Sir,
This column is chilling. (THE LESSONS OF BOSTON – Issue: 4/24/13) Not sure I can agree with most of it. I think there is something that can be done to halt this madness, and not just increased spending on Homeland Security and spying and a lean on our Bill Of Rights, but a serious look into the general mental health and education of our youth in this country. There are far too many lost souls, many of them are shoved to the side and ignored and in many cases mislead by radicals at home and abroad and cannot think for themselves because of a pathetic and ineffectual education system.
I think as a society there needs to be accountability to what our neighbors are up to. By this I do not mean we need to be in everyone’s business, but this sense of community that was so prevalent in previous generations has been abandoned in favor of social media, the internet and television. There is no community interaction with our youth anymore. Our institutions have let them down. We have let them down. When the president or any congressman stand up for increased educational funding or to make sure our children are prepared for a predatory world through learning and interaction, it is met with cynicism or religious backlash. These head-in-the-sand opinions have kept us in the dark for too long. I ask you or your readers: Since 9/11, has all this violence and ramped up security or anything cut down on or in some cases increased this hatred towards American ideals? We never treat the cause only the symptoms.
Before background checks for gun owners, before increased security, before all of that overreaction to tragedies such as this, there needs to be a microscope pointed at a society that pays more attention to sensationalism and celebrity than to our own friends, neighbors and children.
—S. Primos
I agree with almost none of what you wrote here. I think it is the height of cynicism and has a blatant give-up attitude that I feel is far too prevalent in your work. However, I cannot agree more that what happened in Boston can in no way shape or form—socially, militarily, nationally or politically—be compared to what happened on 9/11 in New York.
To not sound harsh, but to take your lead and at least be blunt: This would be like comparing a backyard touch football game with the Super Bowl. Yeah, they’re both football, but come on.
—Sgt. Mac
You’re an idiot and a weirdo and this insanity has to stop. What the hell are you going on about? There are monsters out to kill us! We need to wake up to the Islamic war against America, against our citizens and freedom. We need to stop babying these killers and stop whining about rights and stop whining about singling out a certain race or religion and come to the facts. This is an all-out war. I support droning Americans if it prevents this. These assholes stopped being American once they began plotting to harm and kill Americans. Where was the FBI? Letting one of these monsters go? Where is our intelligence or this useless Homeland Security? I am outraged. This is not something that we have to live with. And I won’t live with it. I will give up every freedom and every right I have to keep myself and my family safe.
—Jakb4357
James,
You prove my point that “extended” background checks and “assault” weapons bans would do nothing. First off, neither of those Borat wannabes had a weapons permit when they lit up that poor security guard and last I checked pressure cookers were not on any weapons list either banned or accepted.
You are correct about the “good” in people. If it weren’t, this place would be a bloodbath the way that NRA members and gun owners are kicked around, mocked and blamed for every fucking thing that happens in this country. If these legal gun owners weren’t kindhearted and good at their core, you would have ammo flying at a remarkable rate but no. It is Obama supporters turning cookware into IEDs.
I blame the government for using tragedies like these to further their destruction of our Constitutional freedoms and we allow it to happen and even cheer on and praise those that are doing it.
The good is indeed running out and I believe the man at the top is anxiously awaiting that moment.
Peace,
—Bill Roberts
Good column. I, too, have been wondering recently how the U.S. would be if this type of thing happened daily, such as with suicide bombers in the Middle East. Our nation was scared, disturbed, and freaked out about a bombing that killed three people—something that’s essentially considered chump change in Middle Eastern countries. Those attacks overseas kill dozens daily and not a peep is heard or acknowledged over here. I guess it’s a good thing that this is a rare event in the U.S.
—Gio
I love this. I agree with this. There is “good” that will eventually out-duel the “bad.” I believe that on 9/11 and this latest terrorist tragedy, what eventually and forever resonates are the heroes and those who came to the aid of the injured and fallen and the incredible national law enforcement agencies that were able to effectively track these murderers down with little fuss, quickly. Amazing that this was wrapped up in less than a week. And if the terrorism that hit us at the beginning of the last decade is any indication of how we respond, it should be this way. Hard and quick and not to overreact, because then terrorism is its most effective.
In the end, after 9/11, if you really think about it, bin Laden ended up achieving his goal. He yanked us into a Jihad, but had we handled things as efficiently as this, then maybe thousands of lives and billions of wasted dollars would have been spared.
—THE HUKE
My favorite was when Fox News had a Saudi guy guilty and then that moron Glenn Beck told everyone he had it cold that he knew who this guys was and how he was behind this or involved and then I stupidly tuned in and this goofball has nothing! I am sick of these Howard Stern clones posing as actual commentators. It is treasonous and should be investigated. How is it that someone is not allowed to cry fire in a crowded theater, but give him a radio show or a blog or a streaming internet show that shut-ins and paranoids listen to so they can all wait for end-times like cultists, and this is not a crime?
—Jessie F.
Here’s the “Lesson of Boston”: Find every loner shithead Muslim or Islamic “freedom fighter” and drag his sorry ass to Gitmo and pour water into his face until he tells us where the next carnage is coming from. How’s that for a lesson, bub?
—Layton
James Campion is the Managing Editor of the Reality Check News & Information Desk and the author of “Deep Tank Jersey”, “Fear No Art”, “Trailing Jesus” and “Midnight for Cinderella”
