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Showing Original Post only (View all)Guardian: Why does America lose its head over 'terror' but ignore its daily gun deaths? [View all]
"The thriving metropolis of Boston was turned into a ghost town on Friday. Nearly a million Bostonians were asked to stay in their homes and willingly complied. Schools were closed; business shuttered; trains, subways and roads were empty; usually busy streets eerily resembled a post-apocalyptic movie set; even baseball games and cultural events were cancelled all in response to a 19-year-old fugitive, who was on foot and clearly identified by the news media.
The actions allegedly committed by the Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, were heinous. Four people dead and more than 100 wounded, some with shredded and amputated limbs.
But Londoners, who endured IRA terror for years, might be forgiven for thinking that America over-reacted just a tad to the goings-on in Boston. They're right and then some. What we saw was a collective freak-out like few that we've seen previously in the United States. It was yet another depressing reminder that more than 11 years after 9/11 Americans still allow themselves to be easily and willingly cowed by the "threat" of terrorism."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/boston-marathon-bombs-us-gun-law
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Guardian: Why does America lose its head over 'terror' but ignore its daily gun deaths? [View all]
wtmusic
Apr 2013
OP
And why didn't it work? Because the Head Gun-Humpers, the NRA, and its $, is more precious to them
MotherPetrie
Apr 2013
#44
Such palpably cherry-picked and misleading statistics don't help, I think.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2013
#24
Without your *economy* you wouldn't even be close to a top tier nation, but that's tautological.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2013
#36
Call that $5 trillion that we spent on the war on terror, what it really is
WHEN CRABS ROAR
Apr 2013
#112
I thought the city of Boston acted responsibly--the goal was to catch that little bastard
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#2
Somebody who murders--AND may destroy property or infrastructure--with explosives,
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#59
Er... bombings? Possibly in concert with others who might have been plotting attacks, too?
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#61
I'm not saying they did the wrong thing, but I think you're proving my point, and that's sad. (nt)
harmonicon
Apr 2013
#63
If your point is that shootings aren't different from terror, I don't think there's much difference.
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#68
What makes three deaths that happen simultaneously more important than three spread out over time?
wtmusic
Apr 2013
#96
No, but we were still largely terror noobs back then, the first WTC attack notwithstanding.
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#70
Yeah, it's so much more friendly to be killed by someone you know or someone you love n/t
Fumesucker
Apr 2013
#16
I think that if anything you reinforce rather than undermining the article you attack.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2013
#26
And many on the left live in fear of guns, christians, and pit bulls
The Straight Story
Apr 2013
#20
Yes, America is de-sensitized to gun violence. Murder, mass shootings, suicide by gun, armed robbery
AlinPA
Apr 2013
#62
Because the big industry around gun deaths sells guns. The big industry around terror sells terror.
Marr
Apr 2013
#23
Big brother has taught us to worship our gun heritage and accept the carnage associated
indepat
Apr 2013
#29
Far from ignoring, many actually financially back them and reap the rewards. nt
raouldukelives
Apr 2013
#91
Acts of terrorism allows the US to puff its collective chest and say, "Look at me."
bulloney
Apr 2013
#43
The deathly news is dribbled to us so consistently and often that we barely raise an eyebrow
Ed Suspicious
Apr 2013
#48
Because the 2nd Amendment is sacred to the god of death and the god of death demands daily sacrifice
Hekate
Apr 2013
#73
War is profitable, and terrorizing the public ensures the prolonging of the Great and Profitable War
sabrina 1
Apr 2013
#88
I don't have much to say about the article's point re: "cowed by threat of terrorism," but...
Orrex
Apr 2013
#98
Yeah, I have been feeling that way since 911... I grew up with a much greater threat M.A.D
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
Apr 2013
#119