Regarding my LRC article of yesterday involving Joe Stack’s suicide attack on a building housing IRS offices, I had a couple of e-mail responses questioning my reference to the movie “Witness.” As though I have not seen this movie umpteen times, and am unfamiliar with the basic plot of the story, they informed me that the “witness” was the Amish boy who had seen a murder committed by a Philadelphia police detective. Obviously so, but there is a double meaning to this title that is found in the disarming power of a large number of peaceful, unarmed Amish men “witnessing” the effort of the villain to kill the hero.
This film was directed by Peter Weir (my favorite movie director) — a man whose depth of understanding must surely have led him to incorporate this dual message (at both the beginning and ending) into the film. It ought to provide an alternative mindset to all who are convinced that the only way to resist the evil powers of the state is by emulating statist methods.
