Notable moments in Boston’s history.
Founded in 1630 by Puritan colonists
March 05 1770 – Boston Massacre
November 23 1773 – Boston Tea Party
April 19 1775 – Battles of Lexington and Concord – Initiating The American Revolution
1850 Passage of the Boston Fugitive Slave Law
1865 Opening of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Great Fire of Boston 1873 – 65 acres of the town destroyed
Wiki claims
There would not be another significant massacre of a newsworthy magnitude for another 243 years.
I will not understate the horror for those who faced the act of terrorism at this years Boston Marathon. I completely understand this to be an obvious example of cowardice and terrorism.
But, this action in no way compares to the “Boston Massacre” of 1770. My statement has nothing to do with the number of casualties.
1770 – five killed, six wounded
2013 – three dead, 180 wounded (reports fluctuate from 175-185)
As the numbers indicate, the total number of casualties in 2013 is many orders of magnitude higher. The real difference is in the events that will follow.
In 1770, the Colonialists were significantly under the heel of the British Empire and chafed against it. This underlying friction led to petty insults between a single soldier and a hot head turning into a near riot. This agitated crowd goaded several of the responding soldiers to shoot into the gathering crowd. A total of eleven shots were fired. Three men died immediately, eight others were injured with two of these dying over the next few days.
The British, under threat of mob violence were forced to move their garrison out of Boston. This left the Governor without an effective means to police Boston. The Colonial propagandists printed pamphlets and distributed them in all of the colonies as well as in London. These fliers told the story of the event, but in a highly inflammatory manner and were used to fan the flames of rebellion. This event was the spark that grew into “the shot heard round the world” on April 19, 1775.
In 2013, an athletic event that attracts roughly 20,000 participants, 500,000 spectators and helps to raise in excess of $10 million for up to a dozen charities was attacked by a single person or group whose assumed desire was to infect the American cultural activities with fear.
Within 20 minutes of this act of terrorism, two different worlds had acted.
The world of the honest everyday Americans responded by doing. People who were still competing in the marathon ran , not away, not towards safety, but towards being helpful. Some of the runners were doctors, paramedics and nurses. They ran towards the wounded despite the possibility of secondary explosives. Many of those without medical training ran towards the wounded to assist in the mundane necessities so the trained could be most effective. Some set up ad hoc blood donation stations to insure immediate availability of blood. Others stood in line to donate their blood.
In the same moments, the world of vitriol began assigning blame and rumor mongering blame. A supposed expert on CNN began rumination of what the make up of the explosives would tell us about the perpetrators.
Paraphrase – if the bombs are found to be made from a peroxide base, that will likely indicate “al qaeda”
If the bombs are found to be made from gun powder, black powder or other more refined explosives; that will provide a link to right wing domestic terrorists – like the Tea Party
Chris Matthews –
“Well, Michael, Tax Day today. That came up. You know, I was thinking of all the iconic events, or told about them today. I knew it was tax day because I got them in,” Matthews said, as he was questioning an analyst on his show.–
“Would you, as an expert, be thinking domestic at this point?” Matthews continued, “I don’t think Tax Day means a lot to the Arab world or Islamic world or Al-Qaeda in terms of their world. It doesn’t have iconic significance.”
Pointing at anyone in particular there Matthews?
When we are already convicting (trial by media slander) Americans who have not even been charged with this cowardly act of terrorism; it seems to me, we (Chris Matthews, call your office) are conceding defeat. Perhaps worse, actively aiding and abetting those who gleefully dance in the blood of our maimed.
let it burn.blog 