Boston Bombings

I was at my paper craft class in Tokyo last night and the topic of the Boston Marathon bombings came up. Of course, the discussion centered around how horrible the events were: a little boy was killed among the three deceased and so many others were wounded. I said that I too was saddened by the tragedy, but did they know that the United States kills innocent people, men, women and children by the hundreds in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia and no one seems to care. I told them that you reap what you sow.

Whenever a terrorist event happens in the United States you can always count on: the president consoling the nation, demanding justice for the crime, the media immediately blaming muslims for the act before any evidence is found, a total lack of attention on WHY it happened, only WHAT happened, a rally by the citizenry around the flag, much wailing about why "they" hate us and Congress taking advantage of the situation to institute more draconian laws and restrict our freedom. This time, unusually, there were a number of people out there who actually seemed aware of the possible whys to this incident.

It is understandable that people here in Japan do not understand what happened in Boston. The media here is as focused on the what as is the American media. And for similar reasons. The national broadcasting company is beholden to the government which is not interested in offending the United States, especially now that its nuclear umbrella is giving cover to Japan from the nuclear clamoring of North Korea. Additionally, although the private media is very good at covering the lives of the rich and famous, it is not so good at covering real news other than the weather or crime. Getting informed about what is happening in the world depends on personal responsibility in looking for credible sources that are not in the pockets of corporations.

Their reaction to the event and its cause was very telling of the lack of background most people bring to the issue of terrorism. Sympathy for the victims and ignorance of the cause. While I am appreciative of the sympathy, it would be nice to see more understanding of the reasons behind this tragedy. Not only the tragedy in Boston, but the tragedy in Chechnya where the perpetrators came from and the muslim world in general.