(明報專訊)2010年8月25日 星期三 05:10
一家人出門旅行，在回程的一天遇上飛來橫禍，親人從此陰陽相隔，這是家庭的悲劇。社會制度的不足以致危機應對失誤，造成了很可能是不必要的傷亡，這是社會的悲劇。讓憤怒激情蓋過同理心，讓低俗的詆譭蓋過人性的關懷，結果製造民族之間的敵視，這是文明的悲劇。馬尼拉的挾持人質事件，見證了頭兩種的悲劇。
在這全城怨憤的時刻，第三種的悲劇會否因此而來，需要警惕。
和許多香港人一樣，當筆者聽到「所有人質被殺」的傳言時，同樣心情沉重；當筆者從電視直播看到有人質活著離開車廂時，同樣歡呼拍掌。危難把香港人團結起來，但團結不該是仇外的開始。
危難測試社會價值底線
危難是測試社會價值底線的時刻，九一一襲擊後的美國就是一例。
在襲擊後的一段日子，居於美國的阿拉伯人成為了某些美國人的泄憤對象，許多都因為害怕被欺凌而不敢外出。有統計顯示，針對阿拉伯人的仇恨罪行以倍數上升，就連錫克教徒也因為他們的服飾被誤會為回教徒而遭毒打。時至今日，仍然有許多美國人無法弄清蓋達恐怖組織不等於伊斯蘭文明，認定所有的回教徒都不可信，因而反對於曼克頓下城興建回教社區中心。這兩天的香港有沒有重蹈美國覆轍的迹象？查看各個網上討論區和社交網站的留言，不難找到令人擔憂的辱罵起哄。
令人擔憂的辱罵起哄
最低劣的說法，是把當地警察的工作能力伸延到所有的菲律賓人，然後作人身攻擊，說凡是菲律賓人都是如何如何。這是赤條條的種族主義，無視民族之內的差異總比民族之間的差異為大。每一個地方也會有好人和壞人，任何的以偏概全都只是無知的表現。如果有外國人因為看到毒奶粉和豆腐渣工程而聲稱所有的中國人都是惡毒無良的話，相信多數的港人都會一同聲討。若然看到當地警察的失策便認定所有的菲律賓人都有問題的話，豈非犯上同樣的錯誤？
另一種經不起理性分析的說法，是聲稱因為這次事件而以後不購買來自菲律賓的產品，或曰終生不到菲律賓旅行。
首先，這些提供各樣產品或服務的菲律賓人，沒有義務要對當地某一部分人的作為當代罪羔羊。再者，這種罷買罷遊的手段，不見得可以直接懲罰那些應該懲罰的人或團體，反而可能因為加深了當地的貧困而激發更多的社會問題。回想兩年前有歐美組織因為中國內地的人權問題而發起杯葛北京奧運，也有許多香港人走出來說不可以一竹篙打一船人，只看到中國政治的問題而忽略中國社會的發展。己所不欲，勿施於人，為何現在我們又跑出來喊杯葛了？
一時的激憤可以理解，但香港對待菲律賓人本來已有不少制度上的不公，並且更有可能因為這次事件而加劇。死者已矣，我們可以選擇為明天活得更好，也可以選擇抱著過去的悲劇去製造未來的悲劇。這道題，應該不難回答。
Do Not Turn Your Anger Into Racism
08/25/2010 Leung Kai-chi in Ming Pao
A family went abroad to travel. On the day when they were due to return, they met with an unexpected disaster. It was a family tragedy that some members are dead while others survive. The inadequacy of the local social system caused mistakes to be made during the crisis handling, so that unnecessary casualties resulted. Then that is a social tragedy. If anger overwhelms reason and vulgar insults override humanitarian concern, the result is racial hostility. That would be a tragedy for civilization. During the Manila hostage crisis, we have seen the first two tragedies taking place already.
At a time when everybody in the city is angry, we need to be wary about whether the third tragedy will take place.
Like many other Hong Kong people, I felt grim when I heard the rumor that "all the hostages have been killed." When I saw on the live television broadcast that some hostages were still alive and exiting the bus, I applauded and cheered too. The crisis has united the people of Hong Kong. But this unity should not be the beginning of xenophobia.
A crisis is a moment in which the moral bottom line of a society is tested. An example is the USA after the 9/11 incident.
After that attack, many Arabs living in the United States became the targets of Americans who wanted to vent their rage. As a result, many of these Arabs were afraid to go outside. According to the statistics, the number of hate crimes directed against Arabs multiplied. Even Sikhs were attacked because Americans thought that they were Muslims too. Even today, many Americans don't understand that the Al Qaeda organization is not the same as Islam. These Americans don't trust any Muslims and therefore they oppose the construction of an Islamic community centre in downtown Manhattan. Does Hong Kong look like it will follow the USA? Over the past two days, it was not hard to find worrying signs of insults and rowdiness at the various Internet forums and social networking sites.
The vilest position is to generalize the incompetence of the Manila police to the people of the Philippines as a whole and then apply persons attacks because all Filipinos are like that. This is blatant racism. This ignores the fact that the differences among the people of any nation are always greater than the differences between peoples from different nations. Every place will have good and bad people, so any generalization about a people is always a sign of ignorance. If foreigners were to say that all Chinese people are evil and vile because of the tainted infant formula and tofu construction projects, most Hong Kong people will object. Isn't it the same mistake to think all Filipinos are flawed because the Manila police had some miscues?
Another irrational position is to state that we will never buy anything made in the Philippines in the future or that we will never ever go on leisure travel in the Philippines.
First of all, those Filipinos who make various products or provide various services are not bound to be the scapegoats for the actions of a few Filipinos. Furthermore, these boycott actions could not directly punish those persons or organizations who deserve to be punished. Instead, they may create even greater social problems because the income losses will bring even greater poverty. A couple of years ago, certain American and European organizations initiated boycott campaigns against the 2008 Beijing Olympics over the human rights problems in China. But many Hong Kong people came out at the time and asked that the entire Chinese people should not be blamed and also that people should not only look at the political problems in China while ignoring all the social and economic progress. If you don't want others to do something to you, why would you do that something to others? So how can we come out and call for boycotts?
We understand that people can be outraged for the moment. But Hong Kong already has many systemic measures that are unfair to Filipinos, and this could possibly worsen after this incident. The dead are gone. We can choose to live better tomorrow, or we can also embrace the past tragedies to manufacture more future tragedies. This choice should be easy to make.
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