Perspective

[lillibet]

NPR reports that "Social media played a large role in the investigation and reporting of the Boston Marathon bombing case. It also provided many hateful, racist comments online."

And I have to say that I am pleased that my bubble did not happen to include any of these comments. I saw a lot of people posting for tolerance and understanding, which was pretty cool. There was discussion of race and ethnicity, but it was generally thoughtful and respectful.

What I'm hearing from my friends and family who were in the areas affected by the bombing, the shooting, the lockdown is praise for the professionalism, effectiveness, and occasional kindness of the police involved in resolving this situation. Praise for them managing to bring the 2nd suspect into custody alive. Pleas to the President not to disrespect our state's refusal of the death penalty by seeking it in this case and concern for the rights of the suspect. A feeling of community, of support for those killed and wounded, an openness to each other, a desire to learn from this experience.

What I am seeing only from people who do not live within this zone are accusations of police overstepping their authority, conspiracy theories, gun advocacy, desires for revenge, finger pointing and blame. Is this their way of making it somehow about them?

I don't know. I'm not there.

Comments

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

The article fails to mention that one of the sites searching for terrorists was 4CHAN, the home of many Internet trolls. So unfortunately, I'm not surprised about their being hateful comments accompanying their search. (XKCD on 4CHAN: http://xkcd.com/591/ )

Reddit also isn't a paragon of responsibility.