Austin Texas: Paranoid Politics Central....

A Peice In The Guardian,
A Left Of Centre, Former Broadsheet, Borgeoise British Newspaper...
(The Sort Of Rag That One Would Buy If Interested In A Left Wing, Politically Correct, Spin On The News,
For The Chattering Classes,
And Not Celebrity/Sensationalist Gossip)


Austin, Texas: paranoid politics central

Joseph Stack's views don't fit neatly into the partisan politics of the US, but central Texas is where conspiracy theories take root

Yesterday, tragedy hit Austin, Texas, the place where I'd lived for 14 years and only moved away from two months ago.
A man tentatively identified as 53-year-old Joseph Stack, flew his small plane into the seven-storey IRS building in North Austin, after setting fire to his own home and leaving a lengthy suicide note on his website. The note was surprisingly lucid for a man committing an act universally seen as crazy, and it spelled out his mostly political grievances, with a call to arms at the end for those who share them.
And yet, many commentators and the US government are reluctant to call this a terrorist act, though it fits neatly within the FBI's definition of domestic terrorism.
They shouldn't be, because Stack did this in the cultural capital of paranoid politics.

Part of the reluctance to define this as terrorism is the fact that Stack's politics don't map out neatly on the partisan landscape of the US, unlike the politics of other domestic terrorists such as abortion doctor killers and rightwing extremists like Timothy McVeigh.
Stack complained about his taxes, but he also complained about the inability of politicians to reform the healthcare system.
Without a coherent ideology to pin on him, most people had trouble seeing Stack as a terrorist.
But I recognised his type immediately, having lived the majority of my life in the area.
Call them the nihilists or the political paranoids, but Austin and the surrounding areas of Texas are the cultural centre for a certain brand of paranoid politics that stretches far beyond partisanship and sees enemies and conspiracies around every corner.
They hated Bill Clinton, but they hated George Bush, too.
They're mostly very conservative, but they attract left-leaning paranoids, who share their affection for conspiracy theories.
Stack indicated in his note a long relationship with the political fringe, going back to participating in anti-tax schemes in California.

Sure, Austin is mostly known as a Democratic stronghold.
But if you live there for even a short period of time (as Stack had), you can't miss the paranoid culture.

The biggest media empire in the US for disseminating unhinged conspiracy theories is located in Austin.

The website for this empire is Infowars, and the radio show that's broadcast to over 60 stations nationwide is called the Alex Jones Show.
Jones's politics are ostensibly libertarian-conservative, but really, his ideology is paranoia.
His empire sucks in rightwingers with conspiracy theories that feed the militia gun culture, but they also love conspiracy theories that appeal more to the left, such as the belief that 9/11 was an "inside job".
And then there are unclassifiable ones, such as the belief that gatherings of elitist power players at the Bohemian Grove are actually Satanic rituals.

Jones is a local celebrity in Austin, treated indulgently if not taken too seriously.

You can be reasonably certain that someone with unhinged beliefs like Stack was aware of the strong culture of political paranoia in the area when he committed this terrorist act.
Most places in the country, his call to arms would come across as simply ineffectual.
But central Texas is where the conspiracy theories that inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma take root and spread like weeds.
I predict the conspiracy theory machine is already working overtime to produce some narrative blaming this on the government and painting Stack as a victim, if not a hero.
Facebook groups have already started to pop up celebrating Stack as a tax protester.
Because of this, we cannot write Stack off as a lone wolf.
Just because he likely didn't conspire with others directly doesn't mean he wasn't sending off a signal to the paranoid malcontents of America. And they are listening.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/19/austin-texas-paranoid-politics


Interesting Article...
I Think It Is Saying That Conspiracy Theories/Theorists Are Now Mainstream...

And Are Now Not Lunatic Fringe,
But A Part Of The Political Landscape...

Well That's My Bias On It...!!!

Sad story. I hope Jonesie & Ickehousen are happy at what they've done.

Now his wife has no home to live in nor bread winner.

I imagine that Jones had the guy on speed dial & egged him on.

I don't know why ppl constantly call Jones, when he buffets his callers with name calling & rudeness. Jones lets his caller sau hi, then jones cuts them off & berates them then finishes off with, I need monsy so we can save the world.

Jones is the perfect guy if you need a narc or a stoolpidgeon. He prolly goes out every night to collect names of freedom fighters then emails the list to the FBI.

To me what its saying is that the shit that jones spews FUELS this kind of shit.

Yes, it was an act of terror. Just like the Nidal Hassan case was. No one wants to admit to either one being that, but both were.

Parioia is so afoot when you listen to jones....it's every other word, their gonna come and take your kids, guns and food and your gonna be left with nothing!!!!!!!!!!!

Prepare now, buy mah shit! MRE's that last for 30 years @ $1500.00 dollars a pop!

Feck all that shit.

If there were a terrorism inquiry I wonder if they would bring Jones in for the house judiciary of love & rockets.

Icke can show up with his power point & toddle them all out of 3 quid. Then they can a stroll down to the capitol hill sport & minstrel pub to exchange stories on how they will wipe out the criers of Freedom.

WW wrote:To me what its saying is that the shit that jones spews FUELS this kind of shit.

Yes, it was an act of terror. Just like the Nidal Hassan case was. No one wants to admit to either one being that, but both were.

Parioia is so afoot when you listen to jones....it's every other word, their gonna come and take your kids, guns and food and your gonna be left with nothing!!!!!!!!!!!

Prepare now, buy mah shit! MRE's that last for 30 years @ $1500.00 dollars a pop!

Feck all that shit.

It Reminds Me Of This Very Boring English/Jewish Author,
Howard Jackobson...


Who Writes In The Style Of A PG Woodhouse,
Or An Allan Bennett,

Very Kitchen Sink Observations,

One Thing That Tickled Me About His Writing,
Was That Whenever He Would Have Visitors To His Childhood House,
If His Mother Went To The Toilet,
All The Radios And The Taps Would Be Put On Full Blast,
Lest Anyone Could Hear Her Doing Her "Abolutions"

Any Way What A Nightmare World These Folks Live In....

When "They" Are Not Just Coming For You...
But For Your Children...

And Your Unborn Grandchildren...

Give Them The Spondoolie And They Will Make It Stop...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$/££££££££££

This Is What Howard Jackobson Had To Say About The Fear Merchants....

Howard said...

You will know them because they know more about the Jewish religion than you do.
As soon as you meet one of those, and think, by God they’ve got a lot of quotations, by God they know everything about Jews—then that’s what they are.
And what cheers me about all this, is that your true anti-Semite, like your true Holocaust denier, is doomed to a kind of Dante-esque hell of living among Jewish things, Jewish books, Jewish artifacts.
You can see them in the library, they’ve got the Talmud up here, and they’re burrowing away to find more and more evidence against the Jews.
Few Jews live a more perfect scholarly Jewish life