Upon the successful capture of the second Boston bombing
suspect last week, some interesting questions were raised. When the government put the whole city on
lock-down the people of the United States said next to nothing. Essentially, martial law was initiated and
there wasn't even a complaint from the citizens – well nothing that drew any
attention. So one question arises, what
kind of event is necessary or what level of intensity must an event create
before the people will allow the government to lock-down a city? Right now it was a bombing, will later it be
a robbery of a gas station? It's amazing
that the freedoms and liberties that are forefathers cherished so much can so
easily be tossed a side. I still do not
know whether or not I disagree with the government's actions, but it does press
the issue as to when else the government might feel inclined to lock-down a city
or neighborhood.
Anybody that followed the news through the week also noticed
that there was a mountain of false information with only a little true
information being passed through. News
media used to gather facts and then report facts. Even though the information age has driven
society to the point of demanding instant feedback, shouldn't there be a level
of accuracy demanded before something is reported? I know somebody will say that due to the
chaos of the events the truth was hard to get at or due to the nature of the
situation evolving there wasn't enough time to verify the information. This however doesn't mean the news should not
be held responsible. Between the use of
social media and the continuous river of rumors that were reported people not
directly involved in the bombings were impacted – some in a negative way (like
the original teenager that was reported as a suspect). The ravenous people that were devouring all
the media threw at them expected there to be some degree of truth in the
reporting, when in fact there was very little.
Maybe the people should be held responsible for putting such a high
demand on the media or for consuming the information without processing. It should at least raise the questions, “Who
is responsible?” and “What is a reasonable expectation of the media?” At some level there has to be some sort of
accountability to hold people to. This isn't
about a law or passing some new regulation, but about the people putting forth
a demand of accountability.
Now that the excitement has settled and the suspect has been
caught, it’s time to start looking at the ramifications of the week. Questions need to be asked about the rights
of all Americans, about our information gathering, about the media, about the
role of government, and about accountability.
There is a danger that we will walk away from the situation just
thankful to have captured the person who committed the crimes and not learn the
lessons we need to as a country. The
last time I remember martial law was after hurricane Katrina and it was a
mess. People were not happy about it (I
was doing work down there 3 days after the hurricane), but they made due
because of the devastation that had just occurred. Now we moved from natural disasters that
incurred damage on a grand scale, to a bombing that was relatively small (it
doesn't make it less tragic or the losses suffered any less important – those
families still need support and prayer).
In the pursuit of justice it is possible to become unjust. Sometimes the line becomes blurry the further
down the path somebody goes and we as a nation have to be diligent to protect
ourselves from a government blazing ahead in a quest for “justice.” The greatest chance for a government to go
astray is when people stand watching and cheering and it is our responsibility
to make sure we hold them accountable.
Again, I must emphasize that I'm not explicitly saying that
the way the situation was handled was wrong.
My desire is to make sure people realize that we can't celebrate the
capture and not analyze the rest of the events.
People need to be aware that sometimes by simply not asking questions it
is looked at as a sign of approval. I
don't want the media to think they can continually feed me rumors and false
information and I don't want the government to think that the next time
something bad happens they can lock-down the city. What seems to be lacking from people, or
maybe it just hasn't been fierce enough to garner a response, is the outright
questioning and analysis of the events from last week without attention to the
bomber. The best magicians use distraction
to achieve their illusions. While the
eyes and ears are focused on one thing, something subtle is taking place
somewhere else. If we are not careful,
we stand to suffer a greater loss than being tricked by a magician because the
media and government will not be afraid to try the same things again in a
different setting. It's not about
conspiracy, but about responsibility.
Complacency cannot be allowed to take over in the aftermath of events
like the bombing last week.
