Joe Stack, a Hero or a Terrorist?

Published in Sinchew (T)
(Malaysia) on 22 February 2010
by 趙陽 (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Tim Lim. Edited by June Polewko.
Joe Stack, a software engineer who crashed a small airplane into a Texas state IRS building, was hailed by some, especially on the Internet, as a “hero.” Psychologists thought that Stack’s timely attack represented people who are dissatisfied with the government.

Stack’s recognition as “heroic” needs careful examination. If Stack’s action was truly “heroic,” it implies that law and order are no longer required, that people could return to times of barbarism where brute force prevailed. Anti-government websites containing praise for Stack’s action interpret this incident as a message to them to use it as a tool to pressure the Obama administration. But many others think just the opposite, that there is no hidden message behind the event and that it was simply an extreme measure used, by one individual, as a venue to vent long-held resentments toward the IRS.

In fact, Stack’s action is no different from a person taking the matter into his own hands by killing a captured criminal. Can we take the law into our own hands and be labeled a hero? Perhaps American taxation has become such a big problem that the government should bear greater responsibility. As a foreigner, I do not understand such details. But the people who work in the IRS building are innocent. They are paid to do the jobs that they do, and should bear no consequence of a system that they did not set up.

What surprises me is that no one spoke out on behalf of the bereaved IRS employees. Instead, in the aftermath of the incident, some people used this opportunity to vent their anger by calling Stack a “hero.”

In fact, Stack’s behavior draws a comparison to terrorism. Like terrorists, Stack conducted a terrorizing attack with no regard for human life. This is also the reason why extremist web sites embrace him.

It takes extreme courage and negative emotion to take one’s life as a means of complaint. Similar behaviors have been observed around the world, such as South Koreans’ use of self-immolation. The difference is that Stack’s act involved innocent lives. Did Stack think that by killing innocent lives he would attract more publicity, or that it was necessary to fully demonstrate his anger?

No hero would use innocent lives as a stepping stone toward success for his cause. The few civil servants who died during the incident were simply innocent bystanders, and their wives and children are forever victimized. These are simple truths that have been lost in the midst of talk about Stack’s “heroic act.”


趙陽‧是“英雄”還是恐怖分子?
2010-02-22 20:27
駕著小型飛機撞向得州稅務大樓的美國軟件工程師斯塔克,竟被美國人特別是在互聯網上,贊揚為“英雄”;讓人驚奇的,連心理學家維爾納也認 為,斯塔克“在這時候施襲‘合時地’讓對政府不滿的人們擁有了共同的‘英雄’”。
這樣的“贊譽”,需要深刻反思。如果斯塔克的行為是“英雄”,那將意味著所有法律和法治將不再 需要。而人們也將再回到以蠻力為主導的野蠻時代。美國反政府網站對 斯塔克的贊揚可以明白,這對他們而言只不過借力東風,以向奧巴馬政府施壓的最佳籌碼。民間的贊揚亦不過是許多民眾逆向思維下的情緒發泄,他們其實並沒有太 深入的思考事件背後的訊息,只是感覺上有人以超級極端的手段,替他們狠狠地宣泄了積壓多時的不滿感覺。
其實這和人們把一名攫奪匪擒獲後,亂拳打死沒有分別。究竟是我們把法律操縱在自己手上,還是 “我們打死一名匪徒,我們是英雄”?或許美國的稅制有很大問題,或許這的確是政府的責任,身為外國人我們不明白細節,但州稅務大樓裡面的公務員是“罪有應 得”嗎?他們努力地追稅是中飽私囊嗎?政府的錯誤就該由公務員以命償還嗎?
讓人驚訝的是,沒有人站在這些人的立場替他們說一句話。眾人只是在驚嚇之後,借勢引爆心中壓抑 已久的怒火,而把殺人者斯塔克奉為“英雄”。
嚴格來說,斯塔克的行徑已經和一般恐怖份子無異,他的作為和妄顧人命的恐怖襲擊又有甚麼分別 呢?
這也是一些極端網站大力吹捧斯塔克的原因。
以自己的性命做為控訴,的確是壯烈和悲情的。韓國人就常以烈火自焚以示不滿,其他國家亦有極端 者如此行徑,但斯塔克為甚麼要拉同其他無辜的人陪葬呢?是為了製造更大的轟動以吸引更多關注的目光,還是必須如此才能完全反映其不滿和憤怒?
沒有一個英雄會以其他人的性命來“墊底”,以“成就”自己的光輝“偉業”。那數名殉職的公務員 何罪之有?他們的妻兒往後該如何生活?這些都是很淺顯的道理,但沒有人關注,彷彿一切都理所當然,只為成就斯塔克的“英雄行徑”。
星洲日報/言路‧作者:趙陽‧2010.02.22
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