if he comes to understand his actions he'll regret the hell out of them.

Bryant

I just thought he was an insensitive asshole but knew he was not a bomber.

I think he's weird, but not necessarily mentally ill.

You can see a fair portion of the content at the Deadspin link.

downed airliner half a world away as if the media themselves were doing the job.

I don't know what it takes to make the cut.

Death toll from Boston bombing - 4

Death toll from CA bus crash - 10

A year from now, we aren't going to see pictures of the dead from that bus on the news 24/7.

But, are you are unstable and want to be famous for a day? Go to Boston and pull some stupid stunt during the Marathon.

Death toll: 4

Injury toll: 264

Number of single and double amputees: 16

Financial toll: Close to $400 million in damage to the local economy in lost wages, lost retail sales and infrastructure damage

Psychological toll on the victims and the entire city: impossible to determine

The Boston Marathon: changed forever, and not for the better

As terrible as that bus crash was, this isn't that, jberry. As much as you want people to stop "fetishizing tragedy," I'd like people to stop giving the back of their hand to real pain, just because that pain doesn't fall within their own personal yardsticks.

In other words, maybe don't say dick things to people who are in real pain. That you seem unable to at least show some empathy for that pain says far more about you than it does about us "fetishers."

'Fetish' is the word I would use to describe the nightly news. Everyone seems lined up for their moment in the sun, doing XYZ to pray for, have a moment of silence for, observe, or some fucking ritual, that event. Every night it is in the news, front and center.

It doesn't seem healthy to me.

And there is no sense of proportion. This had some 40 or fewer fatalities. We drop bombs on weddings with more than 40 people attending worldwide, and nobody gives a shit.

Last night, they spent about 15 minutes on it, on KING5, with a good 20 seconds of footage just zoomed in on the face of the officer cranking the state Capitol flag down to half mast. 25 days after it happened.

This doesn't seem normal to me. This doesn't even seem like a grieving process. It looks like people just rubbing the issue all over themselves, like disaster porn or something.

I think the term upthread, 'fetishizing tragedy' nailed it. We totally do that, as a society.

How about planting a big neon sign over every mile of the marathon flashing "HEY CRAZY PEOPLE - DO SHIT HERE AND GET ATTENTION"

Like I said, obviously the disruption of a recreational event and the deaths of four people deserves annual salt-rubbing, and we'll never hear about the ten killed in the bus crash again.

30,000 people killed in car accidents last year - do you give a shit about road safety? The Boston bombing is NOTHING compared to that figure.

But you and the media want to make sure every deranged person gets the memo. Why not hand out maps to them.

that they had put a "shelter in place" order over five suburbs of Boston, which basically consisted of the governor asking nicely if people could not leave their houses so the streets would be open for SWAT and National Guard.

If people had not complied I'm prepared to bet it would have taken weeks to find the kid, and he'd have been dead when they finally did find him.

What surprised me, however, was the alarming number of folks here who took issue with the shelter-in-place. Apparently it was an abridgement of their rights to be asked to stay indoors while the fucking police searched for a mass murderer. Never mind that they caught him within 24 hours, never mind that afterwards Boston was treated to the biggest display of unity and jubilation the city has seen probably since the Revolution...nope, we were chastised for not being angry that the governor had issued a shelter-in-place.

It was reported as martial law, and there were videos shown of apparent home searches without warrants, etc. Things that had all the appearance of civil rights violations.

Later, the reporting fog of war cleared, and it appeared the searches were welcomed and consented to by the occupants, that the 'lockdown' of the city was voluntary at the request of the governor, not an order followed with arrests for non-compliance, etc.


It took several days for that fog to clear. Unfortunate? Yes. Because to the people there, they probably didn't understand at all why so many people around the country were so concerned about it. Total disconnect between the reality, and the non-local reporting.

I cringe when they give this sort of coverage to mass shootings. Especially the way in which they cover it.

It can be made a political issue for legislation/control/debate without turning it into disaster porn.

Given the regular occurrence of mass shootings, terrorist attacks, plane crashes and natural disasters, are we expected to be in a constant state of grief? Americans in particular, seem to wallow in drama.

is that a better approach?

remember the guy who posted the joke about the Boston bombing the day it happened? quite a guy.

I do not think he enjoyed his evening.

this would be a cool or funny thing to do...

wow.

that's pretty intense.

have to do with Boston?

I don't think Pitt would ever do that, but I certainly understand his passion.

It certainly can move a person. But for anyone who has witnessed or been a victim of violent assault, descriptions like that can be a trigger.

I could never imagine personally beating someone with pieces of sidewalk. Not even as a cheesy literary gambit.

noun, Rhetoric .
1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”

Other countries don't seem to have nearly the issues this country has with the mentally ill. Has anyone ever taken a serious look into why this is apparently so. One thing is sure, continuing down the same path invites future disasters and nobody in power wants to tackle this problem, probably because of cost. But you pay a high price by doing nothing as we see on a nearly daily basis. And the problem won't go away on its own.

When Art is done right it's always controversial.

Remove the emotional aspect here for a moment. What law did he break?

Obviously carrying a backpack is not illegal. Carrying a backpack with a rice cooker is not illegal. Carrying a backpack containing a rice cooker and with confetti is not illegal. Setting a backpack on the ground is not illegal (the other one detonated was a reporters backpack, and they did not get charged).

Can anyone explain this?

"Kevin Edson, 25, who also goes by the name Kayvon Edson, is charged with possession or use of a hoax device and making a false bomb threat. If convicted, those carry up to five and up to 20 years in state prison, respectively, according to Jake Wark, the spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley."

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/04/16/wakefield-man-charged-in-bomb-scare-at-boston-marathon-finish-line/

But what exactly makes it a "hoax device"? I'm looking at this from a defense attorney's point of view, basically.

-The other people who left a bag were not charged, it contained camera equipment.
-Rice cookers and confetti are not illegal. How is that different from a camera?
-I'm pretty sure I could put a bag with a rice cooker and confetti on my street and not be charged with a hoax device. Does the proximity to the marathon have anything to do with it? And if so, how close do you need to be to the marathon area to get this charge?

What?

Spammers are so easy to kill.

Recommended.

It was apparent that this was a mentally ill person, who was experiencing the symptoms of his illness. Sad as it is, I think it's good that he didn't get killed. There are places in this country where the chances of his being killed by a police officer likely would have resulted from his behavior.

It pretty much matches what I was thinking when I saw the videos of him posted on DU late last night. I'm impressed with your understanding.