h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think they are still possibly working on the grounds of it might not be just one 19 year old with nothing lose, although that is looking increasingly likely

Besides with the nothing to lose, you are going to workinon the scenerio that he is looking to take as many people as possible if cornered

One would hope any good Bostonian worth his (her?) tea, would be checking out their first floor windows, with their trusted AK47 in their hands, in the event they spot this thug. But I suppose if he comes at them with a pressure cooker (explosives) then they would need to wait for the SWAT team with their rocket launchers and those new robo-dog things.

oof, ~jwf~ and Stone Aart, the timing of your commentaries at the moment,sort of lead balloons, if I may be so blunt

Of course you may!

~jwf~

I am easily lead so sometimes need to be curbed ... but I think we are all intelligent enough to work out the specific from the general from the ironic and loosely off topic.

Personally I have my weapons out of sight and would have my slow cooker put away, in case it was accidently mis-identified by anyone official knocking

Thank you ~jwf~

and Stone Aart, I got it, no real harm done I just was saying what I felt as I felt it

Anyway I hope they catch this lunatic thug soon ... but I think the response and the media coverage has bordered on the excessive ... especially once it became known what they were dealing with.

I *would* have any weapons out of sight if I had any, which I don't and wouldn't

I do have a slow cooker though I am sure they are harmless

ps Peanut don't let anyone pressurise you into not airing your voice etc (I agree some of my comments were bordering on the inappropriate after a quiet moment of reflection )

Do you think though that the response has been due to that they haven't really who or what they are dealing with.

It seems like they have been blind sided, and we have all gone cross eyed over the Chechnya link

At times when emotions are high, we can post without thinking. But I think in general we take a pause

I think quite early on it was clear that this was a crude / amateur action by lunatic thugs with some crazed / distorted notion of avenging some perceived wrong. I think the stress on terrorism by the media and some political members of security was overblown. As someone mentioned above just because they were Chechyans - shouldn't mean they had anything to do with the "Chechyan cause", as you can get oddball nutters from anywhere.

You are a very thoughtful person Stone Aart

I hope you would be as equally honest with me

I think people find it more comforting to label people like these terrorists. It sounds more secure than to admit you might be dealing with sociopaths or plain old nutjobs.

I think it can be reasonably expected that the media response would be overblown.

I think it perhaps worse that no-one has really known why, the wherefores so you get to dealing with all the potentialities

In terms of those involved in putting a political spin on issues - labelling it as "terrorism" is convenient in terms of a continued justification of the expenditure on the "War on Terror(ism)", continued extension of the Patriot Act (with reduction in certain "human" rights), continued expenditure on "home" security. In terms of the media ... you have those coming in from the political angle and those coming in from the sensationalism angle.

It is terrorism though. Bombs that cause mass amputations going off in the middle of a major public event cause terror, ergo terrorism.

What's missing is there's a range of motivations and actors involved in terrorism and we're not sure what's going on here. Not all terrorism is religiously motivated though some is, not all terrorists are trying to make a political point though some are.

Just to add, despite the impression in the news that the whole city is locked down, in my neighbourhood in central Boston (Beacon Hill, about 10m walk from the bombings), you couldn't tell that anything out of the ordinary is happening. People are on the streets, people are driving, the shops are open. The only differences are the constant helicopters flying overhead and the fact that the rubbish wasn't collected today.

While I understand that it's unavoidable for political reasons, I think it's fair to say that the reaction (locking down the whole city) is excessive.

The definition of terrorism is quite flexible:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism