This morning, I found this troubling and totally batshit crazy article on The Drudge Report. This lady, and I don’t pretend to understand her grief right now, describes her father’s attack on the IRS as “inappropriate”, but considers him a hero. Inappropriate? Inappropriate is farting at the table or flirting with your sister-in-law. A deranged man flying a plane into a building is, well, more than inappropriate.
Now, I don’t really care if you call people like this terrorists or criminals. I don’t care who interrogates them, assuming they are caught before they execute their attacks. My primary concern is getting them away from people they can hurt. If that’s done in a Navy brig in Charleston, a camp in Cuba, or a maximum security prison in Illinois, I really don’t care. Just make sure they stay in whatever lockup facility until they don’t present a risk to sane people. If that requires their entire natural life, so be it.
What does matter to me is that people are treated consistently. If John Doe is called a criminal for flying a plane into a building in an attack meant to create fear or even the score, then Mohamed Doe is also a criminal. But enough of that, this situation is a bit complex so I thought I’d create this handy-dandy (though not ready for FlowingData) visual:
| Joe Stack | Mohamed Atta | |
|---|---|---|
| Problem | Feels US Government is unjust and oppressive | Feels US Government is unjust and oppressive |
| Action | Flies plane into building | Flies plane into building |
| Suicide Bomber? | Yep | Yep |
| Suicide Note/Martyr Video | Yep | Yep |
| Kills Innocent Civilians | Yep | Yep |
| Claims oppression and injustice justifies actions | Yep | Yep |
| Uses Internet to spread hate and fear | Yep | Yep |
| Reaction from supporters | Righteous Justification | Righteous Justification |
| Calls for demographically similar people to renounce actions? | Nope | Yep |
| Who’s to blame for his actions? | The government | The individual |
| Race | White | Brown/Black |
| Religion | Christian | Muslim |
I guess it all depends on point of view. Maybe it’s true that one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter…
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
What I can say we are living in the world full with perception and biasness. From one perspective, one particular person will be seen as fighting for justice/oppression and at the other hand, people will see him as killer or maybe terrorist.
It is all depends form which side we are at during one particular event.
Sometimes, even guy with long beard who is simply walking in the street will be seen as terrorist and scared people to death but guy who fly his plane into building will be seen as only took an ‘inappropriate’ action.
We will see what we want to see. Am I right?
Consistence? I have seen that for quite some time (n_n)
Like Charlie Chaplin said “One murder makes a villain; millions a hero. Numbers sanctify”… so, who or where are the criminals?
I agree with Helmi, it all depends on what side you are looking at. They can be a hero to those who can relate to them or a crazy criminal to those he/she have hurt.
A few weeks (or a month) ago I read an article about a young teen from China who stabbed a dictator. To the people of the village he is a hero who killed their oppressor. To the family of the victim, he is a cold blooded murderer who killed their loving father.
Crazy is as crazy does. Hero to the deranged? Sure. Terrorist? I’m not sure that this guy qualifies.
Yes, he terrorized the people in that building, but in my mind, he’s just a wacko who should have been medicated. Probably one chance meeting away from joining a cult. Murder is never a justifiable response to tax issues.
Speaking of this of the wide from where are looking…
I have just seen American Gangster. Denzel was a notorious criminal, drug dealer, etc., but with manners, very polite and so far. Russell Crowe – a good cop, but the opposite of Denzel’s character…
So, what is good and what is wrong?
Hi Eric,
Yes, our society in many ways needs to keep its head on straight when dealing with this kind of crime.
There are always reasons for crime. That is, someone feels that the society or their neighbor or a classmate has done them wrong, and a skewed feeling of needing justice takes over.
I think we have all felt a time or two that the guy we are dealing with needs a good punch in the nose, and with the laws we have, it is also easy to understand why Congress’ approval rating is below 30%.
But, our society needs to function, and it can’t do that with crazies on the loose.
The parallel you draw has definite merit. Thanks for the clarity. Often clarity is the last thing we can find in America.
Dr. Ann Voisin
I think when you’re trying to sort out what causes people to behave in these manners, this type of exercise is important. If we’re not learning from the past, we repeat it (etc, etc). Still, I wonder how much similarity there is in the mindset of the Oklahoma bomber and the World Trade Center terrorists?