What To Make of Boston

Strange days.  More than other recent episodes of violence, the attacks resemble the Dorner attack in Los Angeles.  They are the work of estranged, weird fellows who feel ostracised from society and who are obviously influenced by images from mass media, movies, and video games.  They really do play out like the 3rd act of an action film.  Sure, these brothers were Islamic, but bear none of the signs of radical Salafists or Wahhabists whose ideology fuels Al Queda to Hamas to all the groups in between around the world.  Maybe more will come to light later, but the localized character of the attack, the reports from people who knew them, all points towards some weird misfit men-gone-crazy narrative.

I remember a bunch of years ago there was a bank robbery in Los Angeles with two guys wearing armor shooting it out with cops.  Then were the theater attacks and of course, the Columbine shooting.  What are the nature of these things?  From the 70s to the 90s, the nightmare in our society were serial killers and cults -- Ted Bundy to the Zodiac Killer to Jeffery Dahmer to the Masons, to Branch Davidian, to Jonestown.  The 21st century has brought us the terrorists and spree killers.  I wonder if this is a reflection of society or just what the mass media reports.  Or perhaps the mass media influences what shape violence takes?

I heard an interesting thing on the radio yesterday.  They did studies on young children post-9/11 to see what they understood about the event.  They understood the United States had been attacked by terrorists, but thought 400 buildings around the country had been destroyed.  The reason:  endless circular news about the attacks.  Their young minds were unable to understand it was the same video being show from different angles repeated over and over.