I’ve spent the last hour or two reading up on the various accounts of what happened in Austin today, as well as connecting with various SiliconANGLE members in the area to get their thoughts and checking in to make sure everyone’s OK. It seems that the fatalities were miraculously low. A few Austin members of the community work very close to the impact site, but the damage was limited to the building itself.

I had a few thoughts I wanted to share, and I encourage anyone in the SiliconANGLE community from Austin (or anywhere, really) to share their thoughts here as well.

Resources on the Joe Stack IRS Attack

Mirror of the Suicide Note and Manifesto at the Inquisitr
Austin-American Statesman Coverage and Picture Gallery
Austin-American Statesman Report on the Related House Fire
Confirmation that Stack Crashed the Plane
Fuller Write-up of the Facts of the Case Thus Far
Mahalo Factsheet on Joseph Stack
Jason Calacanis’s Buzz Thread on Joseph Stack

As to my thoughts, I think it’s almost pointing out the obvious now to say so, I think it bears at least mentioning the role that social media has played in the reporting of what happened today. Between Google Maps, Twitter, Google Buzz, and the Web itself, it’s interesting to watch the resource gathering happen as well as the intriguing discussions around what Joseph Stack had to say in his manifesto.

Normally, I’m not one for passing around the manifestos of murderers and terrorists (for instance, I never made it all the way through the Unibomber’s manifesto), but I think it’s important for those who are into politics and the culture of regulation we Americans exist in to give it a look-see. What you’ll find, as many other folks aside from myself have noted, isn’t the insane ramblings of a madman, but a fellow who reached the end of his rope (as many of us have), but decided to take it to that next unconscionable step (as none of the rest of us do).

In the coming hours and days, I’m certain we’ll hear a number of comparisons made between Joseph Stack and Glenn Beck (and many other aspects of the Tea Party movement). In certain respects, I think the comparisons are well founded, and in other respects, I think spin that will take place after the fact will be unfair.

On the one hand, the content of Joseph Stack’s manifesto reflects the frustration that the Tea Party stands for and what Glenn Beck capitalizes on with his broadcasts.  There are lots of high profile bailouts in recent US history, and very little to help the middle and underclass in similar situations. I think, though, that what most of the mainstream media will narrow in on is that this is either the start of some sort of armed revolt (in an attempt to paint this emergent third party as lunatic fringe).

I’m not a member of the Tea Party, though like most Americans, I can identify with the frustrations of both Stack and the Tea Party movement.

I don’t know that I have a point here, and generally I try to stay away from politics on this blog. This tragedy today touches a large cross-section of the community’s lives, though, so it bears mentioning and discussion, if you’re so inclined.

Please leave your thoughts below.

Update: It occurs to me (after several folks said as much in private conversations after this post went up) that it might be a little soon to talk too much about the ramifications of this attack. To a certain extent, I agree, since that was my reasoning behind not tying my thoughts to some sort of overarching point. The last thing I want to do is capitalize on a tragedy by using it to make some sort of political point. The thoughts I posted here were just what immediately occurred to me after speaking to a few Austin-area SiliconANGLErs.