Evil and Stupidity at the Boston Marathon – Tom Rossi
I was all set to publish a different post for this week when I turned on the news, for the first time today, and saw that bombs had been set off at the Boston Marathon. As is known, right now, 3 people are dead and over a hundred are injured. Those numbers might change as more information comes in.
I just can’t tell you how much I hate this. I hate it when people get hurt for no reason. I hate it when people expect to be safe and they aren’t. I hate it when a fun, cool event is ruined by violence.
But what I hate most, as a general rule, is stupidity, especially on a massive scale. People blow other people up, shoot people, and do all sorts of nasty, violent things… and for what???
What do they accomplish? What did Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier accomplish when they blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City? Well, we all know that they hated the FBI. Is the FBI gone now? Is it going away anytime soon? Or ever? No.
Assuming the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11/2001 was actually perpetrated by foreign terrorists, what did they accomplish? Nothing. Less than nothing. They got their own people, including countless innocents, killed, maimed, and/or rendered homeless.
Blowing people up isn’t just evil – it’s stupid. It’s not even the equivalent of a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. It’s more like wanting to eat a hamburger, so you set your shoe on fire and throw it in a garbage can. It not only accomplishes nothing, a sane person would predict ahead of time that it will accomplish nothing.
But some idiot, every once in a while, makes a plan thinking that he’ll (I’m pretty sure it’s mostly men who do this) show us all – that he’ll make some statement, or hurt his enemies. Never mind that the people actually hurt have nothing to do with whatever he’s upset about.
I implore all who read these words or hear about them – Think. Think about what will be accomplished by your actions. Think about the costs. Think about people’s lives and families. If there is one, unifying message that runs through all of my posts (for the last couple of years), it is that we should form a society in which we care about each other, and in which we carefully plan for our collective future. If we do this, we will individually benefit, and we will be safe from threats of all kinds… or at least safer than we are now.
-Tom Rossi
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Tom Rossi is a commentator on politics and social issues. He is a Ph.D. student in International Sustainable Development, concentrating in natural resource and economic policy. Tom greatly enjoys a hearty debate, especially over a hearty pint of Guinness.
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Left Coast Voices 
Thanks, Tom. I dont always agree with your POVs, but this one is a no-brainer. I am sick for the the 3 dead, 141 injured, and 10 amputees. Sick that such a cosmopolitan event celebrating our commonality and diminish our diversity is used by someone who can do no better than act out in a manner of three-year-old.
Doubtful as it seems, I hope that your message will (1) reach someone on the verge of giving in to behavior never unlearned when they were an infant and (2) have an effect.
Agreed, Al, but sometimes it just needs to be said. I think there were a lot of sad heads nodding in agreement as they read Tom’s post. Thank you, Tom.
Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com
Thanks for writing in Al. Usually, I groan and roll my eyes when I hear, “If I can just help ONE person, it will be worth it.” But in this case if, as you suggest, I can stop just one bombing or mass shooting, it will definitely have been worth it! But I think it’s really up to the people close to those who are teetering on the edge to recognize it and help put on the brakes. I don’t think anyone who would do such a thing will listen to reason from some guy on a blog, maybe far away. But maybe that person will listen to his own parents or friends. There’s a lot of talk about mental health, lately. But it still sounds like people think there’s a fat line to cross between “crazy” and “not crazy.” That isn’t really true. Heck, I’m 28.65582% crazy myself! But not violently. I hope that people will see when a family member or a friend is starting to slip out of reality and/or starting to talk about violence as a “solution” to political, personal, or social problems. The person who talks someone down from this edge may not ever know that they are a hero that saved several people, but many times the real heroes are anonymous and unseen.
How many three-year olds make bombs and blow people up?
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