Post Boston Bombing: Idiocy and Illumination
By Pauline Wolak / http://clashdaily.com/2013/04/post-boston-bombing-idiocy-and-illumination/2/
With purposely gleeful righteous indignation, the blame game began almost immediately yesterday. How disheartening to hear political pundits, talking heads, and media figures offer their opinions as fact. Speculative journalism is the norm these days, though. The words “vet” and “verify” appear to have been stricken from either usage or practice.
Chris Matthews made his opinion pretty clear.
Well, Michael, tax day today. That came up. You know, I was thinking of all the iconic events that are being told about today. Of course I knew it was tax day because I got them in. But of course, it’s Patriots Day. It’s also the Boston Marathon. And would you as an expert be thinking domestic at this point? I don’t think tax day means a lot to the Arab world or Islamic world or certainly not to al Qaeda in terms of their world. It doesn’t have iconic significance.
Wolf Blitzer was full of speculation.
”It is a state holiday, in addition to the Boston Marathon. It is a state holiday in Massachusetts today called Patriots Day, and who knows if that has anything at all to deal — to do with these, these twin explosions.”
Michael Moore’s tweets were deemed “cryptic.” Not really.
“2+2=”
“Tax Day. Patriots Day”
“This is the anniversary week of the Columbine massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Virginia Tech massacre, the Bay of Pigs, and Waco.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of law enforcement officers from the Boston PD, Massachusetts State Police, the FBI, and the ATF were descending on Boston. While these idiots were safely behind their computers or teleprompters, those with actual knowledge were just getting to work.
According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, the crime scene stands at roughly 12 blocks. Wrap your head around that. About 60 football fields. Full of potential evidence. Every bag, every piece of paper or trash, every vehicle a possible clue to be investigated. Figure in the thousands of runners, volunteers, race watchers, people in nearby businesses working or consuming. It’s no wonder Commissioner Davis called it the largest and most complex crime scene in Boston history.
Yet The Michael Moores and Chris Matthews of the world had it all sewn up in little more than a few hours. I know two guys that spent the weekend watching reruns of CSI and Law & Order!
Even if they end up right, do they “win?” 173 people have been physically injured, 17 critically so. Three have been murdered, including eight year-old Martin Richard. We’re talking about horrifically injured people whose lives have forever changed. Thousands of witnesses who, while perhaps not physically damaged, will live with the emotional scars for the rest of their lives.
So you tell me, Chris Matthews. If you’re right, what do you want? A pat on the back? And what if it’s a foreign terrorist? Does that change the outcome? Are people any more or less damaged by this incredibly cowardly act? Did your speculation help or harm? Is it even accurate? Does that matter to journalists anymore?
Did your tweets have a ring of truth, Michael Moore? Or is it merely publicity you’re after? Perhaps you wanted a mention in the evening news or a catchy Twitter hash tag? (#bumblingidiot is available. I’m just
As for me, I will not use several hundred words to play armchair detective. Instead, I will share the words of every day citizens. They don’t have talk shows or sidekicks. They don’t dominate the airwaves with politically motivated verbal sewage. Only love. Love for their fellow man or for a city or for running. They don’t care about proving who did it more than offering prayers and support.
In times of great tragedy, we sometimes reach out to those we love. Those we may have not spoken to in a while or mend bridges that may have been broken. Always giving thanks for what we have. “Today I am most thankful for…”
–Duran Martinez
“Boston Bombings…Moments like these, as TERRIBLE as they are, don’t show our weakness, but our strength as a nation!!” – Dawn Younge
And finally, the words of Patton Oswalt, simply and beautifully put.
If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in a while, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.
So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”
Links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patton-oswalt/patton-oswalt_b_3088337.html
Upper Image: : Chris Matthews at the 2011 Time 100 gala; author: David Shankbone; Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
Lower Image: Comedian Patton Oswalt; author: Gage Skidmore; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
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