhaps, the ultra-rich, can change our future, and I see no hope for action from the ultra-rich. If those in power do not change things then, eventually, they will be changed by external forces. Perhaps enough people will opt out of the existing system. Perhaps as the power moves elsewhere so will the problems. Perhaps we face revolution. Who knows?

Who knows?