# The Boston Marathon Bombing Debate Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 15, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799 "2013-04-15T23:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/1 "2013-04-15T23:21:56Z")
Since a lot of posts I saw in the MPSIMS thread were political, I think it would better if there was a thread here to debate the more controversial aspects of the Boston Marathon bombing. The most obvious controversial question is who was behind the bombings? While Islamists are IMO pretty much the default go-too guys in terrorist attacks and attempts and some reports in the New York _Post_ seem to support that view. However, I admit, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence indicating it is a far right-wing attack: to-day being Tax Day along with Patriot Day, the significance of Boston, the imminence of a gun control bill being taken up in Congress, it being close to the anniversaries of the Waco standoff, the OKC bombing, and the birthday of Adolf Hitler, and past incidencies when right wing extremnists bombed sports events (during the Atlanta Olympics). Either way I’m more inclined to think this is a lone-wolf radicalized (like most recent Islamist plots or Tim McVeigh or anti-abortion terrorists) rather than any attack planned by a group. Either way I’d caution not to jump to conclusions as initital speculation during the Times Square bombing plot in 2010 and the Tucson shootings and Oslo attacks of 2011 were mistaken (in the last instance I was mistaken myself). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/2 "2013-04-15T23:30:58Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The most obvious controversial question is who was behind the bombings? While Islamists are IMO pretty much the default go-too guys in terrorist attacks and attempts and some reports in the New York _Post_ seem to support that view. The deal here seems to be that police are questioning a Saudi national who was near the bombs when they went off. There’s no known evidence that the guy was involved, so it’s not much to go on. I could believe pretty much any motivation at this point because there are very few facts. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/3 "2013-04-15T23:37:15Z")
Whatever my nationality, I’m getting _ **away** _ from where things are exploding. Now, if the person was seen running away from the point of detonation _before_ it happened,well… And yes, radicalized individuals or freelance small groups, whatever the inspiration, are IMO likelier than grand plots just from recent statistics. Also, **Qin** , I suppose we can use this thread as well to discuss such things as how in another forum there was the question asked “What rights and freedoms will get restricted as a result of this” and a poster here on the Dope commented something to the effect of “Take the freedoms away then”. To which I say, yes, 8 year olds should enjoy a sports event without fear of getting killed; however the notion that we should happily accept \*any \*burden it takes to prevent it is not self-evident. That said, though, at the same time reasonable, rational security provisions, having to check your bag when entering crowded events, being on camera when out in the public street, not having your finish line in the middle of a commercial street but at a dedicated sports facility so you can control access, are not quite onerous burdens - mere inconvenience is not opression, _ease_ is not indispensable to freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/4 "2013-04-15T23:40:29Z")
We’re all on camera constantly anyway, at least if we live in a large city. I’ll admit to worrying major cities will start looking more like the UK, which to my understanding has much more of this kind of monitoring. I don’t want to see that. If there are fewer trash cans at events like this, that’d be annoying but understandable. I’m not sure what an increase in checkpoints would look like, although I expect it’d be a big inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/5 "2013-04-15T23:41:24Z")
If this is domestic terrorism, I hope it turns out to be a **Commie** terrorist for once. Just to prove they still have some life in 'em, this long after the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/6 "2013-04-15T23:49:25Z")
I couldn’t guess at the political perspective, but I am going to guess that this is a lone wolf acting. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/7 "2013-04-15T23:49:47Z")
Resolved: _Bombing the Boston Marathon is **wrong** , always and everywhere._ Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/8 "2013-04-15T23:51:28Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I couldn’t guess at the political perspective, but I am going to guess that this is a lone wolf acting. That’d be my assumption to begin with. It doesn’t take a sophisticated operation to drop some backpacks into trash cans or under bleachers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/9 "2013-04-15T23:51:56Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Resolved: _Bombing the Boston Marathon is **wrong** , always and everywhere._ > > Discuss. :dubious: “Everywhere”?! If they try having it in Tampa next year, I swear . . . We’re still getting over the GOP Convention, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/10 "2013-04-15T23:52:31Z")
For the reasons already said, and the apparent crudity of the bomb I think we’re probably looking at a right wing terrorist. Either acting alone, in a small group, or if from a larger group isn’t using their resources in order to provide plausibly deniability for the larger movement (which has been claimed of McVeigh). > [@Marley23](#): > > If there are fewer trash cans at events like this, that’d be annoying but understandable. I’ve seen it pointed out that if it’s necessary, we can just use Kevlar reinforced trash cans, which already exist and are used in places like airports. They’re more expensive, but we could just rotate them between special occasions that make for good targets rather than trying to upgrade the trash cans of the whole nation. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/11 "2013-04-15T23:54:00Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > While Islamists are IMO pretty much the default go-too guys in terrorist attacks Why not just say “Muslims”? It’s way too soon to speculate on who did this. They’ll find out, there will be photos of the guy planting the device and/or prints on a piece of shrapnel and/or records of someone buying the components of the bombs. Let’s let the agencies do what they do and save the finger-pointing to when there are people to point them at. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/12 "2013-04-15T23:54:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’ve seen it pointed out that if it’s necessary, we can just use Kevlar reinforced trash cans, which already exist and are used in places like airports. They’re more expensive, but we could just rotate them between special occasions that make for good targets rather than trying to upgrade the trash cans of the whole nation. Or even organizers could just buy them. That doesn’t sound like a terrible or horribly intrusive idea. Would that do much to contain a bomb like this? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/13 "2013-04-15T23:55:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Resolved: _Bombing the Boston Marathon is **wrong** , always and everywhere._ > > Discuss. Well, it’s kind of silly to bomb the Boston Marathon on the day of the _New York_ Marathon, but yeah. (ETA: Ninja’d by **BrainGlutton**!) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/14 "2013-04-15T23:55:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Resolved: _Bombing the Boston Marathon is **wrong** , always and everywhere._ > > Discuss. Bombing the Boston Marathon anywhere other than Boston is really egregiously wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/15 "2013-04-15T23:58:11Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > However, I admit, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence indicating it is a far right-wing attack: to-day being Tax Day along with Patriot Day, the significance of Boston, the imminence of a gun control bill being taken up in Congress, it being close to the anniversaries of the Waco standoff, the OKC bombing, and the birthday of Adolf Hitler, and past incidencies when right wing extremnists bombed sports events (during the Atlanta Olympics). Either way I’m more inclined to think this is a lone-wolf radicalized (like most recent Islamist plots or Tim McVeigh or anti-abortion terrorists) rather than any attack planned by a group. I think this is a bit of a stretch. In any event, what little right-wing domestic terrorism that has taken place in the United States has almost universally been directed at government, not civilian, targets. The coordinate dual-site nature of the attack seems more sophisticated than “lone wolf” attacks are (which, of course, is “being arrested at the materiel purchasing phase”). For at least the last fifteen years, three leading purveyor of terroristic activity in the West has been Al Qaeda and its affiliates/successors. They should remain the prime suspect here. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/16 "2013-04-15T23:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] For the reasons already said, and the apparent crudity of the bomb I think we’re probably looking at a right wing terrorist, Either acting alone, in a small group, or if from a larger group isn’t using their resources in order to provide plausibly deniability for the larger movement (which has been claimed of McVeigh). [/QUOTE] What do you base your assertion that it’s a ‘right wing terrorist’ on, since, afaik, there is exactly zero evidence at this point one way or another? I agree, it’s probably a loner or maybe a small group, but why a… Oh, never mind. It’s you after all, so of course you would jump to that conclusion based on zero evidence. :smack: [QUOTE=Qin Shi Huangdi] The most obvious controversial question is who was behind the bombings? While Islamists are IMO pretty much the default go-too guys in terrorist attacks and attempts and some reports in the New York Post seem to support that view. However, I admit, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence indicating it is a far right-wing attack: to-day being Tax Day along with Patriot Day, the significance of Boston, the imminence of a gun control bill being taken up in Congress, it being close to the anniversaries of the Waco standoff, the OKC bombing, and the birthday of Adolf Hitler, and past incidencies when right wing extremnists bombed sports events (during the Atlanta Olympics). Either way I’m more inclined to think this is a lone-wolf radicalized (like most recent Islamist plots or Tim McVeigh or anti-abortion terrorists) rather than any attack planned by a group. [/QUOTE] My WAG would be either someone who is a wanna-be Islamic terrorist but who is acting alone, or maybe some kids who have decided that going on a rampage with a bag full of guns is passe and have decided to see what they can do with explosives and crowds. I suppose it could be some right wing nutter, though the irony of attacking Boston on Patriot Day is pretty fucking ironic. Not much meat to debate at this point, it’s all pure speculation and going to say more about the poster and their world view than it will about the subject. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/17 "2013-04-15T23:59:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > For the reasons already said, and the apparent crudity of the bomb I think we’re probably looking at a right wing terrorist. :dubious: Is it really PC, sir, to stereotype RW terrorists as mechanically inept compared to other terrorists? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/18 "2013-04-16T00:07:57Z")
Looking elsewhere on the Internet, I see the “it’s a government false flag operation” conspiracy types are already at work. > [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > In any event, what little right-wing domestic terrorism that has taken place in the United States has almost universally been directed at government, not civilian, targets. That’s doubly not true. There’s been plenty of right wing terrorism, and plenty aimed at civilians. Everything from the anti-abortion terrorists to the activities of the Klan in their more violent days. If anything the main difference is that we refrain from labeling an attack “terrorist” most of the time if a right winger does it. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :dubious: Is it really PC, sir, to stereotype RW terrorists as mechanically inept compared to other terrorists? I meant that a small bunch of amateurs or a lone lunatic isn’t going to be as good at bombings as a large organization that’s been doing it for years. > [@XT](#): > > What do you base your assertion that it’s a ‘right wing terrorist’ on, since, afaik, there is exactly zero evidence at this point one way or another? The date and target city. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/19 "2013-04-16T00:09:37Z")
It looks like it was a more sophisticated attack than first thought. They are saying that ball bearings were used, and that they were trying a fairly sophisticated flush and kill tactic in the timing of the bombs (or, could be that they just wanted to cause a lot of maiming and the timing was luck). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799/20 "2013-04-16T00:09:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Looking elsewhere on the Internet, I see the “it’s a government false flag operation” conspiracy types are already at work. They were on the job right away. That stuff starts immediately these days. But I’d rather not spend any more time thinking about it; I had to unfriend some people on Facebook over Newtown bullshit. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boston-marathon-bombing-debate-thread/655799.md?page=2)