Boston Marathon

[LocoColt04]

What the blue hell is going on in Boston? I'm stuck at work but I would love to know why three bombs have gone off in a marathon, with at least a dozen dead and dozens more injured and missing limbs and such.

If you're in the Boston area,
(a) let me know you're alive
(b) tell us what the **** happened


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[noxious.sunshine]

I just heard about that myself! I'm surfing for more news on it right now.

[loaf]

My friend Boston is ok.

Now for the city of Boston I don't know. My friend was at the Marathon with his family but they weren't near anything bad.

[OceanEyes28]

I've only heard that 2 were confirmed dead with 23 injured. But the numbers may have gone up. I hope not.

[Pete]

I heard there were only 2 explosions. The fire at the book center or library, whatever, was coincidental and unrelated. If there was a third explosion, it was a controlled one, done by Boston PD.

I've been pretty much glued to my tv since I heard about it. It reminds me of 9/11 to an extent, but thankfully nowhere near as bad.

[Rowan]

I find it somewhat symbolic that theres flags of all other countries lined up along the road and a bomb goes off. maybe its irony, i dunno. I hope they catch whoever did this.

[DragonHeart]

2 bombs detonated, they found and dismantled two more devices. 2 dead, 107 injured. Really horrific stuff, limbs blown off and such. =/ Terrible. I live about an hour north of the city so it's basically everywhere right now.

[Taco-Calamitous]

That's really ****ed up. I wish humanity would stop giving us reasons to not trust one another and wonder who's going to kill us if we let our guard down. My prayers go out to those people who were caught in the blasts and their families.

[Pete]

I wouldn't say its irony so much as a tactical plan. It's a narrow street, with one bomb set off, then another behind it. My guess would be to create some kind of panic or choke point for the second one to go off. No clue about the placement of the alleged other two. My guess would be they they were placed at other points of congestion.

The flags are there because it's the end of the race of a major running competition, with a lot of international competition. The elite guys already wrapped up hours before everyone else rolled in. I think the more symbolic things are that it's Patriot Day in MA, and also tax day in America. It could very well be domestic...

[DragonHeart]

General consensus, from what little I've gathered so far, is that it's most likely domestic.

ETA: You know, it strikes me as kind of sad that here (general) we are debating on whether a terrorist attack came from domestic or foreign sources.

[OceanEyes28]

What was amazing, though, were all the people who rushed to help or give blood. There was a lot to be afraid of, but people still came to the aid of others. I'm at a loss over how sad this day was for so many people. To have your proudest day (and for many, their own bodies) ruined by something so awful is heart crushing. I hope that people keep doing good for the ones who need it.

[SuperSabin]

Thats messed up that this is going on all of a sudden. I was coming back home at the time from the park and i went on FB to see statuses related to the incident and apparently my cousin was up there right now! But hes fine, according to my aunt he was 20 minutes away from the marathon when it happened.

[LocoColt04]

I'm glad the death toll is smaller than initially reported. If there was any piece if happy news in any of this... of course, as they move through the night, who knows what may happen to those injured.

I hope that if anyone was affected by this, directly or indirectly, things turn out for the best.


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[Rocky]

I am kind of interested to see who is behind this atrocity and the motive involved as well. My friend in Boston is ok but she says there's still a state of apprehension in the air. Hope it doesn't get any worse.

[Rowan]

I hope this isn't straying off topic, but it does have to do with the boston bombing. I have a few arab friends on fb (inb4 "omg what rowan has arab friends?) and there have been quite a few posts like this



It got me thinking and I was wondering if this would be an example of a 'strawman' argument? Noone is arguing that the deaths occuring around the world are less important, but thats rather something he conjured up to make argument. I am correct in saying that?

[Alpha]

I hope this isn't straying off topic, but it does have to do with the boston bombing. I have a few arab friends on fb (inb4 "omg what rowan has arab friends?) and there have been quite a few posts like this



It got me thinking and I was wondering if this would be an example of a 'strawman' argument? Noone is arguing that the deaths occuring around the world are less important, but thats rather something he conjured up to make argument. I am correct in saying that?

I'll be honest: I don't actually know what a strawman argument is, really. I'm also too lazy to look it up. It's a really stupid argument your friend/s has/have made though. That's like me saying that this event doesn't matter because today three New Zealanders died on the roads (legit a true story), and goddamn why hasn't CNN given equal coverage to this Kiwi atrocity! The difference is that a bomb attack in Boston, during an international event, is something exceptional. It's ****ing sad that all those people dying in Iraq and Afghanistan should be considered non-exceptional (as well as those road fatalities in NZ, too), but that's the case. [To illustrate, 31 people died in coordinated car bombs across Iraq today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22149863]. Also! Americans tend to read American news. It's not that this is more important than those deaths in Iraq... it's just that Iraq isn't in America. Of course Americans (and Oceanians, and Europeans) care more about American news... there's a much higher degree of personal connection. Anyway. Back to this.

This event is sad, that goes without saying. I'm curious to find out who was behind it. It seems to me due to the nature of the injuries (injured adults, primarily at leg-height; and several dead children, whose heads may be at adult leg-height) that the bombs may have been in bags, left on the pavement, or something. Pretty ****ing sick.

The guy who I work most closely with at my work is actually a Bostonite (is that the correct group noun?). He's the nicest (loudest), funniest (egregious, in the good sense) friend I have. He was quite shaken by all of it.

[che]

Ugh. Anytime anyone dies its significant. We live in a big world so it may be easy for people to see death everyday and say "oh that's nothing compared to what happened here" or "that's nothing compared to what happened yesterday". Yeah, people do live in a morbid state where deaths are comparable.

The truth is, it's ****ing sad everytime anyone dies. Seriously. **** death. We are only here for a short time, life's something to be cherished.

I'm not curious who it is. I don't really care to know anything about them. I sort of feel like it's justice for them if we all know who they are and how they came to do this. **** that. I don't give a shit if nobody listened to you. People deal with that shit everyday and don't ****ing kill people. I just really hope the people that are good at tracking these ****s down can do it, so that everyone can come home from work and relax in their chairs and not be ****ing dead or missing limbs.

[Freya]

Also! Americans tend to read American news.

That's exactly it. It doesn't matter what happened and where, the first thing mentioned in EVERY country is how many people who lived in this country died. That's why for Americans it is WAY more important when something happens in their own country. Isn't that just right? It's only natural to care most about your fellow people.

Besides: Am I the only one who's shocked about that message Rowan posted (the one from his FB friends! To make that clear, sorry Rowan!)? The main argument of that posting was: "The more deaths, the more important." And that really is... shocking. Just shocking. I don't care how many died - there will always be family left behind. It makes me sad when 2 people die and it is indeed sad to hear that 3 people died in NZ.


As for the bombings: I happened to switch on the TV (and I normally don't watch TV at all!) a few minutes before Obama spoke. (And seriously, I wouldn't want to be him right now.) I'm surprised he didn't say it was a terrorist attack - though CNN stated it was - and I wouldn't jump to conclusions as well. I just hope they'll find out who's behind this soon.
Gotta watch more TV now.

[Rowan]

Besides: Am I the only one who's shocked about that message Rowan posted? The main argument of that posting was: "The more deaths, the more important." And that really is... shocking. Just shocking. I don't care how many died - there will always be family left behind. It makes me sad when 2 people die and it is indeed sad to hear that 3 people died in NZ.
.

Remember, it wasn't my argument. I didnt post that message.

[Unknown Entity]

It's disgusting that anyone would rig a bomb to cause harm, just so that they can get a message across. What kind of message is it that has to kill innocent people, just out having a good time, and offering their support to the strangers running the marathon? Doesn't have to be foreign or domestic to cause the same amount of pain. I'm curious as to who did this at such a happy event, let alone any event. The amount of hatred it must take to want people dead for your own beliefs... monsters.

Makes it even sicker that there's groups and pictures on Facebook of people with RIP messages of people who didn't die in the event, just for likes or whatever. The whole thing is a complete disregard for life, and disrespect for the dead. ><

I'm glad there are people out there who rushed to the aid of those hurt though. I've seen videos of people running towards the smoke and fumes, pulling wreckage away, helping the injured towards safety. It gives you a little faith.

[Freya]

Remember, it wasn't my argument. I didnt post that message.

Oh, I'm terribly sorry I didn't think my words could be mistaken. I've read that the message isn't from you but from your friends, but you posted it on here, that's why I chose those words.
I'm going to edit it to make that clear! Sorry sorry, I really didn't think about that. >.<

[OceanEyes28]

I think "relevant" is a better word for it than "important." It is important that people over there are still dying by the truckloads. Their losses are painful. But it's more relevant to us in the United States that many of our own citizens lost limbs and lives at an international event in one of our cities. It affects our families and it will affect future marathons and events. I think it's very immature of whoever that was to try and make people feel guilty for mourning the loss of their fellow citizens and athletes. Like seriously, stfu.

[DragonHeart]

Most news articles haven't picked up this particular detail, but the bombs went off right near the VIP seats where families of the Sandy Hook victims were sitting. =/ I don't think any of them were injured, but still. They were there to honor the memory of those children and the teachers who died protecting them.

[Odin1199]

Yeah, this is sad and tragic, but seeing how the media is blowing this out of proportion, on every news channel, even here in Canada, is abit too much. Yeah, it happened, tell us more when you get new info. Other than that, stop clogging up news with this.

[Clint]

This kind of shit pisses me off. If you want to be violent, murder people, and set off bombs, why don't you do the humane thing, and go ****ing hang yourself? But no matter how angry I am, I'm proud of the people of Boston.

I'm proud because no matter what evil people do, good always outweighs it. In the video Rowan posted, after the explosions, and the initial shock wear off, people flock to clear debris and get to the injured. I saw police, army, and regular civilians. The sight of people doing that, and trying so hard to help out other people, just makes me proud.

[Pete]

The thing is, in America, this isn't supposed to happen. We're supposed to feel safe to go out and do things without the fear of bombs going off or troops coming down and assaulting us in the streets. That's the ideology and it's been ingrained in us for years. The reason this attack, and 9/11, and the Oklahoma City bombing are so jarring are not only because of the death tolls, which are a tragedy in their own right, but rather the fact that it shakes us from our feeling that as Americans, living in America, we aren't safe from the shit that we see abroad.

It might sound jaded, but bombs going off in Israel or any middle eastern country isn't a surprise because it happens so often, and is on the news so often that it's almost expected to happen there. Yes it's tragic to have a loss of life in an attack, but at the same time, it's not America, we don't see them or their way of life like theirs. Shit, bombs don't go off in public places here and little ****ing 8 year old boys don't get killed cheering on their parent at a ****ing marathon.

It just doesn't happen here, and that's why its on the news so much.

[che]

I had the TV on last night...mostly beacuse I like background noise. I probably kept it on too long. CBS was asking people "was this a terrorist attack or a domestic one?" What the **** is the difference?

[Alpha]

I had the TV on last night...mostly beacuse I like background noise. I probably kept it on too long. CBS was asking people "was this a terrorist attack or a domestic one?" What the **** is the difference?

My local news asked: "Was it a bomb attack, or a terrorist attack?" I wasn't sure if it was just a weird way to add detail to the same question, or actually two questions. I was really confused.

[loaf]

Inside job.

[Pete]

to Me, Its One In The Same. You Don't Go Setting Bombs Off In Massively Packed Venues For Shits And Giggles, You Do It To Send A Message Or To Cause Fear And Panic... Or Both.

You Can Still Be An American And A Terrorist... Look At Timothy McVeigh.


Sorry For The Annoying Upper Casing Of Everything. Taptalk Doesn't Wanna Work