Last week hasn't been kind to the human race.
First, Cort McMeel passed away. I didn't know him well. Exchanged a few emails, one or two Facebook messages, that's it. What I know about Cort is that he was fighting the good fight. He fought for good books to see the light of day. I've learned about his passing during a dinner with friends, while browsing my smartphone for updates to the Knicks' game. It hit me like a screwdriver stab. You shared trenches with a man and it's like you shared so much more. What drives me crazy is that I don't even know what happened to him. So long, Cort. We'll miss you.
Also, Boston marathon was hit by terrorist bombings last week. You're probably aware of this, unless you've been living with a Sudanese tribe for the past month. Of all the places where a terrorist attempt could have happened, I can't think of a more terrible place than Boston. It's an awesome city. They have great writers, great sports teams *and its people are tough and proud. It's a place I would live in and probably be happy, because they are close to my values **.
Terrorism always leaves us with the same, haunting question: who's to blame? Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are the obvious answer. Conspiracy theorists tend to believe their father when he says his two sons have been scapegoated by an obscure government scheme. Of course, why wouldn't they believe him? Conspiracy theorists (especially the American ones) seems to exist solely to prove people that every government since the industrial revolution has lived for the sole purpose to control and kill their own people.
Could it be so far fetched to think there is no obvious answer to this? Chechnya has been at war with Russia for as long as I can remember and it hasn't been a noble conflict. Vladimir Putin *** probably is the only person in the world enjoying it. But if you don't actively watch international news, there is a chance (not a big one, but still a chance) that you think Chechnya is a brand of Slovakian lawn mowers. We've been living in a state of delicious apathy, fed by institutionalized entertainment since World War II has ended. This video has been seen by 73 million people and this video, posted five years ago about the Chechen war hasn't passed one million yet. I rest my case.
I don't condone what happened. I'm not saying the way we live is wrong. Tamerlan Tsarnaev is dead and his brother Dzhokar will get a lethal injection or end his days in ADX Florence and it's a good thing. You will never convince me your cause is fair by killing innocent people. But could it be why it happened? Could it be that two alienated Chechen kids with too much access to the internet have grown frustrated and fed up with Occidental opulence while people died in their country? When terrorists strike in Iraq, Somalia or anywhere else in the world, political unrest is obviously the reason. Why couldn't it be here? Why does it have to be the government trying to kill you? Why would Barack Obama have anything to do with this?
Of course not, because it would imply that your lack of interest in Chechnya is 0,000000001% responsible for the bombings. The Boston bombings conspiracy theories have been so far off, it's difficult to take them seriously. The backbone of the argument is that these guys did it. I don't know about you, but if I'd bomb a place, I would've dress up like a comic book villain henchmen to do it. The lack of context of this photo even suggest this could have been taken before the bombings or maybe not even on the same place or day. Neil deGrasse Tyson has taught me to question everything I see, but this is a two way street. If I can question the government, why wouldn't I question baseless accusations founded on a photo of unknown origin?
I am ready to believe 9/11 might have been an inside job. The economical context was there and back then, the nation was lead by a bunch of suspiciously belligerent old men like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, who never felt like they owed anybody an explanation for their actions. But there is no reason whatsoever to blame the government for Boston. There is nothing to gain from invading Chechnya or to keep people fearing Muslim people. Barack Obama went out of his way to make a public speech in Egypt to try and mend fences with the Arabic world. But that would mean we all are just a tiny bit responsible for this.
Occam's Razor, guys. The simplest hypothesis is most likely true. The Tsarnaev brothers did it and nobody could've known beforehand.
* Which, unlike us, they don't foster an abusive relationship with.
** Like most big cities on the East Coast, really, but Boston seems specially tailor-made for the rugged intellectual type.
*** Arguably the World's Dangerous Man, suck it Ken Shamrock.