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Boston Bombing Losers: “Just A Ripple” Or A Trial Run For A Police State Catastrophe?
If exterminating tens of thousands of people with a nuclear suitcase bomb would rate a 10 on the scale of terrorist acts, the slaughter of more than 3,000 innocent people on Sept. 11 might rank as an 8, and the Oklahoma City explosion that claimed 168 lives might come in at a 5. By that grim reckoning, last week’s Boston Marathon bombing with only three fatalities might merit a 3, or barely a ripple.
Horrific as it was, the Boston bombing was the kind of attack that people in less stable parts of the world deal with on a routine basis. But in our case, this relatively minor outrage was enough to shut down an entire major metropolis, disrupt train and air traffic on the East Coast, tie down a force of 9,000 cops and drive the media into a competitive feeding frenzy.
What would have happened if the attack had been carried out by highly trained terrorists instead of a couple of losers who thought they were starring in some lunatic version of Die Hard: With a Vengeance? Did we overreact?
It’s not my intent to diminish the gravity of last week’s attacks by raising these questions. Indeed, for me, the horror was personal. My stepson is a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose dormitory is located only a stone’s throw from where the terrorists allegedly killed campus police Officer Sean Collier, who was honored with a massive funeral on Wednesday. MOREHERE
