In the course of human events there are a few moments that are burned into our cultural memory, forever a piece of our history to learn from. Some of these are great triumphs and others colossal fiascoes, but both are necessary for the development of the society just as an individual needs to succeed and fail to grow.
We had such an event on an early September morning, 12 years ago and its effects have been seared into our country’s psychology. Trust has evaporated faster than a drop of water in Death Valley, aggression is the only response to a criticism, and blind obedience to authority.
Once again, we have experienced an event that will be seared into our memories. Last month, an explosion of twin homemade bombs ripped through the Boston Marathon killing three and injuring over 200. Our response to it has been no more than an advanced angry mob and demonstrates that we have learned nothing. An extreme emotional reaction cannot be our legislative response.
The victims of the attack had their lives forever changed by either physical injuries or the mental trauma and need any help we can give them, but that does not mean we can act like beasts in the pursuit of vengeance.
As the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus said, “In war, truth is the first causality,” which is exactly what happened following the explosion. It is excusable for those without a legal and professional responsibility to claim whatever they want, but those who stand broadcast their ideas to the nation and have the power to act on those ideas must be held accountable to what they say.
In the hours, after the bombing news reporters kept running back and forth with conflicting reports about what had happened and who was behind it. Then to make the situation worse, the pundits and pseudo-experts came on the air and threw wild hypotheses into the air, thus causing a cascade of misleading information to the public.
News broadcaster need to report news and not unconfirmed claims or terror inspiring opinions. Talk like this whitewashed the facts and got us into two wars, one of which we are still fighting and most assuredly be paying for decades from now. As much as we need the professionals to do their difficult jobs, we also need to criticize them.
Finding who was responsible for the bombing is of utmost importance, but we have laws and principles that must be obeyed. The rules and regulations do not simply disappear when things get tough, if anything they need to be enforced the best then.
We are beholden to the writ of Habeas Corpus, so gunning down a suspect in a major crime is criminal. Even if the suspect had exchanged gunfire with police or had some sort of explosive device on him, the officers should have taken him alive for questioning.
While it might not be the easiest to place judgment in that situation, the police definitely stepped over a line by not reading the surviving Tsarnaev brother his Miranda Rights (the “Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law… you will be appointed an attorney” thing you hear on Cops). It was not until 16 hours after being detained that the suspect was informed of these rights.
Like it or not, a criminal of any measure still has legal rights. Even the captured Nazis at the end of WWII had a trial, which served as a reminder that if we are to be called a civilization that we must act civil.
What is must disturbing by this attack is not damage caused, it is that we still have blinders on to the more tragic events in our country. The same month an even more deadly explosion ripped through Waco, Texas as a fertilizer plant vaporized into a mushroom cloud killing 15 and injuring over 200 people.
By numerical comparison the Waco explosion was worse than the Boston bombing, but because the bombers happened to be Muslim and foreign and committed the act at a public event, they got more press time. There was more material to make sensationalist claims about, while the corporate negligence that was the result of deregulation and blew apart a community goes unrecognized.
The victims of the bombings need our support, but they are not the only ones suffering and the perpetrators are not our only enemies.
In the pursuit of justice we must remind ourselves that what is being told to us is not the full story and that we individually and collectively are responsible for upholding the law, no matter how devastated our emotions are.
Grant Vargas
Senior Viewpoints Editor