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The Boston bombings, though the numbers of deaths and injuries were gratefully small compared to other acts of violence, is still a catastrophe that resonated with the country.  The idea that someone would attack a target that has little to do with anything political, that they would kill innocents in an apparently random act, is not only upsetting, it’s confusing.  But this is not the first time that the United States has had to deal with an act of terrorism, nor will it likely be the last.  The question is, will we react with the same ignorance that gripped us in the aftermath of 9/11?

As the first reports rolled through the media, I began to get disgusted.  It was not with the acts of the bombers that I was upset, however (I was already well enough upset over that), it was the way the media was reporting the incident. Supposedly reliable sources such as Fox, CBS and CNN were putting whatever they could out to gather people to their media outlet.  In addition to a huge mess in which CNN (followed by copycats leeching their news “scoops”) reported all sorts of false information, there was also a tendency for these outlets to report the suspected bombers as “Middle Eastern.” Strangely enough, it was only the big outlets that reported this “fact.” The smaller media services seemed to universally omit it.

These reports led to the obvious question of whether we, as a country, should now start throwing words of blame at every Middle Eastern country that even remotely seems like it could be involved.  Now that the bombers have been identified as Chechens from Kyrgyzstan, the Middle Eastern connection has left, though it has been replaced by the Islam connection.  Are we supposed to start hating Muslims again?  Please, someone tell me so I know who to hate!

Those that think back may remember the horror story that our country became during the aftermath of 9/11.  Anyone that looked even vaguely Middle Eastern became a potential target for outraged Americans who felt it their duty to hunt down the menace of Islam.  Mindless zealotry took over common sense and reason, two mental faculties that seem to be in short supply in the world regardless of what’s happening. 

People were threatened, attacked, beaten and killed.  Places of worship were violated, vandalized and burned.  This trend of violence against those coming from the Middle East (and Muslims in general) continues even to this very day.  The ignorant, though they don’t seem to care much for stocking up on knowledge, certainly do seem to have some very long memories.  The irony of this is that many countries around the world that are traditionally against the United States, such as North Korea, came forward to publicly condemn the 9/11 attacks.  Meanwhile, in the United States, Americans set their sights on killing other Americans.

We won’t likely see a direct repeat of the events of post-9/11 here, being as how the attack was much smaller.  Besides, it’s a little harder to tell is someone is Chechen, even for the ignorant who classify all people who look similar as the same. The bombers were, however, self-identified Muslims. This could lead to another rise in anti-Muslim violence and begin a new shameful chapter in our country’s history.

What’s even worse is that our government, the ones who should be keeping a cool head and making the right decisions, is doing no better in handling the situation.  There are calls from many officials to deny the surviving bomber his Miranda rights.  Some of those in the military are calling for this matter, and all matters of terrorism, to be relegated to military justice.  Goodbye citizen’s rights once again.  To me, this sounds way too much like the huge denial of rights with the Guantanamo incident.  Every time something like this happens, it just gets easier and easier to disappear someone when you don’t want what they have to say to be heard.  If we are confident of being in the right, why hide away the evidence?

I’m skeptical, but still hopeful that people will be able to keep their heads in this one.  There is no need to run out and assault the nearest person that reminds you of the bombers.  We are an educated country, after all, and this is a good opportunity to prove it. Remember, if we run about in the streets like violent monkeys barely out of the tree, we only give power to those in the government to start passing even more security laws that are aimed at policing our own citizens. If we yell loudly, then the voices of those trying to stay reasonable are drowned out and the whole point of having a constitution to protect us is moot.  It’s up to us to protect both our fellow Americans and our country, even if the people we’re protecting them against happen to be us.

Boston Aftermath photo courtesy of Aaron Tang via Wikicommons

9/11 Attack photo author unknown (via Wikicommons)