According to Stack, "Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer." Morbid, disturbing, terrifying. Of note however, is that the media is not using the word terrorist as the descriptor of Stack. He is being called insane, criminal, misguided. Fringe elements have even disgustingly touted him as a hero.
Unfortunately, what he is--a terrorist, is not being used because he is not brown, and because he is not a Muslim. Had there been just a simple difference of ethnicity, he would have been appropriately labeled. Importantly, this highlights the double standard in how the media portrays crimes of white Euro-Americans and those that are more foreign to us.
The key here is that the actions of a terrorist are not defined by the color of skin, accent of tongue or place of one's worship--they are defined by the action itself. This is a critical time to reassess the use of this term that is thrown around without caution. The likes of the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, the Ku Klux Klan and Joseph Stack should continually remind us that terrorism is not a foreign concept. It is time for the media and populace to drop its racist attitude and Orientalism in dealing with such acts of cowardice--for they can very well be, and often are home-grown.
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