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Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

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Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#471

Post by harshreality »

paganel wrote: post #395
podperson wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story (of an anarchist attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894). All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scen…

> All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes. And before that there were of course the Russians, where I think everything started ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_centu... ): > Nechaev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror is no…

Another view of terrorism, in some ways similar to Nechayev's (in that the goal is revolution), is that it is an amplification attack. By committing acts of terror, a group forces the government to respond with stricter laws and more aggressive enforcement. Eventually, citizens who were not affected or inconvenienced very much under the original regime become significantly affected, and so they begin to oppose the government and support revolutionary causes, even if they are normally in favor of law and order and opposed to violence.

I believe this is the functional element of all terrorism, whether it is explicitly acknowledged or not. However, if that's true, not all terrorists recognize it; their goals might not be aligned with the ultimate consequences of popular revolution.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#472

Post by jonemo »

jlgreco wrote: post #460
mindcrime wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that uncommon in other parts of the US either. In Raleigh, they commonly referred to part of Fayetteville Street as "Fayettevill Street Mall".

Famously there is also the National Mall in DC; the area between the Washington Monument and the Capitol.

And of course The Mall in London: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mall,_London

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#473

Post by intopieces »

PeterisP wrote: post #421
vor_ wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perspective is always something that one should maintain, but I can't help but roll my eyes at any response to bad news that invokes the phrase "white western people". It makes your viewpoint seem politically motivated.

Apologies, that was biased, and I have no idea about the ethnicity of the victims. Perhaps "people from wealthy english-speaking countries" would be more accurate? I struggle to find any other significant differences between this incident and, for example, the terror-murder of 7 people in Mexico ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandt... ) or the 6000 last month victims in Syria that will get m…

>The only difference in value of people lives to global media seems to be their country of residence. Now THAT is politically motivated.

Comments like this sound like an attempt to co-opt or subjegate the empathy that arises in humans when they read about the suffering of their own people. It's sort of sad, really, that you can't let us reflect on a tragedy.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#474

Post by flogic »

darxius wrote: post #183

Its things like this that really make me wonder how we can progress as a society with nutjobs like this. Without sounding like a hippy, the world is filled with so much violence and hate. If these people (and they're all over) put more effort into building society instead of destroying we could really progress. It takes a special kind of asshole to do this.

While there will likely always be assholes who do shit like this, every time it happens an order of magnitude more people help those in need. Fuck the assholes society will keep moving forward.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#475

Post by uberuberuber »

In the sturm und drang that has resulted from this tragedy, and the weeks to come of hand wringing about terrorists/crazyfolk/etc across the major news networks, I hope against hope that we can stow our reptilian brains for a brief while… In the 3 hours that have passed since the top comment was made, 205 people in the US have died from heart disease(1), an almost entirely preventable disease. This observation may be construed as heartless, insensitive to the victims, and "if it were your X then it would be different"… but I contend that each time we act like chimps and allow our attention to be drawn to the latest epidemiologically insignificant tragedy we lose as a species. A van distributing a year's supply of aspirin to the fleeing masses would have been more helpful than any ambulance..

(1) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#476

Post by Florin_Andrei »

darxius wrote: post #183

Its things like this that really make me wonder how we can progress as a society with nutjobs like this. Without sounding like a hippy, the world is filled with so much violence and hate. If these people (and they're all over) put more effort into building society instead of destroying we could really progress. It takes a special kind of asshole to do this.

Yesterday I watched an old TV show with Sagan, Hawking and A. C. Clarke. At some point, discussing about violence and politics and the future, Clarke said: "we are a very unevolved species."

Seems kind of appropriate in this context.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#477

Post by Florin_Andrei »

icebraining wrote: post #435
illuminate wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the point in imagining a world without psychopaths. It'd be lovely, but no amount of societal structure will ever remove them, we can only try to reach them whenever possible and lessen their influence on others.

It should be noted that multiple studies indicated that terrorists don't have a bigger share of psychopaths than the general population. Average people can convince themselves and/or be convinced to maim and kill if they believe their cause is just. This does not in any way mean we should excuse them, any more than I would let a rabid dog attack me just because I recognize it can't be expected to follow ethical behav…

I remember reading somewhere that a surprisingly large number of terrorists / bombers / what have you, are guys in their 20s or 30s with an engineering background, otherwise pretty normal and unremarkable.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#479

Post by zdgman »

DanBC wrote: post #79
acchow wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is showing up in a very faint grey on my screen, whereas everyone else's is black. Why is that?

Downvotes turn comments grey. More downvotes turn comments lighter and lighter and lighter. The comment you replied to has been heavily downvoted. EDIT: The karma thresh hold for downvotes is currently 500. Or maybe 750?

You learn something new every day. I didn't even know there was a downvote threshold!

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#480

Post by gcb0 »

VLM wrote: post #312
SODaniel wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 34s BREAKING NEWS: Police getting multiple reports of unexploded devices around Boston 3.38 pm Central time. Update: The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 28s RT @billy_baker: "It's not safe to be here." - Boston Police evacuating Commonwealth Avenue mall at Gloucester. 3.45 Central time. Update: The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 1m Boston Police: If anyone knows of any information call about exp…

"Apparently cellphone service is SHUT DOWN! To make sure new devices are not remotely detonated!" Oh no. This has been done a lot of times recently and all it means is future devices are going to be designed to go off when service is lost. Like every time you get a text message the 10 minute "reset" button is shorted. On the bright side AT&T outages are now a feature not a bug as they make constructing and transporti…

1. most devices are simply cell phones with the trigger hooked up to the vibrating motor wires on a cellphone

2. i don't think even suicide bombers are crazy enough to trust any american cellphone operator coverage claims.

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