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> Something to consider: it worked. Damn right it worked. INPUT: pressure cookers and gunpowder OUTPUT: front page headlines around the world; whole city get

by Pitarou 14y ago

> Something to consider: it worked. Damn right it worked. INPUT: pressure cookers and gunpowder OUTPUT: front page headlines around the world; whole city gets shut down That's pretty damn effective. And it's all thanks to the multiplying effect of hysterical overreaction. --- EDIT: Updated my description of the bomb, in response to comments below.

anigbrowl 14y ago
INPUT: pressure cooker and household chemicals Actually, I don't keep any gunpowder under my sink. Why are you deliberately mischaracterizing the inciting incident, and omitting the rather significant context that it involved multiple detonations at a public event? OUTPUT: front page headlines around the world; whole city gets shut down Front page headlines - so what, we should censor the news now? As for a city shutdown, that could just as easily be interpreted as 'whole city cooperates to catch bombing suspect.'
- Pitarou 14y ago
  > Actually, I don't keep any gunpowder under my sink.... Thanks for pointing that out. I've updated my description of the bombs. > ... omitting the rather significant context ... That's kind of my point. The terrorists chose to plant the bomb at a marathon rather than, say, a deserted wilderness, to maximise the reaction. Do you think the presence of dozens of video cameras was a factor in the bombers' calculations? > As for a city shutdown, that could just as easily be interpreted as 'whole city cooperates to catch bombing suspect.' And this is where I disagree. Much of the shutdown was, in one way or another, directed from the top.
  - anigbrowl 14y ago
    That's kind of my point. The terrorists chose to plant the bomb at a marathon rather than, say, a deserted wilderness, to maximise the reaction. Do you think the presence of dozens of video cameras was a factor in the bombers' calculations? Of course, but what are we supposed to do - impose a news blackout as China does in Tibet? directed from the top I feel fine about that. Coordination isn't the same as coercion, and there was no curfew or mandatory aspect to this.
sliverstorm 14y ago
Yeah, I'm sure the 19 year old bleeding in the boat was feeling pretty victorious. I'm sure shutting down Boston for a day was basically his life's goal. If the goal of terrorists is to make Americans live in fear every day, it certainly seems to me like they are losing, badly. If the goal is to make Americans uneasy for a day, whatever. I have no problems admitting I am uneasy about a guy roaming the neighborhood, armed and running from the cops. Did the terrorists just win when I admitted that?
- LeeHunter 14y ago
  As the original article points out, these two kids achieved something that the worst of the World War Two bombing of London was not able to do, which is to shut down a major city for a day. Rightly or wrongly, terrorists will view this as a spectacular success, in some ways greater than 9/11 since it only took a couple of kids to pull off. I don't know if that kid feels victorious but you can be darn sure that his peers are throwing high fives all around.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    these two kids achieved something that the worst of the World War Two bombing of London was not able to do Sure, but I'm still unsure that anybody would actually care. It seems like a "Guinness Book of World Records" achievement, not a global politics achievement.
    - LeeHunter 14y ago
      Who would care? People who want to disrupt the US economy with minimal effort and resources. The terrorist 'incubators' around the world are certainly buzzing right now.

by Pitarou 14y ago

anigbrowl 14y ago

INPUT: pressure cooker and household chemicals Actually, I don't keep any gunpowder under my sink. Why are you deliberately mischaracterizing the inciting incident, and omitting the rather significant context that it involved multiple detonations at a public event? OUTPUT: front page headlines around the world; whole city gets shut down Front page headlines - so what, we should censor the news now? As for a city shutdown, that could just as easily be interpreted as 'whole city cooperates to catch bombing suspect.'

Pitarou 14y ago
> Actually, I don't keep any gunpowder under my sink.... Thanks for pointing that out. I've updated my description of the bombs. > ... omitting the rather significant context ... That's kind of my point. The terrorists chose to plant the bomb at a marathon rather than, say, a deserted wilderness, to maximise the reaction. Do you think the presence of dozens of video cameras was a factor in the bombers' calculations? > As for a city shutdown, that could just as easily be interpreted as 'whole city cooperates to catch bombing suspect.' And this is where I disagree. Much of the shutdown was, in one way or another, directed from the top.
- anigbrowl 14y ago
  That's kind of my point. The terrorists chose to plant the bomb at a marathon rather than, say, a deserted wilderness, to maximise the reaction. Do you think the presence of dozens of video cameras was a factor in the bombers' calculations? Of course, but what are we supposed to do - impose a news blackout as China does in Tibet? directed from the top I feel fine about that. Coordination isn't the same as coercion, and there was no curfew or mandatory aspect to this.

sliverstorm 14y ago

Yeah, I'm sure the 19 year old bleeding in the boat was feeling pretty victorious. I'm sure shutting down Boston for a day was basically his life's goal. If the goal of terrorists is to make Americans live in fear every day, it certainly seems to me like they are losing, badly. If the goal is to make Americans uneasy for a day, whatever. I have no problems admitting I am uneasy about a guy roaming the neighborhood, armed and running from the cops. Did the terrorists just win when I admitted that?

LeeHunter 14y ago
As the original article points out, these two kids achieved something that the worst of the World War Two bombing of London was not able to do, which is to shut down a major city for a day. Rightly or wrongly, terrorists will view this as a spectacular success, in some ways greater than 9/11 since it only took a couple of kids to pull off. I don't know if that kid feels victorious but you can be darn sure that his peers are throwing high fives all around.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  these two kids achieved something that the worst of the World War Two bombing of London was not able to do Sure, but I'm still unsure that anybody would actually care. It seems like a "Guinness Book of World Records" achievement, not a global politics achievement.
  - LeeHunter 14y ago
    Who would care? People who want to disrupt the US economy with minimal effort and resources. The terrorist 'incubators' around the world are certainly buzzing right now.