my response to the tragedy at the 2013 Boston Marathon

just after the bombing of the Boston Marathon we announced, footage was shown were only one person seemed to fall down, there was barely a stumble... and i didn't think anyone was hurt.  subsequently i made a sarcastic post online which (as details developed) angered a few.  well, the actor in me is at least happy that i caused an emotional response, my coaches should be happy with that.  however, in the light of the resulting information about the bombing i posted this response:


for what it's worth, my comments were an attempt at satire... my words an example of the over-reaching state of panic expressed in the face of today's problems from the other side of the coin.  my problem with all this isn't anyone's view on any one topic as much as it is with the panic and the results of any person or person's deciding they have the right to impede the freedom of another.

the facts of this issue are simple, they are in between the details: more crimes are committed with handguns and shotguns than assault weapons... just like more crops are grown with fertilizer than homemade bombs made with the same chemicals, and more models & crafts are made with exacto knives than college kids cut up in texas... but in our world of panic and confusion, those could come next.  the issue isn't fertilizer or guns or craft knives, it's arrogance.

people get emotional and point out the nasty looking things or pick out a scape goat because of a tragedy, and tell others what they do and don't need, because they are on the side of safety!  then some emotional and angry version of the conflicting opinion comes in to scream back.  then we are all worked up into emotions, and the politicians take advantage of the chance to distract us from pollution, or the economy, or GMO's... and in the end, we lose more freedom and sometimes more.

because the actions of the few should be allowed the limit the actions of the law-abiding many?  because after 200 years, the hundreds of millions who lived here happily around fertilizer and guns and knives somehow survived in the face of the few criminals and crazies?  because the actions of those crazies are worth the time and effort we could be putting into feeding and educating people and developing ways to help those who need it so that in the future they aren't driven by poverty or mental distress to hurt others?

and really, we can't get to them all.  there will always be poverty and crime and the few crazies that slip through the fingers of society.  limiting the freedoms of others because of our fears will never stop that.

no... my issue isn't gun control, it's the panic and arrogance that surrounds it.  no one wanted to ban planes after 9/11, because it would be illogical to do so.  it was proven that 19 hijackers could use 3 planes to kill 3000 people, but we all know it's illogical to ban planes.  and we all know it's illogical to ban fertilizer, even though the original attack on the World Trade Center was with truckloads of explosives made with fertilizers.  but that's our thing now, right?  find something to ban... stop people from being fat by banning large sodas, and stop cancer by banning smoking, right?  no... fatties will still find soda, and smokers will still smoke, just like junkies somehow by some miracle of modern society manage to find heroin even though it's been banned for decades.

i am saddened more than most of you will care to notice over the events at this year's Boston marathon, because of the loss of futures and opportunities and the chance for those people to enjoy their lives.  and i am reminded of our youth when we could meet our visiting travelers at the gate, when someone could drink a huge soda if they wanted, when women didn't have to worry about having something slipped into their drinks at a bar, when privacy wasn't a concern... because we all didn't have that much to hide.

the solution is not bans or laws or grand posturing by everyone from politicians to the people of facebook... the solution is... well, it's whatever keeps those of us in this discussion from shooting up a bus station while doing heroin and drinking a case of soda.  i don't know what to call it, but it's not a law.

maybe i'm the fool for not recognizing all the 'progress' we are making with our modern paranoias.  but don't be fooled, laws don't help, you can't 'govern' morality.  laws don't make the world a better place any more than a rifle brought bin laden to justice.  good people make the world a better place, just like good people finished bin laden.

and good people (not rhetoric, or politics, or laws that limit the people willing to follow them) will make the world a better place in the future.