PrintThe Kaczyinski defense
So how do you justify killing a cop in cold blood? Easy. Proudly announce on the internet you were eliminating the tools of an evil government, an evil system.
At 1:27 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2002, Officer David Mobilio of the Red Bluff Police Department was working the graveyard shift when he pulled his cruiser into a gas station in his quiet little farm town. As he stood beside the car, the 31—year—old husband and father of a toddler was shot three times, twice in the back and once in the head, at very close range. Beside Mobilio's dead body, someone left a handmade flag with a picture of a snake's head and the words "Don't Tread on Us."
A well—chosen spot for an ambush. That is what investigators later concluded, especially when they learned the suspected assailant had Army Ranger training. A lonely crossroads. Poorly lit. No station attendant on duty. No witnesses. It was a killing that might have never been solved.
That is, until a confession appeared on the Internet. Six days after the shooting, a manifesto appeared on more than a dozen Web sites operated by the left—leaning Independent Media Center.
It began: "Hello Everyone, my name's Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police—state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country. Now I'm coming forward, to explain that this killing was also an action against corporate irresponsibility."
The tract —— which managed to mingle an almost chirpy tone with leftist cant —— was signed by "Andrew McCrae," later found to be an alias for Andrew Mickel, a student at a liberal arts college who before enrolling had served three years stateside with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
Mickel explained that "prior to my action in Red Bluff, I formed a corporation under the name 'Proud and Insolent Youth Incorporated,' so that I could use the destructive immunity of corporations and turn it on something that actually should be destroyed." The name is a reference to the novel "Peter Pan." "Just before their final duel and Capt. Hook's demise, Hook said to Peter, 'Proud and Insolent Youth, prepare to meet thy doom,' " Mickel wrote.
"Now, Peter Pan hates pirates, and I hate pirates, and corporations are nothing but a bunch of pirates," he wrote. "It's time to send them to a watery grave, and rip them completely out of our lives."
Mickel wrote that he was incorporating to shield himself from prosecution. He urged everyone to join his board of directors. His stock would be free. He called for insurrection. A national strike. Mass resistance. "But don't do anything you're uncomfortable with," Mickel added, "and don't pressure anyone else into anything they're uncomfortable with."
The Unabomber, Theodore Kaczysnki, published his manifesto in the newspapers to justify his mayhem; Mickel used the today's tool of instant communication.
Is he mentally disturbed as his family claims? Maybe. Maybe not. But what is frightening is an entire warped sub culture, masquerading as respectable under the rubric of open minded tolerance and diversity, agree with him.
Hat tip: littlegreenfootballs
Ethel C. Fenig 4 7 05
