I'm not a hard-news site, even if I'm bright and have opinions on many topics. But just waking up (in L.A., amid autoposts of other topics on my blog today through Sunday) to the Boston news, I felt I had to chime in and just say how horrifying it is for Boston and this country and the civilized world that a pair of young men who, by most accounts, seem to have been good, regular kids for a long time, could radicalize and decide it would be a good idea to kill people at a marathon.
The interview with their uncle is powerful. "Losers" who "don't deserve to live on this earth." His message of sorrow to the victims is memorable.
I hope the second brother is captured or killed very soon and that we can begin to figure out how the hell they changed, and together.
I will say, though, that I wish there were some way to put the genie back in the bottle regarding how news events are researched and reported and commented on within the social media. There is a beauty to free expression and participation, but there is also a devastating shrapnel of misinformation, compelling-sounding lies and false leads, and seemingly spontaneously generated mythologies that arise so quickly.
I just want to know the facts, I don't want to read about (phony) Twitter accounts and other nonsense,and risk becoming an unwitting messenger of bullshit. I want a glimpse into their minds so we can try, somehow, to figure out a sensible way to keep people like this from developing their twisted plans.
