A Tale of Two Bombings
I've spent a day thinking how to not make this come off as callous or something. It is absolutely not intended that way. I certainly feel horrible for all the people injured in any bombing. It's just the comparison of the two that I can't help commenting on.
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Yesterday, the day after the Boston Marathon, we had a small bombing here. It was a couple miles from my house. I was taking a nap, so don't know if I'd have heard it or not. Some people in closer houses did, but I don't know about here. Like I said, it was small. No casualties.
At 9 am I got a text message saying there were unconfirmed reports of an attack at the Duralaman/Pol-e-sark intersection. (This is standard. It takes a while to confirm these things amid all the confusion.) Not too long later, we got a message saying it had been a bomb in a garbage can. No casualties. Traffic had returned to normal.
We asked the escort for details of the exact location (which side of the road, stuff like that) on the way to work. On the way home, as we were driving past that spot, we theorized where it had been. I think it came up in conversation once at work outside of that.
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Of course, I am not comparing it to the one in Boston. No casualties doesn't compare to 3 dead/180 injuries (or whatever the exact numbers are.) But the amount of hype around two bombs planted in two garbage cans is something I can't help noticing on.
I remember an old Star Trek (TNG) quote in which Data is talking to someone. I don't remember the words at all, but something really big/bad happens back on earth (or somewhere people care about.) Data comments on the fact that the emotional reaction of the crew is significantly greater than when the same thing happens somewhere else. Riker (or Picard, or Geordi) explain that it's because it happened on Earth. And Data asks, "shouldn't the reaction be the same no matter who is killed?"
Obviously that's a heavy paraphrase from memory of very long ago, but the idea has stuck with me. I can't say I'm any different from anyone else. Of course I paid more attention to the Clackamas Mall gunman in Portland a few months back (Portland being my home city, although I come from outside a small town a ways north.) And of course I totally shrug off attacks that happen somewhere other than Kabul. (Stuff in Kabul gets a bit more attention, depending on magnitude.) It's human nature to care more the closer to home it comes. But I can't help thinking how much better a place the world would be if we cared equally no matter who or where something happened.
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Yesterday, the day after the Boston Marathon, we had a small bombing here. It was a couple miles from my house. I was taking a nap, so don't know if I'd have heard it or not. Some people in closer houses did, but I don't know about here. Like I said, it was small. No casualties.
At 9 am I got a text message saying there were unconfirmed reports of an attack at the Duralaman/Pol-e-sark intersection. (This is standard. It takes a while to confirm these things amid all the confusion.) Not too long later, we got a message saying it had been a bomb in a garbage can. No casualties. Traffic had returned to normal.
We asked the escort for details of the exact location (which side of the road, stuff like that) on the way to work. On the way home, as we were driving past that spot, we theorized where it had been. I think it came up in conversation once at work outside of that.
----
Of course, I am not comparing it to the one in Boston. No casualties doesn't compare to 3 dead/180 injuries (or whatever the exact numbers are.) But the amount of hype around two bombs planted in two garbage cans is something I can't help noticing on.
I remember an old Star Trek (TNG) quote in which Data is talking to someone. I don't remember the words at all, but something really big/bad happens back on earth (or somewhere people care about.) Data comments on the fact that the emotional reaction of the crew is significantly greater than when the same thing happens somewhere else. Riker (or Picard, or Geordi) explain that it's because it happened on Earth. And Data asks, "shouldn't the reaction be the same no matter who is killed?"
Obviously that's a heavy paraphrase from memory of very long ago, but the idea has stuck with me. I can't say I'm any different from anyone else. Of course I paid more attention to the Clackamas Mall gunman in Portland a few months back (Portland being my home city, although I come from outside a small town a ways north.) And of course I totally shrug off attacks that happen somewhere other than Kabul. (Stuff in Kabul gets a bit more attention, depending on magnitude.) It's human nature to care more the closer to home it comes. But I can't help thinking how much better a place the world would be if we cared equally no matter who or where something happened.