Geek Soap Box

The story of Joseph Stack is a tragedy, of an extremely confused and disturbed man who sought to terrorize innocent civilians and employees of the government in the interests of his own sick, twisted agenda.  It’s also, paradoxically, a tale of incredible fortune and serendipity.

Unfortunately, it also seems to be an opportunity for partisans on both sides of the aisle to utilize the situation to claim false piety and warp events to their own needs.  I shall dub this trend a new meme I’ll call “fuckery,” and define it as such: “the tendency for a non-political tragedy to become exploited by someone for political gain.”

Let’s start with the deep “thinkers” at Think Progress, who cornered US Representative Steve King (R – TX) and asked him if Stack’s actions were motivate by the right-wing, anti-tax rhetoric of the Tea Party movement.  These actions, attending an opposition’s conference, cornering an elected official, and hitting him with a leading question are classic fuckery at its finest.

Ignore the fact that Stack seemed to be a big fan of the Communist Manifesto, but the attack on the IRS is at best coincidental to the Tea Party movement at best.  Enough with the hand-wringing over root causes and “why do they hate us?” touchy-feeliness; both sides of the political aisle have their own wide array of nutjobs and extremists willing to torture any concept or leave no citizen unkilled in defense of some sick conspiracy theory. That’s why they are “extremists,” and they come in all shapes and forms. To politicize any particular act and use it as a means to attack those you lie in mere rhetorical disagreement with–that, constant reader, is pure masturbatory fuckery.

Not that King should be spared in this sad caper.  His own hemming and hawing response to the pointed question is also an example of fuckery.

TP: Do you think this attack, this terrorist attack, was motivated at all by a lot of the anti-tax rhetoric that’s popular in America right now?

KING: I think if we’d abolished the IRS back when I first advocated it, he wouldn’t have a target for his airplane. And I’m still for abolishing the IRS, I’ve been for it for thirty years and I’m for a national sales tax. [...] 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.

TP: So some of his grievances were legitimate?

KING: I don’t know if his grievances were legitimate, I’ve read part of the material. 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. … It is intrusive and we can do a better job without them entirely.

Granted, King is just a man and was unprepared for the question when poised, but we should and must expect better from our top representatives.  So, for perpetuating the myth and ironically giving all limited taxation and fiscal prudence advocates a bad name, Representative King gets an honorary degree in intellectual fuckery.  Congratulations!