On Theatrical Behaviors: Are We Potential Patrons of Public Attacks?

A mass stabbing incident happened in Taipei on December 19, 2025. On that Friday evening, people first noticed smoke filling the Taipei main metro station. Then, the twenty-seven-year-old perpetrator, Zhang Wen, was spotted throwing smoke bombs in the metro stations. After initiating the disturbance in the metro station, he walked to the middle of a crosswalk at one of the most crowded areas in Taipei and continued the smoke bomb attack. He then took out the machete in his bag and went on a frenzy, attacking pedestrians and customers in nearby stores. After killing three people and injuring seventeen, he jumped off a nearby building and was pronounced dead at the hospital. This incident marked one of the most serious unprovoked attacks in Taiwan after the notorious metro station mass stabbing in 2014.

Unprovoked public attacks are one type of crime that always makes me wonder about their causes. At the same time, it is heartbreaking to see Taiwan, supposedly one of the safest places in the world, not being exempt from this phenomenon. To me, what's equally alarming is how the general public assigns causes and solutions to this heartbreaking news.

Immediately after the attack took place, social media became flooded with clips that captured the attack and posts that described the incident. Then came the plague of comments and evaluations on the incident. Much of the hatred was directed toward targets such as the TAEDP (Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty), the Democratic Progressive Party (the party that is currently in power and dominating the senate), and the police department. The news outlets also began their digging - interviewing the perpetrator's parents and friends, and recovering Zhang Wen's social media posts.

These efforts seemed to be driven by the beliefs that, if Taiwan had the death penalty, if a different party were in rule, if the police department responded faster, or if the perpetrator's parents had "raised him right", then the chance of these types of attacks would be reduced.

During times of crisis, people become eager to seek explanations, to put together a coherent narrative about how evil was born and raised. Those who hold strong existing beliefs, such as political and moral ones, become especially eager to alleviate their thirst for value-affirmation. The need to make sense of how something fits into our understanding of the world is a universal human experience. That being said, if the means to fulfill this need is stiffly driven by emotions and pre-existing belief systems, we unwittingly diverge from the noble intention to understand the issue; instead, we MASTURBATE to the fragments of the information that affirm our biased interpretation.

We impatiently dance to the most convenient conclusion.

We spit our anger on those who don't align with our values and the subjectively perceived "flaws" of the social system.

We take on the roles of capitalists who profit from others' misfortune by vomiting our cynicism and contempt.

Then, our perspective loses its focus, and we fail to recognize the devil in the details.

Not long after the incident, in an interview with a criminal psychologist, an important comment about the perpetrator caught my attention: his behavior was highly performative, a possible expression of the so-called histrionic personality. The way he knelt on one knee to grab the smoke bombs from the bag in the middle of the busy crosswalk, the way he confidently looked across his shoulders to different directions, and the way he dramatically pulled the pin out and threw the smoke bombs. The persona he displayed was like something taken straight out of a crime movie. His act was indeed intended for an audience. Expanding on the idea of "theatrical" or "performative" behaviors (that are clearly visible in this incident), in addition to the commonly associated factors such as parenting and social rejection, I invite everyone to consider a few alternative phenomena that play potential roles in shaping this tragedy.

1. The Celebration of Theatrical Behavior

   Taking a step back from the incident, there is no denying that theatrical behaviors is thoroughly integrated into modern society. The idea that "the world is a stage" is embraced in both Western and Eastern cultures. Theatrical behaviors, which I defined as dramatized actions intentionally carried out for an audience, has become diversified, popularized, and commoditized. Performances are no longer grounded in theatres and auditoriums, nor are they solely the professions of trained artists. Anyone who owns a smart device gets a share in the show business. Through the lens of smart devices, people inflate their voices, postures, and movements, emotions, and ideas. They turn streets, restaurants, gyms, and grocery stores, and every other corner of their city into their stage set.

   
   

   Theatrical behaviors also embody the modern definition of social acceptance and identity-affirmation. People applaud when you lift your shirt to show your pecs, twerk on the dance floor, perform a difficult riff, or synchronize with the latest K-pop choreography. Even conflicts and violence have become ingredients for shows that people cheer for. Verbal disputes, fistfights, and pranks are ubiquitously featured in streams and social media content. People applaud when you execute a fatal insult or an accurate swing on someone's face. If the sparks of a conflict are not enough to put on a dramatic show, some performers even go as far as escalating the situation. The standards that define what it means for a show to be moral, appropriate, and well-timed are falling apart.

   
   

   

   
   

   Any attention is a token of reward.

   Any audience is a token of social support and belongingness

   Any theatrical behavior is a token of self-worth and identity advocacy

   Any ability to trigger a reaction out of someone is a token of power.

   Any show is a good show, as long as there is one

   
   

   These are the guiding principles of the show businesses that the modern world breeds.

   If society operates under the impression that "as long as you make yourself seen, you can become someone's inspiration and leave something behind forever", are we really surprised that certain people transform criminal activities into a show to satisfy their existential needs?

2. The Tightening and the Violation of Personal Space

   Respecting personal space and boundaries is one principle of social interactions that people bring into discussions. Ironically, due to the widespread performances of theatrical behaviors, our personal space has actually become increasingly compressed and vulnerable. The contemporary information landscape is already overwhelmingly saturated with psychological noises such as advertisements and political propaganda. Expanding on the idea that theatrical behaviors, the inflation of actors' personas also comes at the expense of others' personal space. Anywhere you go, you risk being molested by others' show business. Regardless of whether you are online or offline, performers shove pranks, street interviews, dance, poses, protests, enchantment, and screams down every hole of your body. It has become challenging to take a break from seeing, hearing, and being involved in other people's show businesses. Peacefulness is on the verge of extinction. Without spaces for the mind and senses to rest, are we really surprised that people are becoming more easily irritated and aggressive?

   
   

3. The Numbed Mind

   Theatrical performances are inextricably linked to the dramatizing and exaggerating of self-presentation. As we can commonly see from the contents on social media, performers turn up the intensity of laughter, gestures, language, facial expressions, and visual stimulations to brand a lasting impression in our brains. Constantly being exposed to these hardcore flavors, our senses develop tolerance. When people's ability to appreciate temperate sources of stimuli becomes increasingly numbed, are we really surprised that people turn to extreme behaviors to feel alive?

   
   

4. The Loss of Personal Control and Agency

   With the proliferation of theatrical behaviors, being exposed to others' show businesses means your emotions, behaviors, and fortune are largely out of your hands. Given that theatrical performances nowadays are almost always translated and preserved as online data, getting caught by someone's performance compels you surrender your sense of control. The worst part is, not only do people in the show business rarely care about your participation consent, but they also script calculated baits to trigger and manipulate desired responses. Taking the bait might seal the fate for your career, reputation, and social life forever.

   
   

   You might be simply walking on the street, then tag, you're in! The next thing you know, you are part of a street interview or a prank that is designed to lure out the darkest part of you. You are tricked into acting like a fool. You are used like a stage prop. When pulled into the show, you never know when you might say the "wrong" thing or act the "wrong" way, or simply show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Being captured by someone's show business, even as a random pedestrian in the background, means leaving a digital footprint that can be judged out of context for the rest of your life.

   You don't pass the vibe check.

   You are the fridge that is protecting the snack.

   You are the usual suspect. You are an illegal immigrant.

   You are the radical left.

   You are a MAGA.

   You are a sad old Karen.

   You are gay.

   You are a racist.

   You are a child.

   You are cringy.

   Your physique is mid.

   You deserve to die.

   
   

   Based on the not-so-thorough evaluation, the cyber mob is pleased to define you. With such uncertainty and lack of control forced upon us, are we really surprised that people resort to extreme behaviors to assert their agency and regain control?

4. The Deterioration of Trust

   Finally, it's a given that most theatrical performances are driven by scripts that typically prioritize benefiting the performers. Pranksters provoke hostile reactions to entertain their audience; some street interviewers fish for comments that can be negatively labeled to prove their political agenda; fitness influencers walk past you shirtless so they can capture your admiration on camera; pedestrians who have a minor dispute with you shove their camera in your face to escalate the conflict so they have a reason to put you on trial later; even helping behaviors nowadays are often scripted and packaged into contents to add value to the performers image. How do we know what's real and genuine anymore? If it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate performances from authentic actions, to connect to people behind their masks, and to comprehend their intentions, are we really surprised that some people are becoming antisocial?

   
   

Conclusion

Of course, it would be far-fetched to assume that the points I made were the actual causes of the tragedy that happened on December 19. There's no doubt that many people in the show business use their theatrical behavior for good causes. However, we can't deny that theatrical performance has become an everyday experience embedded in the modern world, and that there are dangerous consequences that lurk below this culture. What we often fail to notice is the pressure that slowly builds up as theatrical behaviors invade our senses, personal space, and agency. Thus, instead of treating the tragedy on December 19 as an opportunity to unleash political fury and narrow-sighted comments, it's much more useful to step into the mind of the perpetrator and consider a diverse range of social and cultural factors. Why did he choose to broadcast his crime in this way? What's the message he's trying to send? What was the image he was trying to create? What tension led to the expression of his aggression and antisocial character? What did he base the design of his attack on? These are all questions that can't be solved by simply blaming the parents, the political party in power, and not having the death penalty. The ugly truth might lie in our everyday activities: the ecology of self-presentation in show businesses that has been celebrated and taken for granted. Social scientists should also examine this idea of psychological tension derived from the culture of theatrical performance. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before this "symptom" in society shows up again.

It's always easy to spot a villain

It's always easy to name the accomplices by copying and pasting names from the existing list in our heads.

However, when we become fanatics of theatrical behaviors, we are all potential patrons of evil.