I found about him on the Something Awful forums, where they presented him as some kind of folk hero who was fighting against the man and AFAIK they still have Killdozer emoji.

He was actually a libertarian asshole who thought it was government tyranny that he couldn’t keep emptying human waste into an old concrete truck barrel. He would’ve gotten a ton of money for his property that was going to have a concrete plant built on it, but he refused.

It was really just luck that he didn’t kill anyone, he ran his dozer into a library where a bunch of children had gathered, but they were evacuated just in time.

I dunno why I’m talking about this now fairly obscure piece of Internet lore except I randomly thought of him a few days ago and realized it was almost exactly 20 years ago (chomsky-yes-honey). I guess it’s also a good example of how telling a story selectively can change its perception, which is relevant with Tiny Man Square having its anniversary too.

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    RIP to a real one (A real asshole).

    I was very upset to find out that he was a complete anti-social dickwad who refused to correct easily solved problems and instead just broke a lot of shit.

    • Diuretic_Materialism [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      23 days ago

      correct easily solved problems

      Seriously, WHY DIDNT HE GET A SEPTIC TANK!?!?!? Like that would have still been mostly compatible with his weirdo libertarian lifestyle and he probs had the money for it. Just get a septic tank dude and stop pumping your shit into an irrigation canal.

  • I think 99% of the appeal of the kill dozer guy is that it reminds some of us of the montage scene of every third act in an A-Team episode where the good guys start welding and sawing and custom rigging civilian vehicles and construction equipment into improvised tools for fighting this week’s antagonistic bullies, usually some corrupt institution or rich assbag.

    there’s a park in downtown Havana where vehicles of the revolution are displayed. a delivery truck, the Granma, etc. and there’s this little tiny box trailer thing with plate steel armor and slits for shooting out of.

    there’s something broadly insurrectionary about work vehicles being repurposed to fight and I think that is the origin of the appeal. we can loathe the man, but still appreciate the technical capacity of the killdozer.

    • redsteel@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      Also there was an indie documentary called Tread released at the 2019 SxSW Film Festival, it includes historic video of the event mixed with live re-enactments, plus clips of Heemeyer’s audio tapes and interviews with the people he was after.

      It was posted to YouTube’s “free with ads” movie section a few years ago and remains free to this day, link to watch the whole thing (it’s about 1h28m).

    • Justice@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      The classic modern conundrum of “Isn’t it crazy how all these people who snap and go on school shooting never target anyone or anything of actual power or consequence that might change something?”

      But of course two words come to mind…

      Shinzo Abe.

      Second time I said that today. Welcome to another fucking list

  • xavier_berthiaume@jlai.lu
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    23 days ago

    Aw man, I knew little about the Killdozer story other than he built a big ol machine and used it to fuck with cops, but didn’t know he was a liberterian freak/the full story around why he did what he did.

  • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    He’s still celebrated on a lot of parts of the internet for the reason you mentioned. He’s been turned into an anti-establishment folk hero and I remember him being described to me as someone who did it because they were mad at their boss.

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    I feel the same way about roof Koreans. All the conservatives and libertarians worship them because they protected MUH PROPERTY!!

    But the reality? They only killed one person - another roof Korean. The kid was told to go grab more weapons to defend their shops, so he went to a barricaded gun store to grab them. The other roof Koreans thought he was a looter and shot him and they got into a gunfight, and he lost and died on the streets.

    It’s so bizarre that they have a legacy. The US was just massacring Asians a few decades earlier, and now was a perfect opportunity to deflect and shield themselves from racism by pitting communities and races against each other. Any Asian American who worships these fools are CUCKS. Not only did they serve an empire that hates you, the empire allowed your communities to get destroyed because it was a tactical move to ignore your problems in the future.

  • Ericthescruffy [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    Killdozer was the hero we needed, just not the one we deserved. …or maybe vice versa.

    spoiler

    Like to over explain my point: yes killdozer was a right wing nut and the primary source of his own misery but whoever the ugly truth of the man was…the symbol he can represent to people can be something greater.

    …cause come on…if you squint your eyes and just look at the broad strokes it’s still just so fucking cool…even if it was for all the wrong reasons.

  • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    When I first learned about this guy I was genuinely creeped out by the fact that once sealed inside he had no way out. Dude was just committed to mayhem.

    • Justice@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      Ok, now I’m just remembering that scene in the second Ace Ventura movie when Ace is in a robotic rhino doing surveillance and his tiny little fan stops working then he can’t get the little exit hatch open and has to exit through the rhino’s ass… nude of course

  • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    Was there ever an armoured bulldozer used for anything remotely good?

    And I don’t mean “well a tank is sort of like…” or “well this tractor with armour”, no, straight up Bulldozer with armour