Yesterday was a sad day.. Who would’ve thought an exciting, highly anticipated and celebrated event like the Boston Marathon would turn to utter chaos and destruction.. 2 dead and over 150 injured.. yesterday caused us all to pause.. In looking at yesterday’s events it was hard not to remember the emotions and disbelief that surrounded the 9-11 tragedies 12 years ago. It’s hard to look at the bombings that took place in Boston without having a degree of caution and skepticism.. We saw a tragic event like 9-11 that was supposed to unite us and help us see the humanity in one another evolve to where we are divisive, uncaring and inhumane with our actions.. On top of that we moved to a point where we are willing to surrender our power and civil liberties to those we put into positions of power to further agendas that are Draconian ..
After 9-11, when we heard reports of police flowing out into the streets a thousand at a time to patrol stadiums and subways, we greeted the news enthusiastically and gave them a thumbs up.. Now when we hear such news we think of intrusion and unnecessary abuse..We think of stop and frisk and harassment before we think protection We hear about extra cameras being put up and we think undeserved surveillance and privacy invaded before we think a necessary sacrifice to catch those responsible for causing so much harm and terror.
NY Times Headline
They say one should not politicize a tragedy, and ideally one should not, but as soon as we turn on the TV, the politicking is in full swing.. It ranges from the wording the President uses to describe what took place to the music, signage and footage shown endlessly on news outlets to gratuitous headlines like the one put out by the NY Times designed to shock vs inform? What’s being presented seems designed to keep us agitated and in a constant state of fear, with politician after politician using the event to hold press conference to supposedly to ‘ease those fears’. Ironically their announcements about some mass security action they are going to order winds up stoking fears..
After the yesterday’s bombing I don’t think there was a city or town in this country where a mayor or police chief did not hold a press conference explaining how they were gonna ramp up security..For example, here in Oakland, I heard our police chief on the local media talking about how extra police were gonna be on hand making sure fans attending the Oakland As and the Warrior games were ‘protected’.
Afterwards they shifted to LA where we heard similar announcements of extra police in Hollywood and on the subways.. Then we saw press conference in New York where Mayor Bloomberg was talking about sending extra cops out on the streets to protect everyone.. Then it was back to the Bay Area to talk with officials in San Francisco where they were talking about beefing up security for next month’s Bay to Breakers race. After that we saw press conference in London to explain how security details were being tightened to make sure Margret Thatcher‘s funeral goes on without a hitch… As I’m writing this column the local news has just shown the SF police chief talking about extra patrols and now they switched over to the BART subway officials who are announcing they have extra police on deck, all designed to protect us..
Call me skeptical, but the first thoughts that ran through my head was; after 9-11 didn’t we create a Department of Homeland Security that was supposed to be keeping us safe 24/7? Didn’t we open up the government purse strings and pour seemingly unlimited amounts of money to make sure all the right agencies and new technologies like face recognition cameras, bomb sniffing robots, x-rays, listening devices etc, are always in place at high alert? Such questions need to be asked especially when our recent history is showing that over the past 15 years all sorts of horrific upheavals have taken place around this time.. From Columbine to Virginia Tech school shootings. From Waco to Oklahoma City bombings. Hitler’s birthday and Tax day with more and more people with each passing year vocal in
Are all these police chiefs and officials just doing a dog and pony show, one that was replicated all over the nation? One might ask what’s the end goal? In almost every press conference we saw the request from officials to report anything ‘suspicious’, but there was no description as to what suspicious means? Is it Muslim, Latino? teenagers, white guys with shaved heads? The seeds of distrust are being planted when we ideally should be coming together..
Whatever the case, this Boston Marathon tragedy seems like field day for the media.. Reporters and anchors seem more frantic than the people I see walking the streets outside.. It all seems manufactured even when they highlight the heart-wrenching story of the 8-year-old, Martin Richard being killed or the young 12-year-old boy from the Bay Area who was watching his mom run and was seriously injured…..Absent from all this coverage is the human touch..
Absent from the coverage is the heroism from folks helping out in the mist of the chaos those 130 people injured. Absent from a lot of the coverage is the fact that people from over 90 countries run the Boston Marathon..It’s like a mini Olympics. Were any of the international folks running or watching injured? Why no news about them vs showing the same video footage over and over again? But that might too much since we hardly cover the numerous bombings that take place sometimes daily in countries all over the world. There was hardly a peep of the bombings in Somalia where 30 were killed and Iraq where over 50 were killed over the weekend? Our outpouring of grief should be for loss of life everywhere…Why not show the first responders and doctors who were on hand tending to those injured and seriously saving lives in the most challenging conditions vs showing officials beating their chest talking about they got guns and firepower to deal with any sort of threat..Fear and Distrust is big business for many.
Bombing in Somalia
One of the hardest lessons we learned after 9-11 was during those times after 9-11 where many grieved that those with nefarious thoughts went to work and snatched away civil liberties and took us into wars that had nothing to do with the days horrific events..It wasn’t long before we wound up being no different from some of the countries we once criticized all in the name of fighting the new War on terror. In the aftermath of Boston one has gotta wonder, what’s in store for those seeking to game moments like these?
Writer Naomi Klein calls it shock and awe..so while we should keep our eyes and ears peeled for those who might wanna plant a bomb, we best keep our eyes and ears on those who wanna plant bombs of distrust and have us turning on one another. We best keep our eyes on those sitting in halls of power who will use this tragedy to plant legislative bombs that cripple our freedoms vs underscoring them.. All of this being done in the name of fighting the war of terror..
-Davey D-
I think we need hurry up and do something because Faux Snooze is already stirring up their usual crap.
Frequent Fox News contributor Erik Rush got into a Twitter exchange shortly after yesterday’s apparent bombing to declare of Muslims: “Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all.”
Rush is only one of many right-wing commentators to jump to the immediate conclusion that the tragic explosions at the Boston Marathon were the result of Islamic terrorism, but his “Kill them all” comment is so far over the line that Fox must distance itself from Rush’s violent bigotry.
Demand that Fox News have no more contributions on “news programs” from extreme bigot Erik Rush.
Frequent Fox News contributor Erik Rush got into a Twitter exchange shortly after yesterday’s apparent bombing to declare of Muslims: “Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all.”
Rush is only one of many right-wing commentators to jump to the immediate conclusion that the tragic explosions at the Boston Marathon were the result of Islamic terrorism, but his “Kill them all” comment is so far over the line that Fox must distance itself from Rush’s violent bigotry.
http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=AcnVPFKbUokta7EbnHK_cw
The guy is a WorldNutDaily weirdo and he wants to turn the conversation to ‘all Muslims want to kill us so we should kill them first’.
Reblogged this on .
I mean on all subtle funk the _Ism,..lets destroi the lenses of hetero_sexist medias outta space the Cong university’s for sure. That will be only a blunder on real social commune equality building as deficit capitalist trap. Ya nugget in custody…
Reblogged this on Opulent Living Off Top and commented:
Great Read
A well typed piece showing a REAL fair and balanced opinion. Particularly like how Boston was put it contrast with Somalia and the blatant ignorance of the mainstream media on denouncing terror against civilians there. Violence begets violence. When will the government learn…the more they wage war on others, the more they subject US citizens to these kind of atrocities. Uncle O talks tough but that will not bring back the lives of those who perished. Stay strong my people.
I loved your radio worked immediately post 9/11 on KMEL. You were so right on then and raised all the right questions, and when your spot abruptly ended, I was convinced ClearChannel pulled the plug because you were streaming truth instead of the toxic hype that prevailed mainstream. And I wrote them a long nasty letter protesting. Much appreciation for what you have continued to do.
You hit on a whole bunch of good points here. Thank you. Just gonna offer up this observo: the idea that we are so safe especially post 9/11 w/Dept. Homeland Sec. et al is all hype. They can put cameras & surveillance everywhere, they had bombsniffing dogs check the race route, tons of police personnel, they bug phones w/ word-detection software to monitor possible threats etc etc , and someone with explosive devices made out of damn pressure cookers filled w/nails, buckshot and simple explosives made from household chemos tucked into backpacks w/ simple detonators can unleash horror…. That is the simple, nasty truth. So, yes, all those yapping police chiefs are dog/pony shows. Their job is to reassure the public that they are on it, and folks are safe. It’s hype. The legacy of nasty b.s. the US has perpetrated or supported globally along w/a vast spectrum of diverse, volatile, issue-charged folks inside the US means anything can happen, anywhere, anytime. The media …. hmmmm …..gruesome. We have a public addicted to horror flicks and violence-as-entertainment, and the media plays to that. And, they also disseminate plenty of info and ideas about “how to…”. I have long noticed how Americans are totally devastated when it is their own who are brutalized, how they get off on that “pray for the USA” ( which I find amazing considering this is the most affluent, indulged, privileged, self-entitled group of people on this planet), but could care less when it is, say, Palestinian children or young, innocent Iraqis who are similarly blown up or…. Okay. Enuf said. Bless you for what you do for all of us. Peace.