Boston Marathon Explosions

[robdog 2,084]

Rip and thoughts with those effected.

So does anybody know if this was a terrorist attack?

The Dept of Homeland security has confirmed that this is a coordinated event, but who that are responsible for this hasn't been identified.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

That's the way the news works for a number of reasons. First off, people don't care about the chronic, regular occurrence they care about the acute one-off event. That's why school massacres get attention and the day to day shootings which kill far more people, don't. Attacks in the US are incredibly rare. That's why it's news. Attacks in Syria at this point are not really news because they happen every day. Second, people in the west care about the attacks on our lives. We know there are tons of deaths all over the world. It's a natural reaction to more horrified at attacks in circumstances you might find yourself in. Someone being shot at your supermarket is more newsworthy to you than 10, 000 dead in a Bangladesh flood. It's not wrong, it's natural self-interest. It doesn't mean that the person killed in the supermarket is worth 10, 000 Bangladeshi lives. Lastly, comparing death totals is a fool's game. Were people not supposed to be upset by the July 7 attacks because they didn't kill that meany people relative to wars? Should we ignore Syria because 70,000 people killed in a war is still historically insignificant? The siege of Leningrad killed about 1, 000, 000 civilians. If you play this game, you can keep going until you can't discuss anything. People were killed today and it's shocking and awful. That doesn't mean that people killed in Syria is any less awful or that their lives are worth less.

I didn't say that more deaths in other places makes this less important. Like I explained in my other posts, my criticism is of the media coverage. If the media give as much coverage to the people dying from hunger in Africa or the unarmed peaceful protesters being killed in Bahrain, then that would raise awareness and get more people to act to stop and limit those death and that would save a lot of people. If you find that so immoral, then I apologize.

I won't get into why this over-coverage is bad because it will just cause pointless political debates.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I didn't say that more deaths in other places makes this less important. Like I explained in my other posts, my criticism is of the media coverage. If the media give as much coverage to the people dying from hunger in Africa or the unarmed peaceful protesters being killed in Bahrain, then that would raise awareness and get more people to act to stop and limit those death and that would save a lot of people. If you find that so immoral, then I apologize.

I won't get into why this over-coverage is bad because it will just cause pointless political debates.

This.

Just today in Iraq, bomb explosions at an airport killed 40+ people and wounded over 200 yet the media are barely covering it.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

RIP for the ones who died, but overall, nothing exceptional, shit happens, this is nothing compared to what I lived, and what a lot of people are living, wit all the respect I have for the injuried and dead people, but this is nothing.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I didn't say that more deaths in other places makes this less important. Like I explained in my other posts, my criticism is of the media coverage. If the media give as much coverage to the people dying from hunger in Africa or the unarmed peaceful protesters being killed in Bahrain, then that would raise awareness and get more people to act to stop and limit those death and that would save a lot of people. If you find that so immoral, then I apologize.

I won't get into why this over-coverage is bad because it will just cause pointless political debates.

But...the media where? In the US and in Europe of course they're going to cover it more. If they are covering it more in Lebanon than they do the Syrian crises, then that's astonishing. If the media gave more coverage to people dying from hunger in Africa, nothing would happen. The coverage of starvation in Africa has been going on for as long as I can remember and longer. Is there anybody who doesn't know that there is massive hunger in much of Africa? There have been concerts, rallies, charities galore and all of it has amounted to nothing. People like to think of the media (and society in general) as top-down whereas generally, it's just capitalist. The stories that get covered are the stories that interest people. The news has a lot of power, but its power is also limited. It can't dictate what interests people and in the West, it has to fight for attention and gear its news to that. It can show horrible images and people will think "that's sad" and then turn the channel to watch a football match or celebrity gossip. If there were any sort of market for the sort of news you'd like to see, it would have happened but there isn't and it isn't a conspiracy. It's human nature.

[DJames 729]

Simply tragic for those involved and affected.

The Americanization of news is nothing new in fact it should be expected. I would expect oversensationalism, tragic event on American soil with major american media houses this is going to take preference over all other world issues. Unfortunately that's how the world works.

[BluesChick 1,260]

Okay, loss of life in any of these circumstances is a tragedy. It matters no matter where in the world it happens and it is the fault of the media that some of these tragedies get more airtime than another. It does not make any of the more important. Blame the media for the lopsided reporting but do not say one tragedy is worse than another or does not matter. Every person that dies or is hurt or missing has someone who loves them and will mourn them.

If you want an "more accurate" account of the events go to Boston.com.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Santiago. 1,500]

'Muslims' is the current thing being trended now after the incident. Fucking ridiculous

[OReillyD36 311]

Such a horrible tragedy, any attack on civilians be it in USA, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. is senseless. My thoughts with the families and those affected. This reminds me of Norway and Oklahoma, is the fire in the JFK library linked or have they dismissed that as coincidence?

[Rmpr 8,977]

Such a horrible tragedy, any attack on civilians be it in USA, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. is senseless. My thoughts with the families and those affected. This reminds me of Norway and Oklahoma, is the fire in the JFK library linked or have they dismissed that as coincidence?

The official statement is that they are not related. But that wont help the conspirancy theories...

[Santiago. 1,500]

Some runners who finished the race rushed to the hospital to give blood to the ones injured.

Faith in humanity restored

[James 5,138]

The photo of the man with his legs blown off is possibly the most shocking thing ive ever seen.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Some runners who finished the race rushed to the hospital to give blood to the ones injured.

Faith in humanity restored

Wow, source?

That really gives me hope!

[Santiago. 1,500]

Wow, source?

That really gives me hope!

I caught it on CNN live sorry

[EBH 283]

If runner have gun then this cannot happen

[Korea 734]

[Korea 734]

O yea some of you guys are retarded......

[Ankit 3,176]

Meanwhile, US bomb kills 30 at Afghan wedding

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-125820/US-bomb-kills-30-Afghan-wedding.html