Friday, April 19, 2013

Salient Points Regarding Boston Bombing

As have many, I'm sure, I've been watching the news coverage of the search for the supected Boston Marathon Bomber, and I have a few points of concern:

One: when did describing something as a "bombing" become not shocking enough for newscasters? It seems that every reference to the incident that occurred Monday has to include some adjective, often repeated twice: "horrific," "horrendous," "heinous." Why can't it just be described as a "bombing?" That's how it would be described if it occurred in a different country, even if more poeple had been killed and more destruction wrought.

Second: Can we stop with the baseless speculation that these particular suspects were part of an "international terror cell?" There is absolutely no evidence, of which I'm aware, that these individuals were connected to any organization or group, especially Al Quaeda. One of the suspects is an American Citizen, the other a Lawful Permanent Resident. This is, by definition, a "domestic terror attack." Yes, they are of Chechnyan ethnicity. Chechnyan groups have no history of attacks on U.S. interests. In fact, the U.S. has, at many times, been sympathetic to Chechnyan issues due to Russian attempts to deal with Chechnyan seperatists.  This article in Salon now seems even more relevant: http://www.salon.com/2013/04/16/lets_hope_the_boston_marathon_bomber_is_a_white_american/

Third: In Texas, half of an entire town was destroyed, and at least 13 people killed in an explosion at a fertilizer factory that had not been inspected in 50 years, likely due to the Federal Government's lack of funding OSHA.  That incident was many times more "horrific" than the Boston bombing, both in loss of life and destruction of property.  And yet, the day after that "horrendous" event, when the Senate was questioning the nominee for Secretary of Labor, not a single question was asked about OSHA. Senators did ask about ridiculous conspiracy theories regarding the "New Black Panther Party." The news coverage on all networks, has been almost exclusively about the Boston incident. In Ohio, today, 4 people were found shot in the head in the basement of an apartment building.  That is the same number of people killed in Boston by these suspects. Yet, the entire nation is focused  on Boston.

As a nation, we need to get over our fascination with "terrorism." I guess it's because these actions are more like a Hollywood movie than industrial accidents or every-day gun violence. But the real threat to our country comes not from "terrorist" groups, but from our reactions to them.  When we begin to give this issue so much importance in our lives that all other, more serious threats to our society, such as rampant firearms use and the government's abdication of its responsibility to protect workers from unsafe work environments, specifically in dangerous industries, the terrorists win.

Even at its strongest, Al Quaida was never an existential threat to the United States. The only way they can take down our country is with our help.  And right now, we, as a whole, because of our reactions to these types of events, are the best friends Al Quaida could have.

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