Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive • Hacker News Board

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#61

Post by MrFoof » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:34 AM UTC

ericb wrote: post #3

I'm impressed with the professionalism of the Boston police. After cops killed, and a day-long adrenaline filled hunt, they managed to remain professional for the sake of the greater good and take this schmuck alive. edit: I guess only 1 cop was killed?

What I was most pleased with is Colonel Timothy Alben.

He would get in front of the podium, say only what he wanted the police to say, then refused questions and immediately ended the conference. With as much misinformation that the media had already spread that evening, and over the previous week, I was pleased to see the, "...now STFU we'll BBL" stance of the Boston Police.

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#62

Post by pekk » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:34 AM UTC

cema wrote: post #41

rdl wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alan Dershowitz?

Unlikely. He is very much against Islamic terrorism, and this is apparently just that case.

If someone who happens to be Christian carries out terrorism, is this Christian terrorism? Or do we have a special exception for Muslims who carry out terrorism, that their terrorism is Islamic terrorism?

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#63

Post by pekk » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:36 AM UTC

corwinstephen wrote: post #7

pvnick wrote: post #2

Thank God. While I'm honestly not concerned about the man's well-being - that 8-year-old boy should be alive in his place - I am very curious as to why they did this.

They come from a very Islamic country and it's been said that they'd recently started wearing traditional Muslim clothing--a switch from the european clothing they'd been wearing for most of their lives. It's easy for kids to become obsessed with a cause... even if it's a terrible one. Basically, all signs point to this being just another religious extremist attack.

At the time they came to the US, they were tiny little boys. They are from the US, we just don't want to own them.

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#64

Post by citricsquid » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:36 AM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #50

citricsquid wrote: post #21

Earlier I was reading through the Twitter account of the now apprehended suspect and what is most striking is just how normal he is. Every one of his tweets could have been attributed to a completely normal teenager, he couldn't be more generic. It's strange how Twitter offers an insight into his life... but really it doesn't show anything. When someone blew people up in the 90s the news would report they're crazy, w…

I'm not sure I get what you're saying about traditional media. It's a well-accepted trope about mass murderers and serial killers that whenever their neighbors and family interviewed them it would be said that they we're quiet and kept to themselves.

The only insight we used to get into "bad people" was second hand, what people had seen and the things they had done. Now we get to see it all first hand. He has over 1,000 tweets from the last 18 months, Tweets that offer an insight into what he enjoyed, what he did, how he felt... we get to see him as a human. How many people saw Ted Bundy as a human? Maybe I'm overstating the value of his Tweets.

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#65

Post by InclinedPlane » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:36 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #14

I can't help but feel like these brothers are also victims here. Of course, their victimhood is nothing like what they inflicted on the people of Boston and the marathoners, but they're victims nonetheless. Humans are glorified chemical reaction vessels; somehow, they ended up going down a path that led them here. Was there any alternative? Was it the education system? Social circumstances? I'm sure the magnitude of…

Denying people agency for their actions is just as dangerous and dehumanizing as vilifying them as inhuman monsters. They are human monsters who are responsible for their own actions.

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#66

Post by Historiopode » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:37 AM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #34

frisco wrote: post #14

I can't help but feel like these brothers are also victims here. Of course, their victimhood is nothing like what they inflicted on the people of Boston and the marathoners, but they're victims nonetheless. Humans are glorified chemical reaction vessels; somehow, they ended up going down a path that led them here. Was there any alternative? Was it the education system? Social circumstances? I'm sure the magnitude of…

This kind of thinking is very dangerous and can be used to excuse all sorts of terrible behavior. We are all responsible for our actions. I can't prove that we have free will, but I feel it's important to believe it.

Many would argue[1] that “responsibility” is an entirely perfunctory concept when you admit that society should judge and control you based on the actual consequences of your actions (and expectations of similar future behaviour).

[1]One of the many is HN-aligned Sam Harris: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/life-without-free-will

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#67

Post by icebraining » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:37 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #14

I can't help but feel like these brothers are also victims here. Of course, their victimhood is nothing like what they inflicted on the people of Boston and the marathoners, but they're victims nonetheless. Humans are glorified chemical reaction vessels; somehow, they ended up going down a path that led them here. Was there any alternative? Was it the education system? Social circumstances? I'm sure the magnitude of…

The headlong stream is termed violent
But the river bed hemming it in is

Termed violent by no one.

  - Bertolt Brecht

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#68

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:38 AM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #34

frisco wrote: post #14

I can't help but feel like these brothers are also victims here. Of course, their victimhood is nothing like what they inflicted on the people of Boston and the marathoners, but they're victims nonetheless. Humans are glorified chemical reaction vessels; somehow, they ended up going down a path that led them here. Was there any alternative? Was it the education system? Social circumstances? I'm sure the magnitude of…

This kind of thinking is very dangerous and can be used to excuse all sorts of terrible behavior. We are all responsible for our actions. I can't prove that we have free will, but I feel it's important to believe it.

[deleted]

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#69

Post by eruditely » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:38 AM UTC

simonsarris wrote: post #45

"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him." -Dostoevsky On twitter a lot of people are essentially saying "Good, now we'll get answers. " I'm sorry to say I don't believe there is typically anything satisfying about the answers of people who become deranged. Maybe this time, but if reading about madmen past is any guide, its very unlikely that we will be enligh…

The unabomber's manifesto was highly enlightening, and also frightening for how right he seemed on some of his points even if you technically disagree with many of them.

Re: Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Apprehended Alive

#70

Post by mynameishere » Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 1:38 AM UTC

kmfrk wrote: post #28

citricsquid wrote: post #21

Earlier I was reading through the Twitter account of the now apprehended suspect and what is most striking is just how normal he is. Every one of his tweets could have been attributed to a completely normal teenager, he couldn't be more generic. It's strange how Twitter offers an insight into his life... but really it doesn't show anything. When someone blew people up in the 90s the news would report they're crazy, w…

Some of the people I regularly follow on Twitter were literally in disbelief over hearing this about someone they thought they knew - "please take him alive" they pleaded. It was awful to see someone be so wrong about a person, as it became more and more certain that he was indeed one of the people involved in the bombing.

Wait, what? You follow people on twitter who knew this nobody?