Current Affairs Boston bombing

[The_Rev]

regardless of what bars in what towns have crass names for crass drinks, I very much doubt the 8 year old boy had ever ordered any of them

get a grip

It's a bigger issue than that though. I think people are perfectly entitled to wonder how the residents of Boston, a city infamous for sponsoring overseas terrorism for decades will react to this bomb.

Now that the locals have had to deal with an explosion in their own back yard will they think twice about throwing money into buckets for 'the cause' the next time they are approached in a pub?

I don't think asking that question means you are saying that you are glad Boston got hit or that innocent people were killed and maimed and I'd certainly say there would have been less cheering here this week then there was in Boston when IRA bombs killed 21 people in Birmingham in the seventies.

[Meath_Villan]

Oh ffs ....

[peterms]

 

regardless of what bars in what towns have crass names for crass drinks, I very much doubt the 8 year old boy had ever ordered any of them

get a grip

It's a bigger issue than that though. I think people are perfectly entitled to wonder how the residents of Boston, a city infamous for sponsoring overseas terrorism for decades will react to this bomb.

Now that the locals have had to deal with an explosion in their own back yard will they think twice about throwing money into buckets for 'the cause' the next time they are approached in a pub?

I don't think asking that question means you are saying that you are glad Boston got hit or that innocent people were killed and maimed and I'd certainly say there would have been less cheering here this week then there was in Boston when IRA bombs killed 21 people in Birmingham in the seventies.

 

 

Yes, it's a good point.

 

Also the point about empathy.  There has rightly been shock that people going about their everyday business can be subjected to explosions like this, and there's been a sense of outrage and empathy.  That doesn't seem to extend to the victims of US drones, which continue to kill large numbers of people going about their everyday business in other countries.  Again, pointing this out does not mean you're glad to see Boston bombed.

[The_Rev]

Indeed. Like I said before, I think it's an awful event and I hope the perpetrators get strung up by their genitalia and left in a dark room for a while. However, that doesn't mean I subscribe to the "either with us or against us" mentality which gets pushed after events like this. I am genuinely curious as to what this means for the psyche of a place like Boston, and if that can't be expressed here then it can't be expressed anywhere.

[maqroll]

Money collecting for the IRA in Boston was done at closed, private events, and it was done in a very few specific areas of the city. I'm certain that most Bostonians had no idea it was taking place. To this day, even. I think The English and Irish are more aware of it than your average Bostonian. If you weren't first or second generation Irish, and in particular neighborhoods, and of a particular mindset, you simply were not part of it...meaning 90% of the city. So if you want to know what this means for the psyche of the Fenian Freedom Fighters, you'll have to come to South Boston, Dorchester, Charlestown and Somerville, find a run down old Irish dive bar, walk in and ask any white guy older than 50 how his psyche is feeling.

Edited April 18, 2013 by maqroll

[Kwan]

I've only been in Boston twice, but I really don't think the average Bostonian knows anything about the IRA

[chrisp65]

 

regardless of what bars in what towns have crass names for crass drinks, I very much doubt the 8 year old boy had ever ordered any of them

get a grip

It's a bigger issue than that though. I think people are perfectly entitled to wonder how the residents of Boston, a city infamous for sponsoring overseas terrorism for decades will react to this bomb.

Now that the locals have had to deal with an explosion in their own back yard will they think twice about throwing money into buckets for 'the cause' the next time they are approached in a pub?

I don't think asking that question means you are saying that you are glad Boston got hit or that innocent people were killed and maimed and I'd certainly say there would have been less cheering here this week then there was in Boston when IRA bombs killed 21 people in Birmingham in the seventies.

 

 

yes, I can completely see that point and I do understand the relevance of it being Boston.

 

But we cannot know that the sort of person that would chuck coins in a bombers bucket collection would have the wit to draw the parallel. More likely it would justify their 'us against them' retarded mentality. Somebody that's happy to see kids they don't know blown up overseas is unlikley to have a change of heart because a kid they don't know has been blown up by people they don't know much much closer to home. I don't see it as causing many of those people to reflect and or repent or take onboard a life lesson. In much the same way, if it turns out to be jihadists, I don't see people that support the US military reconsidering their stance. 

 

Hate and killing is just utterly utterly negative and destructive. There is no upside.

[chrisp65]

I don't think there's actually much disagreement here really. I'm not going to turn it into a drama.

 

Like I mentioned previously, I have friends of 30 years standing that were in the race and on the finish line 35 minutes earlier. I'm happy they are safe.

[Dr_Pangloss]

Can't be arsed to sugar coat. 

 

The way I see it, there are far more destructive and tragic events going on in the middle east at the hands of the US. I find it astonishing that such events are lucky to get 3 minutes worth of coverage on any UK news outlet, yet the Boston bombing gets extended treatment by the BBC and ITV, blow by blow action on the 24hr news channels, and multiple front pages across the written press.

 

I guess when the people are Muslim and in a 'warzone' (one that has been tragically enforced on millions of innocent people) it's not so bad.

[maqroll]

Can't be arsed to sugar coat. 

 

The way I see it, there are far more destructive and tragic events going on in the middle east at the hands of the US. I find it astonishing that such events are lucky to get 3 minutes worth of coverage on any UK news outlet, yet the Boston bombing gets extended treatment by the BBC and ITV, blow by blow action on the 24hr news channels, and multiple front pages across the written press.

 

I guess when the people are Muslim and in a 'warzone' (one that has been tragically enforced on millions of innocent people) it's not so bad.

Just curious if you felt the same way about the 7/7 attacks and the subsequent media coverage? After all, Britain has a military footprint in Iraq and Afghanistan not only recently, but historically...

[The_Rev]

People react differently when something happens in an area they consider "safe" which is why Boston was such a big deal in western media. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

 

Can't be arsed to sugar coat. 

 

The way I see it, there are far more destructive and tragic events going on in the middle east at the hands of the US. I find it astonishing that such events are lucky to get 3 minutes worth of coverage on any UK news outlet, yet the Boston bombing gets extended treatment by the BBC and ITV, blow by blow action on the 24hr news channels, and multiple front pages across the written press.

 

I guess when the people are Muslim and in a 'warzone' (one that has been tragically enforced on millions of innocent people) it's not so bad.

Just curious if you felt the same way about the 7/7 attacks and the subsequent media coverage? After all, Britain has a military footprint in Iraq and Afghanistan not only recently, but historically...

 

Errr well 7/7 happened in the UK so it would only be natural for the UK media to cover it in such 'depth'. Last time I checked Boston MA isn't in the UK.....

 

If you're asking what I think the greater tragedy is then of course what has happened in the middle-east is more tragic than 7/7 in my book.

[Ingram85]

I think part of the reasoning is that bombings 'as such' are a weekly if not daily occurrence across parts of the world, lessoning the impact it has on us, its a shame of course, but its the way of things.

 

A bomb going in off in Boston, a western 'safe' city has more of an emotional impact to us in similar western civilisation settings than a bomb going in off in Pakistan. I'm not saying that's right or wrong.  It doesn't make the loss of human life any less tragic. Its a shame. But its human nature.

[peterms]

I think part of the reasoning is that bombings 'as such' are a weekly if not daily occurrence across parts of the world, lessoning the impact it has on us, its a shame of course, but its the way of things.

 

A bomb going in off in Boston, a western 'safe' city has more of an emotional impact to us in similar western civilisation settings than a bomb going in off in Pakistan. I'm not saying that's right or wrong.  It doesn't make the loss of human life any less tragic. Its a shame. But its human nature.

 

The thing is, the comparison isn't with a bomb going off in Pakistan, but with a years-long campaign of illegal bombing by the US which has killed thousands of people.

 

These were some of the victims of one US strike eleven days ago, for example.  The point is the complete lack of moral equivalence in the attitude of the US, its media, most of its citizens, and it seems our media too.

 

 

[CI]

I doubt many of the people of Boston support the IRA, probably less than 0.1%.

But what stupid rocket polisher would name a drink "Irish car bomb"

rocket polisher

[Dr_Pangloss]

 

I think part of the reasoning is that bombings 'as such' are a weekly if not daily occurrence across parts of the world, lessoning the impact it has on us, its a shame of course, but its the way of things.

 

A bomb going in off in Boston, a western 'safe' city has more of an emotional impact to us in similar western civilisation settings than a bomb going in off in Pakistan. I'm not saying that's right or wrong.  It doesn't make the loss of human life any less tragic. Its a shame. But its human nature.

 

The thing is, the comparison isn't with a bomb going off in Pakistan, but with a years-long campaign of illegal bombing by the US which has killed thousands of people.

 

These were some of the victims of one US strike eleven days ago, for example.  The point is the complete lack of moral equivalence in the attitude of the US, its media, most of its citizens, and it seems our media too.

 

 

 

Yeah but the 'terrorists' set their base up in the school so the kids basically deserved it, or so the common story goes...

Edited April 18, 2013 by Dr_Pangloss

[maqroll]

I doubt many of the people of Boston support the IRA, probably less than 0.1%.

But what stupid rocket polisher would name a drink "Irish car bomb"

rocket polisher

 

 

I doubt many of the people of Boston support the IRA, probably less than 0.1%.

But what stupid rocket polisher would name a drink "Irish car bomb"

rocket polisher

I know, whenever somebody asked for one, I'd say "I don't make those"

[Ingram85]

FFS, I was just trying to explain a possible reasoning for the media bias not my own definitive opinion on the matter, you didn't have to hit me over the head with a picture of dead children. Maybe I'll stick to general chat and the film thread.

[LondonLax]

What the **** is wrong with the New York Post. Absolute scumbags!

 

 

These guys were never suspects, they are just two guys watching the race who happen to have dark skin. The post editors don't give a ****...

Edited April 18, 2013 by LondonLax

[peterms]

FFS, I was just trying to explain a possible reasoning for the media bias not my own definitive opinion on the matter, you didn't have to hit me over the head with a picture of dead children. Maybe I'll stick to general chat and the film thread.

 

I wasn't disagreeing with you.  I think people do think about it in terms of a bomb going off close to home being something which has far more impact on them than a bomb going off far away.

 

My point is that there's a wilful ignorance of the scale of the horror that is inflicted daily on people in far away places.  It's like it doesn't count, like there's no connection between these faraway deaths, the government, and the people in whose name the government is supposedly acting.  No sense of responsibility whatever.  The media reinforce this continually, by what they choose to cover and ignore.