Very sad... my thoughts and prayers are with all victims and injured people...this world is so sick !
Boston born and bred - moved away just to live in a different part of the country 9 years ago - after 47 years there. I will always be a Bostonian first. I know Boylston St like the back of my hand. This was personal.
However zecure- the world is a far less "sick" place than it ever has been. The only difference is that CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, BBS, CBS, Reuters, AP UPI, etc etc etc is focusing their hugely bright light on it and 500 people have cell phone cameras at the scene and we have shrunk the world. These types of bombs were standard fare for many attacks, US and abroad, in past times. They are un-nerving in their terror, but it is because you are seeing it first hand as it happens. It has a much bigger impact when you see the bomb go off, over and over and over from a hundred angles.
The media is responsible for this in many ways - not only for bringing it to you, but for making it the highest level of story it becomes. If you were reading about it in a newspaper several days after it happened it wouldn't have anywhere near the impact. I have to believe much of the motivation of the perpetrators is the level of attention their act produces. The whole world is watching Boston. We are talking about Boston on a guitar forum. That means they have achieved their aim. If it was a few lines in the newspaper it wouldn't be anywhere near as appealing to do. Facts bear out that crime is a fraction of what it used to be, but we all believe we live in the most destructive society that has ever walked the earth. Think of why. CNN and FOX and every other news outlet needs to dramatize, to sensationalize. They are still interviewing people at the scene - everyone of them has said exactly the same thing. They (media outlets) are wringing every last ounce out of this story. That is where our problem lies folks. Not in the acts - they are terrible, but they have always occured. Bombings have been around for centuries. And people were even more cruel before explosives were invented. Just ask the people of Northern Ireland. Three people died and several were injured. A tragedy - absolutely. Do I feel for the family of that little boy and others who were out expecting a fun day watching the marathon, most definitely. However 30 plus people died in a bus crash in Texas, and North Korea is starving its people, and there are regimes in Africa killing thousands. Genocide. Its just not as interesting a story.
We really need to examine our priorities, and get control of our media.
My rant - sorry.
JB
