Joe......

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Recently, Joe Stack’s attack at the IRS office in Texas shocked many. There were people on both extremes — some quickly labeled him a terrorist, others hailed him as a hero. But then there were people in between, confused, hesitant to draw conclusions — and that confusion, I believe, is justifiable.

This act is not as simple as some may think.

Terrorism, Protest, or Desperation?

What made Joe Stack’s attack similar to terrorism?

According to a report on www.kexan.com, several characteristics apply:

  • Use of violence

  • A political motive

  • A symbolic target

  • Copying established terrorist methods

In other words: using violence to push a political message by hitting a symbol of the state, with an act that mimicked past terrorism — flying a plane into a building, creating panic.

Inside His Mind — The Suicide Note

His suicide note, uploaded on Scribd, quickly gained over 40,000 views.

He wrote:

“Violence not only is the answer — it is the only answer.”
“Nothing changes without body count. Life is cheap as their lies and self-serving laws.”

But that wasn't where he began.
His frustration grew over time. His objective was not to terrorize civilians — it was to make them realize what he had come to see.

He questioned the very principles of the society he lived in.
He pointed out how those principles are manipulated to serve the rich, deepening the inequality between the powerful and the powerless.

On Justice, Democracy, and the System

He criticized:

  • The medical system

  • The failures of democracy

  • The difference between justice and law

“You don’t get justice. You get law.”
“Law that even lawmakers can’t fully understand — yet the layman is punished for not complying.”

He discussed the economic cruelty of capitalism:

  • The Great Depression

  • The .COM bubble

  • The property bubble

  • The 2008 crisis

Every time, masses are crushed, while the rich are rescued — with money from the masses.

“You Didn’t Fight Hard Enough”

Some say he gave up too soon. That he ran from the problem instead of fighting harder.

But ask yourself — how many engineers in 1987, with no Google, no Gmail, no Outlook, could:

  • Research arcane tax law abuses?

  • Travel for hours to submit paperwork?

  • Campaign for change through letters and phone calls?

He tried to leave the rat race — to become an independent entrepreneur. But he hit the brutal wall of industrial capitalism — where scale wins, and the honest lose.

As Yousuf Kamal Muhammad once noted:

“In capitalism, the competitive atmosphere is unjust par excellence… the bigger enterprise wipes out the weaker competitor.”

In a system where profit is king, even the fair compete with the unfair on unequal grounds — and receive no extra credit for integrity.

No Inheritance, No Motivation, No Future

His hope was shattered.

“Zero retirement. No inheritance. No future.”

Meanwhile, in our own society, systems like justice and healthcare may not be significantly better — and yet, the number of people as angry as Joe Stack is rising.

Maybe it’s because we don’t recognize what capitalism truly is.
Maybe it's because the hope of life after death — the submission to the Divine — makes suffering bearable for some.

Perhaps many have stopped thinking of life in those spiritual terms.

The Accountant’s Corner

As an accountant, this paragraph struck me. He was angry at accountants. And as someone from that background, I feel obligated to say — he had a point.

The IASB (Europe) and FASB (USA) debate over principles vs. rules in accounting standards reflects a deeper tension:

  • Principles get outdated (e.g., "fair value" wasn't in original frameworks)

  • Rules get excessively complex, contradictory, and unjust

Ironically, IFRS now outpaces the conceptual frameworks they were meant to emerge from.
Both IASB and FASB are working to unify frameworks — but how long will that last?

Final Irony

Did Joe Stack realize that the people he was about to kill were also victims of the system?

That IRS building was built with taxpayer money.
Many of those inside were ordinary workers deceived into believing:

“You have economic freedom. Private property. Prosperity.”

But the truth is — we’re all floating on debt in a system where consumerism is king, and reality is hidden beneath hollow slogan

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