Glenn Greenwald makes some astute observations about the public, governmental, and media reaction to yesterday’s Boston bombings. I summarize below and add a little of my own flavoring.
- How unfortunate that Americans are horrified when innocent civilians are killed by bombs, but take no notice of when teh U.S. routinely does the same to innocent people in other countries. Who could be so “evil” as to detonate a second bomb targeting rescuers responding to the first bomb? Well, the U.S. government, for one. Americans seem to think bombs that fall from the sky are more moral than bombs planted on the ground.
- Everyone seems to be eager to suspect militant Muslims without a shred of evidence. Is that because the U.S. has already been targeted by Muslim extremists before or do we automatically suspect them because we know our constant attacks on them in their own countries probably gives them plenty of incentive for retaliation?
- Arabs and Muslims around the world have been openly expressing hope that the attackers will not turn out to be Arabs or Muslims. Maybe this is how the black community used to feel when a local white woman was raped.
- How quick the media is to pronounce this event terrorism, reacting with dismay that Obama didn’t immediately recognize it as a terrorist attack. Fox News quoted a “senior administration official” as saying, “When multiple (explosive) devices go off that’s an act of terrorism” without noting the irony of such a statement coming from a government hat routinely bombs people in other countries.
- And, above all, this bombing, while bad for the victims, represents yet a fresh opportunity for the government to claim more power for itself and whittle down even further what few liberties remain with citizens. The attacks of 9/11 have taught us that, as gruesome and destructive as these attacks are, the real lasting damage to the nation comes afterwards at the hands of a fear mongering government with an insatiable thirst for control over everyone and everything.
I disagree that his observations were astute. Looks more like he had an agenda he was pushing. Seriously, he was linking to the New York Post. No one takes that rag seriously. And regardless of what the media was saying, many were thinking it was domestic vs muslim incident.
Also to assume Americans lack any concern for the innocents around the world is just arrogant on his part.
I don’t think Americans, in general, give a rats ass about innocents killed by American bombings (whether by drones or in wars to “liberate” people from their tyrannical — and uncooperative — governments) and I don’t think they even have the most basic grasp of how our attacks in other countries affect citizens of those countries. At least people in the U.S. believe the U.S., with all it’s military power, can exact retribution for an attack on the U.S. The people we’re bombing in places like Pakistan, Yemen, etc. just have to accept it.
Yes, he linked to the New York Post. That was one link out of about 30. I watched CNN coverage of the bombing and they must have repeated that the cops were looking for a Saudi guy at least once every minute.
Greenwald is an opinion writer, so he has an agenda. His agenda is pro-liberty and antiwar. It probably sounds radical since being antiwar is not exactly a popular American value anymore. The interesting thing about war is how the people who survive unscathed perpetually talk about how it was worth the sacrifice. Patriots frown on any sentiment that questions that position.