Who Am I?

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A nobody; a nitwit; a pilot; a motorcyclist; a raconteur; a lover...of life - who loves to laugh, who tries to not take myself (or anything) too seriously...just a normal guy who knows his place in the universe by being in touch with my spiritual side. What more is there?

26 April 2013

Thoughts On The Boston Bombing

There’s been a lot of stupidity that’s come out of this bombing at the Boston Marathon. The way the various media outlets were falling all over themselves in a desperate, frantic effort to be "first" with the "facts" was pretty friggin' hilarious. Makes people like me just turn the TV off.

I think most of us are pretty sick and tired of the media’s overwhelming coverage of this event. They’re acting as if it’s a national tragedy, which it isn’t. Tragedy? Yes. But as tragedies go, the scale of this one was pretty small. Even if these amateurish boys planned on “bombing” Times Square in New York City, the “bombs” they were using were pretty ineffectual. Yeah, they hurt a bunch of people, but let’s remember that only three were killed in Boston. Yet the nation cried as if it was a fully-loaded 747 crashing. Into an orphanage. Which was built on an old Indian burial grounds.

What troubles me more than the media overhyping this story is the reaction of some Americans. I keep hearing people say that the surviving boy (if not all Muslims) should be the object of horrible violence. It’s really quite disturbing. Even another blogger said this:

I don’t care about the Miranda rights issue, either. The guy purposely set off two bombs that killed or maimed fellow Americans. He might have information that would prevent future attacks and save lives. As far as I’m concerned, he gave up his rights when he committed an act of terror against Americans. While I respect the ACLU, I wish they’d just realize that this goes beyond an American citizen’s rights. An act of terrorism is a game-changer.

This particular blogger happens to be a helicopter pilot so I’d expect more from her. But she is also an avowed atheist so I guess we have to forgive her incredible lack of compassion (and possibly intelligence). But what is unforgivable is her stance that our Constitution/Bill of Rights should arbitrarily not apply to people, even American citizens. It is a position that is as astonishing as it is chilling.

Look, we are a nation of laws. It’s what separates us from other, uncivilized nations. Either we have a Constitution or we don’t. We cannot suspend it when we feel like it, because to do so would render it invalid. Bomber-boy is entitled to every protection under our Constitution, no matter what his crime was. We should expect nothing less.

Finally, there is a cynical side to me that just won’t quit. Isn’t it funny how the nation’s focus suddenly shifted from “gun control” to “Boston bombing?” I had to scroll waaaaay down my Yahoo News feed today to find even one story about gun control. Sometimes I wonder if this wasn’t intentional. Yeah, I know, “Take off your tin-foil hat, Bob. Governments never do anything like that to their own people!”

But there are a lot of things about this Boston bombing that seem kind of…strange. Like, did you notice how easily Americans submitted to martial law? Did you notice that nobody really objected to military troops being used in the hunt for the bombers? In the future, all the government has to do is utter the word, ”Terrorism!" and Americans will cower and let them do anything.

We have become a nation of fearful, paranoid, vindictive people since 9/11/2001. We are afraid of our own shadows now. We will gladly give up our rights to ensure our “safety.” We will gladly give up the rights of others, too. And by God, when somebody harms us we don't just want justice, we want revenge!

You know what? I’m not sure that I like the country the United States of America is turning into.

2 comments:

Capt. Schmoe said...

As usual, your comments are right on. The over coverage and the highly publicized wringing of hands fits very well into the goals that most terrorists hope to achieve.

Usually, it isn't the act itself that meets the objective, it's the target's reaction. Over saturation of media coverage, especially the emotional component, does nothing more than to spread fear and lead to a greater negative impact on the target's society. New laws and a further reduction of civil rights is sure to follow.

As a firm believer in the Bill of Rights, it would be hypocritical of me to condone the denial of the suspect's civil rights under the guise of public safety. As an individual, I would like to snatch his punk ass out of his cell and shoot him myself. Under the color of authority, not so much.

I cringe when ever I hear the phrase "to keep this from ever happening again". I know whats coming next.

Thanks for the post, Bob.

Bob said...

Bob, appreciate your comments, as usual. I agree this is not on the same scale as 9-11-01 or the shootings in CT. And in this all-news-all-the-time world we no live in, I think we all tire of media coverage.

I think what concerns me more than anything is this is another example of an event -- a fun, enjoyable, happy event enjoyed by thousands -- that turned into something tragic and at which two people chose to show us their ways of cowardice and bullying by planting bombs.

There are way too many places now where we have to go through security before we can go in. But I don't know of any other options, really, if we're going to be safe.

Totally agree about the Miranda rights, by the way. I think there is some type of exception under certain circumstances, e.g. an act of terrorism, but that's hard to define and it's been over 30 years since I took Criminal Law so I really don't know the details. Better to err on the side of doing it than not doing it.