Boston Marathon: Is terrorism ever justified?

[Richard Barrett]

Iraq is a very good example

My principal reason for citing it was to draw attention to the contrast in news coverage between two bombings that took place on the same day, one with many times more casualties than the other but receiving far less attention; the implication being that the loss of innocent American lives is more "shocking" than the loss of innocent Iraqi lives. Until we get past this kind of discrimination how can the problem of people being killed and maimed in this way be addressed?

[eighthobstruction]

Yes....I understood that....

[Spatny]

Also, although terrorism can't be justified, please remember many millions of pounds were raised for the IRA in Boston during the 70s.

[ahinton]

My principal reason for citing it was to draw attention to the contrast in news coverage between two bombings that took place on the same day, one with many times more casualties than the other but receiving far less attention; the implication being that the loss of innocent American lives is more "shocking" than the loss of innocent Iraqi lives. Until we get past this kind of discrimination how can the problem of people being killed and maimed in this way be addressed?

Good question - and, of course, loss of life is an equally sad and regrettable event wherever it occurs - but do you think that the contrast between reportages might at least in part be down to a kind of inertia that's set in (in the minds of some people) because such events in Iraq occur with dismaying frequency whereas bombing in Boston doesn't even happen annually? That's not in any sense to undermine your point, but I wonder if you think that this might be a factor?

[MrGongGong]

Also, although terrorism can't be justified, please remember many millions of pounds were raised for the IRA in Boston during the 70s.

Indeed
And many people were pleased when the Queen Mother unveiled the Bomber Harris statue
you can't condemn one wrong whilst supporting another IMV

[Richard Barrett]

Also, although terrorism can't be justified, please remember many millions of pounds were raised for the IRA in Boston during the 70s.

Yes indeed, which brings up another inconvenient fact about "terrorist organisations", namely that sometimes not everything they do is terrorism, which was certainly true of the IRA; sometimes the arbiters of such things seem to find it difficult to decide whether an organisation is "terrorist" or not, as in the case of Hezbollah, which earned itself removal from the US State Department's blacklist by condemning the September 2001 attacks on the US, but was later put back on it again. (Hezbollah also operates hospitals, clinics, schools, agricultural training centres and a social assistance programme in Lebanon.)

[scottycelt]

i share Richard Barrett's view that the topic is far from exhausted; i would suggest that we desist from the term 'savage' as a description of the people who commit violence ...

You and Mr Barrett are entitled to your view and so am I. We are not talking here about a war but a marathon. This marathon had nothing to do with state terrorism or the murderous behaviour of the British Army centuries ago. It was simply about people running in city streets, many for charity, cheered on by thousands of spectators.

Savage = brutal, violent, uncivilised. The events at Boston were exactly that ...

[Richard Barrett]

Savage = brutal, violent, uncivilised. The events at Boston were exactly that ...

It was a brutal, violent and uncivilised act, no question. The questions I posed were: how does characteristing the people who did it as "savages" (ie. "different from you and me" in some fundamental but undefined way) help at all to understand why these things happen and how to stop them from happening? and how does it reflect on attitudes towards brutal, violent and uncivilised acts to give a small one so much more attention than a much larger one, just because it happens to take place in the USA rather than Iraq?

[Serial_Apologist]

It was a brutal, violent and uncivilised act, no question. The questions I posed were: how does characteristing the people who did it as "savages" (ie. "different from you and me" in some fundamental but undefined way) help at all to understand why these things happen and how to stop them from happening? and how does it reflect on attitudes towards brutal, violent and uncivilised acts to give a small one so much more attention than a much larger one, just because it happens to take place in the USA rather than Iraq?

Yes this has to be one's default position; whether or not there is anything one can "do" about such incidents.

[Beef Oven]

it would appear from latest reports that the bombs in Boston were packed with ball bearings and have amputated several victims ... so a deliberate effort to wound, maim, and murder any person in the vicinity then ...

Given that, I would view the perpertraters as sub-human and evil.

[MrGongGong]

it would appear from latest reports that the bombs in Boston were packed with ball bearings and have amputated several victims ... so a deliberate effort to wound, maim, and murder any person in the vicinity then ...

Dreadful and horrendous and totally unacceptable in any society
and exactly the sort of technology that the "free world" likes to export to other nations ....... :sadface:

http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/the-problem/

[Beef Oven]

Dreadful and horrendous and totally unacceptable in any society
and exactly the sort of technology that the "free world" likes to export to other nations ....... :sadface:


http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/the-problem/

The evil business of cluster-munitions has got little to do with this. But hey, you might get your back slapped for posting it :winkeye:

[MrGongGong]

The evil business of cluster-munitions has got little to do with this. But hey, you might get your back slapped for posting it :winkeye:

Actually it has everything to do with this
as the same effect is somehow OK for
"good" people to use
and not for "bad"
when the truth IMV is that there really are NO "good" people who are using these things
whether they are home made or made in a factory that is "good business"
(yes, I know the UK no longer produces these
but it does have Stockpiles of them)

[Serial_Apologist]

The evil business of cluster-munitions has got little to do with this. But hey, you might get your back slapped for posting it :winkeye:

I'm not so sure about that, given that some radical Islamic groups now defined as the enemy were once armed by the West on the "My enemy's friend is my friend" principle.

I'd better add that there's as yet of course no indication that the Boston outgrage was perpetrated by Islamic militants, before Calum reminds me!

[marthe]

Yes, calum, and maybe discussion of yesterday's tragedy is too painful for some. One of our posters, marthe, lives near Boston and mentioned the coming marathon in a post just recently:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?337-Stormy-Weather/page784

I very much hope that she and her family have not been touched too nearly by what happened.

aeolium, thank you for your kind words and good wishes. No, neither I nor my family were directly affected by the bombings. We (family, friends) are sad as can be by these events. My earler post seems trivial now. Who was to know? I feel the shock and sadness one feels when places and events that have been so much a part of one's past have been threatened by senseless violence. I know the area well as I used to work just up the street from the finish line, went to the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church in Copley Sq. all shown in the footage from yesterday. My first flat was in nearby Kenmore Sq. In early childhood, we lived in Hopkinton, Mass., the town where the marathon starts 26 miles west of Boston. Later, we lived in Wellesley, Mass. one of the many towns through which the marathon passes. My father taught at Boston College, at the top of Heartbreak Hill in Chestnut Hill, the first steep climb as the runners make their way to Boston. Marathon Day was always an occasion of international good will and local pride. School children on holiday would line the route to hand slices of orange or cups of water to the runners. I'm too close to the event to be able to comment objectively about politics, terrorism, IRA funds from Boston etc. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been most closely affected, especially young children.