Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread [3]

[Pettytyrant101]

Just watching the daily politics, had Thatchers resignation speech in the Commons, thought it was notable one of the things she listed as a triumphant success was the 'death of socialism'.

[chris63]

[chris63]

[chris63]

[azriel]

Brilliant !

[Mrs Figg]

thats horribly true

[Mrs Figg]

somebody needs to get rid of that idjit with the gun. cant the SAS take it out before it starts the 3WW?

[azriel]

Sometimes taking out the Idjit with a gun is the reason WW3 WOULD spark off, All depends how much the Koreans value & love their "leader" ? For some people getting in the SAS is a relief, for others,youve just made a martyr.

[Pettytyrant101]

I doubt El presidento teletubby there is really in charge of anything anyway.

[David H]

I kind of feel sorry for the little guy. Imagine inheriting a job like that!

There were something like 3 million Koreans killed in the Korean War. The whole North was literally bombed flat, but they still haven't technically ever surrendered. That's how they define themselves.

Their whole national pride, and most of their government, is in their military. The world is watching them now only because of their nuclear weapons, which is what gives them power.

How is a new leader supposed to govern such a people without a little sabre-rattling?

I'm inclined to give him some slack for a few years. If he can consolidate power, he might turn out to be able to make some positive changes down the road.

If on the other hand you cut off this snake's head it will just grow two more and be really pissed off!

[Pettytyrant101]

Yeah I dont think assinating him would make any difference except to make it worse.

[Mrs Figg]

pity I wish I was Nikita sometimes

[Pettytyrant101]

[CC12 35]

[azriel]

I was trying to watch "Question Time" last night, on TV, The dopey minister on there was saying how disgusting of people to cheer & dance in the street cos "Hatcher Thatcher" had died ! Well, people will cheer & dance if someone dies that is loathed enough! Its all we have left sometimes, is to demonstrate & use our voices. She & her kind have taken everything else away from us, soon, very soon, we will NOT have power of free speech, Ive said it before & got told Im being daft, but, I can see a day when you really will be silenced,on pain of punishment ! The bigger these guys become, the less they want you to say, (or know!)

[CC12 35]

just saw the /boston on reddit. this is horrifying

[Pettytyrant101]

Yeah very nasty indeed.
In the week Thatcher died watching the news coverage of this is all rather sadly reminscent of the bad old days of IRA explosions in the UK every week-horrible and cowardly.

[Mrs Figg]

do they know who did it?

[Pettytyrant101]

Nothing so far- 2 devices went off, and there seems to be something about a third in a library too, and two further ones were found but hadnt detonated.

2 dead, lots badly injured.

But so far noone has claimed responsibilty for it, which makes me think its not the action of a major terrorist group as they are usually quick after a 'successful' bombing to claim the credit.

[Mrs Figg]

I heard NY is on maximum alert. I hope Halfy is safe.

[Pettytyrant101]

[halfwise]

I heard NY is on maximum alert. I hope Halfy is safe.

Halfy didn't know anything about it until hours later. And putting NY on alert is like building a twig barricade to stop a flood. Only thing that really riles the city up is power outages, either natural or enforced.

[David H]

Of course the bombing is horrible, but I've been disturbed by the media circus around it. If nothing else it seems to glorify the event and encourage copy cats.

At about the same time as the bombing, our local news reported briefly about a car accident. A BMW was driving too fast on a winding road. The driver decided to pass a car on a blind corner and ran head-on into a family with kids in a VW. I believe the number of people killed was equal or greater than in the bombing.

Why did this tragedy barely get a mention, even locally, while the story of the bombing went around the world in minutes? I'd like people's thought on this.

Is it because one was in a major city and the other was on a rural road?

Is it because there was video and lots of witnesses to interview for shocking details in one but not the other?

Is it because the bomber is still presumably at large?

Is it because the bomber is perceived as evil while the driver is perceived as just an asshole, and evil is a better narrative?

Like I said, I'd really appreciate all your thoughts.....

[Eldorion]

"Unusual" disasters always get more attention than disasters that are perceived as mundane. Car crashes happen every day and so they rarely get a ton of media attention. Terrorist bombings don't happen very often in the U.S. so most people will be more interested in learning more about that, especially because there's the possibility of a large scale response by the federal government. I can completely understand why the media and ordinary people are more shocked and curious about the bombing.

Anyway, my thoughts go out to all victims of the bombing and whatever other senseless events are taking lives.

[Pettytyrant101]

Narrative David.
Your small town tragedy is just that- there begins and ends the stories narrative. In news parlance- its got no legs.

In our world of rolling 24hour news there is one aim- ratings (personally I think it a mistake to treat news like just another entertainment show in this regard but thats another matter) and to get ratings you need stories with narrative.

The bigger the narrarive the better- this bombing has narrative no matter what-if its terorist attack by an internntional group- lots of narrrative and part of a bigger narrative- if its some lone nutter or NRA sympathiser, or Obama hater- again it plays into already created news narratives- it can eat up air time and keep people watching- its a mass murder, an atrocity, a mystery and possibly part of a bigger tale- thats narrative gold for tv news.