Comments on The Pensive Quill: Marathon of Grief

I see the US are charging the Boston Marathon bomb...

2013-04-22T20:49:51.042+01:00

I see the US are charging the Boston Marathon bombing suspect with using a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Even the FBI say WMD incidents involve nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weapons.

I realise different agencies use different definitions but isn't the use of the term "WMD" trivialising real WMDs?

western media saying no one can understand 'wh...

2013-04-20T21:01:44.463+01:00

western media saying no one can understand 'why' just makes me switch off.

AM, thoughtful as always, and the timing and placi...

2013-04-20T20:48:31.919+01:00

AM, thoughtful as always, and the timing and placing of this bombing reverberates, certainly, for you and yours. As to mainstream media coverage, I found two pieces from Slate conveying the dangers of the rush to judgment, and perhaps that site itself getting tangled up in its own criticisms. Tsarnaevs got the attention they wanted in the aftermath. Cf. mid-week: Let's hope the bomber is a white American. Given the Chechen ethnicity mingles "Caucasian" in the correct sense of the term ancestry with Middle Eastern strains, it'll be intriguing to see how this attempt to link-blame their origins and faith allegiance will work out for the perpetrators, as Kevin Cullen's Tale of two immigrants piece you shared on FB notes, grew up in the very privileged liberal environs of Cambridge itself, yet tried to blame their discontent on the nation who had welcomed them. As an aside, disturbingly but tellingly, I note on social media a considerable amount of romanticizing by certain malcontents with those (as with an vengeful and well-armed ex-policeman locally where I live who targeted police for supposedly racist policies) who fight against the System. As with, yes, the Cause we all know, the cheering of the rebel against the Constabulary persists, in our networked age.

Ryan if you shop at TESCO you probably already do...

2013-04-19T08:58:03.237+01:00

Ryan

if you shop at TESCO you probably already do eat crow.

Not sure I agree with that article Aine. The mains...

2013-04-19T03:13:53.728+01:00

Not sure I agree with that article Aine. The mainstream media is just begging, just dying for this guy or guys to be white so they can hype up a right wing terrorist conspiracy. Portraying all white men as angry and unhinged. I may be proven to be dead wrong but I'm convinced this is a foreign attack. I'm 99% certain this is emanating from the Middle East and if not I will eat crow.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/04/tim_wise_on...

2013-04-18T19:43:34.398+01:00

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/04/tim_wise_on_understanding_the_power_of_whiteness_terrorism_and_privilege.html

This was i believe a very well written piece that highlights an important discussion folks in the US should definitely be having.

looks like another 'drone' backfired in Te...

2013-04-18T18:14:57.810+01:00

looks like another 'drone' backfired in Texas...

itsjustmacker i'm afraid it's a country f...

2013-04-18T13:09:18.916+01:00

itsjustmacker

i'm afraid it's a country full of nut jobs. All desperately trying to convince themselves they are living 'the dream' when the reality is its not quite a 'rat-race' they are living in rather a 'sewer rat-race' ON STEROIDS.

Not for me. Still recon it's some 'dream' chaser who planted those 'farts-in-a-bag' bombs.

probably some freeks...next thing theyll have a ba...

2013-04-17T23:46:58.923+01:00

probably some freeks...next thing theyll have a banner.

Whatever. hope whoever did it doesnt claim it... that will only leave 500,000,000 people with fuk all the west havent upset...well halleluhlaghah...some fukn nobody got a pressure cooker.

hope the cunt paid ther taxes by patriot day....and him not at home.

Larry: They have changed from Anthrax to ; &#...

2013-04-17T22:59:58.481+01:00
Larry:

They have changed from Anthrax to ;

'Ricin' letter sent to Barack Obama

now that was quick thinking from FBi/CIA?.

I wonder who is going to get the blame, Rednecks in America? , North Korea? , Iran?. Condolisa Rice? ,what a joke.

Obama Ricin

My first thoughts when I heard about the explosion...

2013-04-17T21:19:07.179+01:00
My first thoughts when I heard about the explosions at the Boston marathon, were of Warrington Dublin and Monaghan were people were mowed down as they went about normal things that are part of normal life.
Maybe just like the Provisional IRA these people will be able to justify their planting of bombs by claiming they were Legitimate Targets

Personally i initially thought it was had to be a ...

2013-04-17T20:28:41.937+01:00
Personally i initially thought it was had to be a 'drone' immitating a 'boomerang'...malfunction job! USA/UK has talent..?

But seemingly after all the hype about terrorists etc O'Bama is now downplaying that line of propaganda. When my wee doggy saw the wee 'puff a smoke' twoz the hics from Tennessee...or Larne even wot dunnit...she said. She's 9 months old.

Obviously waterboarding and rendition is keeping us all safe? Taxes on Patriot day without doubt, strikes a chord among those in the land of the free home of the fuck'd.....free to shoot up a cinema or a school and still believe we have something to offer/impose globally. Blame some motherfucker in a mud hut for no jabs in Detroit...etc etc.

I saw plenty of posts on the 'net' about Boston deserving food for thought coz of it's Irish IRA connections. All I can say is...never mind the luck O' the Irish...whatbout the damned terrible luck of the English. They invaded 49 countries and counting...AND every single one turned out to be full/infested with terrorists. Surely their luck has got to change some-time soon. Lets hope not. God bless the decent people in the U.S. of A. Not interested is all I can say to their govenment...hope the CIA havent unleashed anthrax again...WE KNOW YOUR FORM.

Well said Michaelhenry. L.A. I understand the re...

2013-04-17T19:59:14.831+01:00
Well said Michaelhenry.

L.A.

I understand the reasons the people in the US would feel terrible about the bombing moreso than about bombings further from home. I think it is human to feel that way. I tried to address how we are also culturally conditioned to feel that way. As someone who does not cherish cultural relativism when it comes to universal rights I sought to address the tension in my own position.

Unfortunately the killing of children and other un...

2013-04-17T19:50:26.875+01:00
Unfortunately the killing of children and other uninvolved non-combatants is a regular occurrence in Afghanistan by the armies of occupation - with no end in sight. We rarely if ever hear about this so fair play for drawing attention to the fact Anthony.

I think the difference in response you speak of isn't cultural but conditioned by the media. There is a virtual blackout here in relation to the killings in places such as the Afghan-Pakistan tribal region, Iraq, Yemen, the Sudan, Libya, Palestine but most seriously at present in Syria. There is a Western hand in all these nightmares and thus the population is to be kept in the dark. Over 1 million civilians died as a direct result of the British-US intervention and occupation of Iraq - they die there still to this day in car-bombings, sectarian murders and political assassinations. We never hear much about it. Iraq is the single greatest crime of our recent past but to most minds it never happened. Because it's never reported.

I too pity the family of that poor child, who couldn't be moved by the picture at the top of this thread. But it's refreshing to hear acknowledgement for those children from far-flung corners of our world who for whatever reason do not enter our consciousness

Thanks, Anthony, for acknowledging the bombing in ...

2013-04-17T18:17:06.779+01:00
Thanks, Anthony, for acknowledging the bombing in Boston. A these happen so infrequently in the US, their impact on us is deeper, from a psychological standpoint, than a bombing in another part of the world, including Ireland during the Troubles, night have been. The fact that the bombing took place on Patriots' Day, the day we celebrate the beginning of the American Revolution against Great Britain, makes its impacet even greater. Also disturbing has been the resounding silence of Sinn Fein, who has not mentioned the bombing, even thgh Boston was, I am quite sure, a lucrative place for their many fundraising efforts over the years.

Alan- Irish Americans took part in The Boston Mar...

2013-04-17T17:40:28.078+01:00
Alan-

Irish Americans took part in The Boston Marathon-they watched the Boston Marathon-they tried to save as many people as they could when the bombs went of-they are Hero's- unlike The Redneck Thatcher supporters who went out of their way to kill the Children of Boston-

Alan Seems to forget or perhaps ignore the fact th...

2013-04-17T14:59:26.940+01:00
Alan
Seems to forget or perhaps ignore the fact that the UVF were bombing and murdering pre-69

Such a very sad day for those out enjoying a publi...

2013-04-17T14:43:38.876+01:00
Such a very sad day for those out enjoying a public holiday, and for a marathon which was for charity.

It brings to mind a lot, especially Enniskillen, Warrington , Iraq , afghanistan , etc.

Alan:

I take your comment as childish joke, maybe you should have thought of those children before posting?.

I would think the FBI are looking no further than there own back yard on extremists right wingers , or those who are against the Gun Law changes. No matter who committed this atrocity, It was against innocent civilians.

I hope irish American weren't testing bombs be...

2013-04-17T11:48:15.944+01:00
I hope irish American weren't testing bombs before sending them to Ulster .

The death of a child anywhere in the world murdere...

2013-04-17T09:26:12.248+01:00
The death of a child anywhere in the world murdered by whoever needs to be explained by those perpetrators,be it the so called allies, the Israelis,or Al Qaeda,this particular bomb and especially the timing reminds me of the brits and their dirty tricks in influencing decisions in the Dail with the Dublin /Monaghan bombings.it may and probably will turn out to be some "crazy" so filled with hate that the death of an innocent child will be classified as nothing more than collateral damage in their fight with society, but we have heard that term so many times before from those who claim to have god on their side,that very soon the name of Martin Richard will be remembered by only those close to him ,its a waste and unjustified suffering visited on an innocent child and his family,we are a fucked up society when it takes bombs to makes us respect the sanctity of any life ...