Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I fucking hate terrorism.

I fucking hate terrorism. I know, bold statement, right? But here's the thing about terrorism: It's not about the people who are killed. The people who are killed -- human beings, with lives and friends and families and futures -- are merely tools to accomplish a larger goal, which is to control entire populations of people through fear. People die and suffer not for anything they did or even anything they're accused of doing but because their death is an expeditious means to an end. That makes me indescribably angry.

I have a thing about fear. Maybe I have an unusually high pain tolerance, maybe I just lack an appropriate amount of respect for my physical being, but I can handle a tremendous amount of physical pain in a way that I can't handle fear and anxiety. The Boy, an individual has amount of experience with pain, says that while a person can be inured to pain, there's really no way to become inured to fear -- you either get over it and don't have it anymore, or you work through it, but there's no real point at which you get used to fear and don't notice it anymore. Pain can itself be scary, but eventually it's over, one way or another; fear can last as long as you do.

Right now, there are three people dead in Boston -- one an eight-year-old boy whose dad had just run the marathon. Three families are dealing with that loss. Nearly 200 people are injured, including countless traumatic amputations and a two-year-old with a serious head injury. And millions of people are terrified, because they've been reminded that we live in a world where things like this happen and there's no preparation for it -- there's no trying to guess which dates are significant enough that some evil person might try to use them to make a statement. There's no trying to guess which gathering might be a target, which flight. There's no way of knowing when or whether they'll start targeting individuals as soon as they have us scared enough to stop gathering in public. There's no trying to guess, and that's the point. It's not to make us dead; it's to make us scared. It's to keep us scared, to remind us every time we start to feel comfortable opening our front door that the world is a terrifying place and the only answer is to stay trembling and obedient. It's to make us look over our shoulders, to distrust our neighbors, to round up all the brown people first just to be on the safe side. Millions of people in the U.S. remain or have become scared now, along with millions of people around the world who feel the same feelings from the same sources caused by different groups and individuals, all for the same reason: No good reason, because there's no fucking good reason.

I don't care who did this or why. I don't care. The question everyone asks after things like this is Why? Why, God, why, and the only answer is Because. Not Because marathon runners are sinful. Not Because someone has a vendetta against your eight-year-old. Just Because someone wants everyone to be scared, and your loved ones were conveniently located.

Because someone wants everyone to be scared. Someone is hurt and angry and taking it out on the world not through pain but through fear. And maybe the hurt and anger are perfectly justified, and maybe in a different situation I would have even cared enough to sit down and talk about it and do something about it. But now, and probably forever after now, I couldn't give less of a shit. No shits are given.

Ultimately, of course, the who and the why do have larger implications. Eventually, we will find out who was responsible, and we'll probably have some idea of why, and action may or may not come of it, and if action comes it may or may not be the right action to take. But to the people who are hurt and grieving and scared right now, that's probably not going to help much, because there's no why that can justify what was done. The why will be bullshit. The why is always bullshit.

That's not the world I want to live in.

This is the world I want to live in:

Marathon spectators. Friends and loved ones. And complete strangers, too. People whose sole goal in life, for that one day, was to stand next to the road and be encouraging to people they've never even met and will probably never see again.

Marathon runners who were exhausted at the end of 26.2 miles but kept running, straight to the nearest hospital to donate blood for the hundreds of people who'd lost theirs.

People who heard explosions and made the absurd decision to run toward the smoke and fire, because others needed help.

People who opened their homes to complete strangers who'd come in from out of town for the race and wouldn't be able to get back home that night.

My condolences go out to the victims of the bombings, to their families, to Bostonians and former Bostonians who are trying to sort out what happened in their city, and to everyone who has been traumatized or re-traumatized by this senseless violation. If I had anything more substantial to offer than "that really sucks," I would offer it. But failing that... that really sucks. I’m so, so sorry.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

An excellent set of shoes, perhaps not some of the most gorgeous, not the highest price tagged, neither is the brand name, nevertheless it could also take someone to tour worldwide, Christian Louboutin Shoes
resolve watch the happiness shoes you should never fit, perhaps enviable,though the injured indeed.http://www.getasicsaustralia.com
This type of situation you have to have encountered, walked alongside in front of the showcases in countless varieties shoes you observe dazzling, completely to consider. The associated fee is in line is not really beautiful, like pricey, comfortable forecast fashion, feel good-looking people that think old-fashioned ... so that they are completely satisfied with simply difficult. Pick to settle on, finally opted for pair, wear 2 or 3 days to discover foot wear, or no way correspond their clothes,Christian Louboutin Outlet
simple methods to achieve this time? To make up'd rather painful to need to wear?

Anonymous said...


Nike Air Max Hyperposite-Camo & the Blue Magic et brun / orange
Marquee Sole récemment exposé un tableau détaillé des trois nouvelles couleurs de la [url=http://airmaxnikefr2013.webs.com]Air Max[/url] sont Hyperposite matériau vert foncé Foamposite ainsi camouflage Hyperfuse matériau couleur de camouflage supérieure, magie matériau Foamposite bleu et mat noir la matière Hyperfuse supérieure complétée par Blue Sky embellissement la couleur bleue magique, Foamposite matériau mat Hyperfuse supérieure de matériau brun et beige complétée par orangée parsemée de brun et de couleur orange, dont plusieurs couleur n'existe pas encore de date de sortie spécifique,Nike Air Max veuillez apprécier les images, et nous nous réjouissons à plusieurs nouvelles couleurs Offrant plus de newsgroups continuera à apporter.



Magasin avec confiance. Website: http://airmaxpascherfrs.webs.com

Anonymous said...

Link еxchange is nothing еlse but it
is simply ρlacing thе оther pеrson's web site link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same for you.

My webpage :: crear facebook gratis

Anonymous said...

Good blog post. I absolutely love this site. Stick with it!


Here is my blog :: book of ra online spielen kostenlos ohne download

Anonymous said...

Valuable info. Fortunate me I discovered your website by chance, and I am shocked why this coincidence
did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.

Feel free to visit my blog post: book ra testen

Anonymous said...

Asking questions are truly fastidious thing if you are not understanding something fully, but this piece of writing provides nice understanding yet.


Feel free to visit my web site; recount wow addon

Anonymous said...

If you are going for most excellent contents like
me, only pay a visit this web site everyday
for the reason that it gives quality contents, thanks

Feel free to surf to my web site :: book of ra free download android

Anonymous said...

I was curious if you ever considered changing the page layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.

Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures.
Maybe you could space it out better?

My web-site ... http://www.genwest.info/author/DoraHorto

Anonymous said...

Hello there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I'm not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I'm thinking about creating my own
but I'm not sure where to start. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Many thanks

My web blog book of ra kostenlos spielen demo

Anonymous said...

Hi would you mind letting me know which web host you're utilizing? I've loaded your blog in 3
different internet browsers and I must say this
blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at
a fair price? Thank you, I appreciate it!


Also visit my web site: Msn Hotmail

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement
account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable
from you! By the way, how could we communicate?

My blog post: sizzling hot online kostenlos spielen ()