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So there was this stupid article on Alternet
<a href=”http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/did-authorities-lockdown-boston-give-us-taste-police-state-culture-come?paging=off “> Boston a taste of a police state</a>
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I am getting really tired of articles like this, and once again I had to give a long most likely ignored response. Which I want to remember so I am posting it here.
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Wow quite the long article there, lots and lots of points, some good,
some bad, some so far out in left field the Green Monster can’t be held
responsible for what happens. <br />
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Let me make one point right away.
What is happening in Chicago, and in our own Roxbury is terribly sad,
young men who don’t think they have any value, or much of a future are
killing each other for a small payout, or a bit of respect. It is
horrible, but it is not the same thing as the bombing victims. In
Roxbury, and I bet in Chicago and any other area subject to gang
violence the community turns a blind eye to finding the people who do
the shooting. <br />
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Do you know much about the Boston area? Do you
know our politics? Or our history? This is a city that knows martial
law, and the pain of innocents, we remember the first Boston Massacre.
None of us living today experienced it, but it is a part and parcel of
our DNA, <br />
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Yes lots of crazy people used the bombing as a way to
pump up their own nut job agenda, on both sides of the discussion.
Reminding us once again of the crazy comments made after the bombing is
meaningless. The comments were stupid, the speakers more so. Although I
still can’t get Iman Webb’s comment about wanting to wrap Boston in a
blanket and smother it out of my head. A poor choice of words, hopefully
not want he meant to say the two different times he said it. <br />
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Now
to the suspects, who were the unknown. We knew what they looked like
thanks to the brave people who described them to police from their
hospital beds. We knew they knew we were after them when their faces
were shown by the police. After that happened we also know that some
friends helped then hide evidence, while others called the police to
give them their names. We then discovered they were willing to murder a
police officer, to car jack an innocent man and threaten him with death.
They bragged how they were the bombers and loaded pipe bombs in to his
car. He bravely escaped and let the police know what happened to him.
Would any of us have been that brave to do the same thing? <br />
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He
did not know if there were just two people he did not know the number of
pipe bombs loaded into his car, or the sum total in both vehicles. The
police had no choice but to expect the worse. They did not know if the
second suspect ran to a safe house, or ran in panic after killing his
own brother. We did not know if there were other people involved or if
his was on his own. We knew he was someone who had no problem with
killing, the police knew they did not want to give him another chance to
add to the body count. <br />
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So the people of Boston, the people of
the Greater Boston area were asked to remove themselves from the
equation. To make sure the bombers were the only ones on the chessboard.
We did something that few people appear to understand, we got out of
the way. When your neighbors house is on fire do you grab a garden hose
and put it out your self or do you stand back and let the professionals
do their jobs? During a blizzard, who clears your street, you with a
snow blower or the city with a snow plow? When a person who has already
shown a willingness to kill do you run outside with a gun to look for
him your self, or do you let the police do their job? Remember Officer
Dorner, the innocent people shot by the LA police? That did not happen
here, it did not happen because we did what any civilized people would
do, we got out of the way and let the professionals do their job. <br />
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I
dread to think what could have happened, I am beyond happy that it did
not. I’m also very tired of the second guessing, the idea that tragedy
is a competition to be won. </div>
I think we are making a mistake to compare what happened last Monday to 9/11. I think a better comparison would be the hunt for Christopher Dorner. He started out murdering a few innocent people, then was the subject of a mismanaged manhunt. During the hunt police fired on 2 separate cars holding innocent civilians and setting a cabin on fire. We had no mass panic, no civilian injuries, and limited property damage. And, unlike LA, we got our guy and he will be on trial. All LA got was a charred body that they hope really is Dorner.
A lot of people are angry, upset, or worried about the “Boston Lockdown” as a sign that Freedom Is Over. One thing almost all of these people have in common is not having been in Boston at the time. I work in information security and I’m involved with the privacy scene; I understand there’s a …
Far more eloquent than I could say, but I did try.
I really hate listening to people who say Boston cowered, or Boston was under martial law. We were not scared, we are not stupid. We got out of the way and let the PROFESSIONALS DO THEIR JOBS!
So tell me, all you “I would have grabbed my gun and found the bomber” if a house in your neighborhood is on fire do you get in the way of the firemen with your garden hose? No you get out of the way and let the professionals do THEIR jobs. Which is what we did this week, just as we did during Snowstorm Nemo, we got the hell out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs.
I tremble to think how many other people would have been injured if every person in the Greater Boston area grabbed a gun and went out looking for the brothers. Do the police arrest everyone? How many scared people shoot each other because they “might” be the bad guy? What Boston, and Greater Boston did was the right thing, we got out of the way and let the professionals do their job. One of those professionals lost his life doing his job, a second officer is fighting for his life. For both those men we are grateful. For all the people injured we stand with you, and will help you live again. For those who lost their lives, we can never replace you, but we will stand with your families and they will not morn alone.
For the rest of you jerks, shut up.
Passport ownership in America, by state. Let’s play Spot the Various Correlations.
Wow I did not expect Alaska to score so high.
Like, how is it my problem if you’re allergic to my perfume?!
As a person with severe allergies I feel for the store owner. Way to many people I know don’t believe allergies exist, and they think it’s just people being rude, or wanting attention. No seriously I am about to collapse! Get away from me before I need an ambulance.
