Boston Marathon Bombing: Thread #2

[count2infinity]

oh wow... is the reason people are upset about the USA chant because these people are recent immigrants? I didn't even think about that. I'm willing to bet that if I didn't even think about it until you said it, a large number of the people that were chanting it didn't even think about that, they just went with the chant.

Sadly, the overwhelming majority of the USA rah rah stuff I'm seeing on FB is definitely because the criminals were immigrants. I've seen people saying we need to deport everyone not born in the USA and calling the bombers "Koranimals", etc.

wow, i had no idea that sentiment was out there. I did just go through a FB friend purge and no longer have a bunch of my formerly annoying redneck fans, so that may be why I haven't seen it.

[doublem]

hey you can feel whatever you want

I agree. I was just sharing a feeling and asking if others felt the same way. I didn't mean to sound like I was judging or sanctimonious.

After thinking about this a bit more, I think, despite my pride in my country and gratitude to those who defend it, I'm more satisfied for the sake of humanity, not necessarily happy for America. It's just my disposition and perspective. Doesn't make me special or "correct" (either politically or in the sense of appropriateness).

we are all a human family or something.

[columbia]

I think people are putting too much thought into the whole USA chant thing. When you're at large events like that, it's very easy to get any chant going without really meaning anything. If you really think they were chanting USA, USA, USA thinking 'Merika, f#@! yeah! We're the best! Then I don't know what to tell you. What were they supposed to chant? "CAUGHT THE BOMBER! *clap clap* *clapclapclap*"

Would they have chanted "USA", had the suspects been Irish dudes from Southey?
The fact that they were "new" Americans, made them less so?

oh wow... is the reason people are upset about the USA chant because these people are recent immigrants? I didn't even think about that. I'm willing to bet that if I didn't even think about it until you said it, a large number of the people that were chanting it didn't even think about that, they just went with the chant.

I wouldn't say that I'm upset; just a little confused/perplexed.
But yeah...I can't think of any other reason why they would be chanting that.

[skullman80]

It was a heat of the moment thing I'm sure. People were happy, to be out on the streets after being holed up in their houses for 24 hours, and worrying about a terrorist running through their city for 4 days. They were just happy. People look into things too much. Really who cares what they were chanting?

I'd cut them some slack on the chants.

[Lt. Dish]

hey you can feel whatever you want

I agree. I was just sharing a feeling and asking if others felt the same way. I didn't mean to sound like I was judging or sanctimonious.

After thinking about this a bit more, I think, despite my pride in my country and gratitude to those who defend it, I'm more satisfied for the sake of humanity, not necessarily happy for America. It's just my disposition and perspective. Doesn't make me special or "correct" (either politically or in the sense of appropriateness).

we are all a human family or something.

That's right, doublem. Or something.

[ulf]

I never realized a USA chant had so much meaning behind it :lol:

[columbia]

Setting up "the other" as an antagonist is hardly new, of course.

Spoiler:

[doublem]

you guys are right. it's far more important that a U.S. senator think we shouldn't read a criminal(mind you a U.S. citizen) his rights.

[Guinness]

Believe it or not, it is actually fairly common for people attempting suicide by putting the gun barrel in their mouth to not actually do any life-threatening damage. I don't remember the statistic, but I read about 20 years ago that this method of suicide had something like a 25% failure rate.

The gun is twisted in your hand, the trigger pull is going to pull the gun even more sideways, there's a possibility that the gun might be pointed somewhat downward........ hate referring to a movie here, but you end up with a blown out sinus and a hole below your ear looking a lot more like Edward Norton at the end of "Fight Club" than you do like Budd Dwyer. (Altho RBD had the gun in his mouth.)

Yeah, I just mean more from a, "holy **** there is a hole in my neck, I think I'll just hop down off this boat now" kind of perspective. For some reason I'd expect they'd have to hoist him out of there on a stretcher.

Also, thanks for bringing up Budd Dwyer. That will be replaying in my head for the rest of the evening, now. Off to replace it with some Bill Burr on Netflix.

[ExPatriatePen]

Setting up "the other" as an antagonist is hardly new, of course.

Spoiler:

Dude, stop it... just stop it... ain't nothing wrong with lett'n your "freak flag fly".

[MRandall25]

you guys are right. it's far more important that a U.S. senator think we shouldn't read a criminal(mind you a U.S. citizen) his rights.

Considering the amount of explosives he and his brother had when they were caught, it's probably best to find out if there are any more we need to be worried about.

At least, I would hope so.

[columbia]

"Move Them Hippies North" is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Well, maybe not so much, because one can probably guess their opinions on other issues of the time.

[ExPatriatePen]

"Move Them Hippies North" is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Well, maybe not so much, because one can probably guess their opinions on other issues of the time.

Can you imagine these guys living in the south during that time?

[shafnutz05]

I don't really get the chants but they don't bother me. And I don't think most people were chanting it because the bombers were immigrants either. It's a spontaneous, unifying thing that increased in regularity after 9/11.

I think people are reading way too much into this.

[Rylan]

I don't really get the chants but they don't bother me. And I don't think most people were chanting it because the bombers were immigrants either. It's a spontaneous, unifying thing that increased in regularity after 9/11.

I think people are reading way too much into this.

Yea, I see the chants as a symbol of solidarity for the nation. Not victory over anything, just an easy chant to show that the nation is behind Boston.

Now, let's focus on helping out Texas.

[King Sid the Great 87]

I don't really get the chants but they don't bother me. And I don't think most people were chanting it because the bombers were immigrants either. It's a spontaneous, unifying thing that increased in regularity after 9/11.

I think people are reading way too much into this.

Yea, I see the chants as a symbol of solidarity for the nation. Not victory over anything, just an easy chant to show that the nation is behind Boston.

Now, let's focus on helping out Texas.

The fleeting feeling of faux patriotism and unity in the United States is only aroused by acts of terror.

[shafnutz05]

^^I would also add natural disasters to that, or really any tragedy when large numbers of people are affected. Like I said before, I know Americans can be quite ignorant of things that happen outside of our own borders, but we're a pretty generous country on the whole.

[Puffymuffin]

^^I would also add natural disasters to that, or really any tragedy when large numbers of people are affected. Like I said before, I know Americans can be quite ignorant of things that happen outside of our own borders, but we're a pretty generous country on the whole.

From the few times that I have been there that's not a view I share but I guess you can say that for most countries in the 'Western world'. It might also depend on where you go I guess, but people are generally ******* especially towards people who happen to be less well off than they are. I don't think I have seen it as bad over here compared to what I experienced in the US, which sort of surprised me, seeing how "rude" Dutch people can be.

[ExPatriatePen]

^^I would also add natural disasters to that, or really any tragedy when large numbers of people are affected. Like I said before, I know Americans can be quite ignorant of things that happen outside of our own borders, but we're a pretty generous country on the whole.

I think that's changing (The being unaware part). Africa is still a black hole, but we were aware of the recent 7.1 earthquake on the Afgan/Iran border, the Tsanumi's, the recent Flu outbreak in China, the Chilean mining disaster a few years ago.

Sure we still aren't as aware of world events as say, Euro's are, but we're much much better than we were 20 years ago.

[shafnutz05]

^^I would also add natural disasters to that, or really any tragedy when large numbers of people are affected. Like I said before, I know Americans can be quite ignorant of things that happen outside of our own borders, but we're a pretty generous country on the whole.

From the few times that I have been there that's not a view I share but I guess you can say that for most countries in the 'Western world'. It might also depend on where you go I guess, but people are generally ******* especially towards people who happen to be less well off than they are. I don't think I have seen it as bad over here compared to what I experienced in the US, which sort of surprised me, seeing how "rude" Dutch people can be.

Sure, I mean, you will still have the upper-crust snobbery as common here as anywhere else. I know this statistic isn't everything, but (from late 2011)....

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/20/144035063/survey-u-s-takes-top-spot-as-most-charitable-nation

Despite the gloomy economic situation, the United States has become the world's most generous nation, according to this year's Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index.

Ireland is ranked second followed by Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. Charities Aid Foundation used Gallup's Worldview Poll to look at three behaviors: "giving money, volunteering time and helping a stranger."

The U.S. came out on top after being ranked fifth last year.

"Overall the World Giving Index demonstrates that the world has become a more charitable place over the last 12 months — with a 2 percent increase in the global population 'helping a stranger' and a 1% increase in people volunteering," CAF said in its press release

Puffy, your own Netherlands lead the field in Europe at 6th. There are a lot of people (including many Americans) that love to loathe American citizens and constantly decry about how awful of a people we are, but the people of the United States are pretty damned generous to people in need.

Again, this is not me saying that we are without our faults as a nation (plenty of faults), but there is absolutely no denying the generosity of the vast majority of our citizenry, even the poor.

[count2infinity]

^^I would also add natural disasters to that, or really any tragedy when large numbers of people are affected. Like I said before, I know Americans can be quite ignorant of things that happen outside of our own borders, but we're a pretty generous country on the whole.

From the few times that I have been there that's not a view I share but I guess you can say that for most countries in the 'Western world'. It might also depend on where you go I guess, but people are generally ******* especially towards people who happen to be less well off than they are. I don't think I have seen it as bad over here compared to what I experienced in the US, which sort of surprised me, seeing how "rude" Dutch people can be.

I think you misunderstood what he was saying. He was discussing how generous our country tends to be in the event of something like this or natural disasters. As soon as the Boston bombings took place there were immediate fundraisers and money collections across the nation to send money to the victims, city, police, etc. I'd say overall, when a large disaster like this happens, America tend to take care of its own.

Spoiler:

I realize that there are events such as Katrina where FEMA didn't help as much as they should, but many other groups stepped up and helped as much as possible.

[Gaucho]

If I wanted to make a (extremely) general statement about the overall friendliness and politeness of the people in countries I visited, the USA would be right at the top with Turkey, while Spain and France would linger near the bottom, where the Germans earned a permanent spot.

I've never been to Texas, though, where some good friends of mine were berated as "gay New York jews". Probably because of their horn-rimmed glasses.

That said, I always take it one person at a time and don't ask for their passports first when I meet them.

[shafnutz05]

When I went to Ireland, I was definitely blown away by how friendly and jovial just about everyone was towards my wife and I. Italy was pretty hit or miss, unless you count the thieving gypsies as helpful

[Gaucho]

ho hum

[newarenanow]

USA USA USA!