Explosions at Boston Marathon

[Flarecobra]

And here, they mention their... motovation.

Is there really such a thing as "Self-radicalization?"

[RobinStarwing]

Originally Posted by Flarecobra

And here, they mention their... motovation.

Is there really such a thing as "Self-radicalization?"

Unfortunately...yes. It's the reasoning behind some Lone Wolfs.

[Japan]

This is a pretty classical case of cause appropriation. Generally speaking "terrorists" are young men with a sense of frustration that attaches itself to an ideological narrative. Many times they are not actually of the oppressed, but can find some tangential connection between themselves and the oppressed to justify action which inexorably proceeds from nebulous to deadly specific.

These young men lived the relatively privileged life of United States residents. They had a tenuous cultural connection to those actually oppressed in Chechnya and so formulated a narrative consistent with their increasingly radical worldview. Sadly it all amounts to nothing more than public masturbation that just so happens to kill people.

Some people never attain wisdom, whether by choice or circumstance. These young men will have died young of their ignorance. The people who fund individuals like this, who provide that radically violent narrative, simply decided to eschew personal evolution for this grotesque infantilism. Ironically those who cry for blood in response, who so easily transpose vengeance over justice, suffer a similar affliction.

I am confronted with a realization, that perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the world has never wanted for brave men.

[Sifright]

Originally Posted by Japan

This is a pretty classical case of cause appropriation. Generally speaking "terrorists" are young men with a sense of frustration that attaches itself to an ideological narrative. Many times they are not actually of the oppressed, but can find some tangential connection between themselves and the oppressed to justify action which inexorably proceeds from nebulous to deadly specific.

These young men lived the relatively privileged life of United States residents. They had a tenuous cultural connection to those actually oppressed in Chechnya and so formulated a narrative consistent with their increasingly radical worldview. Sadly it all amounts to nothing more than public masturbation that just so happens to kill people.

Some people never attain wisdom, whether by choice or circumstance. These young men will have died young of their ignorance. The people who fund individuals like this, who provide that radically violent narrative, simply decided to eschew personal evolution for this grotesque infantilism. Ironically those who cry for blood in response, who so easily transpose vengeance over justice, suffer a similar affliction.

I am confronted with a realization, that perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the world has never wanted for brave men.

Well now if we are waxing lyrical about this allow me to rebut.

All these shootings and bombings look the same to me. There's always a lonely, depressed young guy who thinks his life is shit. It might or might not be shit, but he thinks it is. He knows he won't get anywhere, won't do anything of note, that his life will soon be over and nothing will have changed.

He begins to wonder the point of everything. He has a job, he has people around him. Still he feels alone, like no one understands. Everyone seems to have goals and dreams, yet to him those dreams seem common, pedestrian, unremarkable. He envies those who so easily walk through life with none of these thoughts. And with time he comes to resent them. Even as he walks and talks and works among them, he begins hating every single one of them. Because they don't understand.

Now quickly it gets worse. His mind turns to dark thoughts. He walks the small, sharp corners of the life he has and sees the people he hates. Inside, he wonders what it might take to truly and forever escape this prison, to so completely change things. Outside, people walk past him, smiling, and though he spirals out of control, no one notices. He smiles back.

And then one day the thought strikes him. A show. An audience. No message, no reason. Just for the sake of breaking out. But he doesn't rush. He has time because no one sees him. So he thinks and plans and prepares. All the information is freely available on the web. All the materials are easily obtained. The stage is set and the props are in place. The audience is out there, always, just waiting for a good show. He's finally the protagonist.

Boom.

After the dust settles, the people who thought they knew him wander around saying things like, "I never would've expected it" and "He seemed so nice!" or "He was a quiet boy, came into my store every day". And finally: "Such a tragedy. I wished he'd spoken up. Everything could've been avoided."

Though they still don't understand, it doesn't matter anymore. Because he thinks he changed something, he left a mark. Now there's bullet holes in the cinema seats, and ashes and blood on the sidewalk, and rubble and broken glass in the park. For good or bad, everyone is talking about his show.

And somewhere out there, walking alone in the crowd, is another young man watching. He is fascinated. He wants to know why the kid did it. Because the kid's face is everywhere now, the news is flooded with people talking about him. And so the young man -- unseen, unheard -- wonders why, wonders how. He's not sure why the kid did it, but he's intrigued and eager to hear the answer.

And then one day the thought strikes him.

A show. An audience.

[Kim]

So, Reddit decided that they were fucking PROBLEM SLUETHS and sought out the True Bomber before the FBI announced any suspects.

The person they decided had done it has now been found dead.

EDIT: That article is shitty because it implies Reddit are responsible for the person being dead. I bought into it myself because I didn't have more information when I first saw it. It is worth acknowledging that Reddit have contributed to a family in morning having even more to be upset about, and that's still really shitty.

[Japan]

Sifright, what you are describing is quite literally the experience of every male between the ages of 14 and 20. Maybe that's a bit of hyperbole, but I'm sure you'd find a substantial majority of young men experience frustration and alienation to a larger extent than people in different age groups. Its called growing up.

Frustrated, angry, even violent young men do not all become terrorists however. That requires a special process and a particular subcultural influence. What you described is the soil into which the seed of extremism is planted, and it is a plentiful substance.

[Red Mage Black]

Originally Posted by Kim

So, Reddit decided that they were fucking PROBLEM SLUETHS and sought out the True Bomber before the FBI announced any suspects.

The person they decided had done it has now been found dead.

EDIT: That article is shitty because it implies Reddit are responsible for the person being dead. I bought into it myself because I didn't have more information when I first saw it. It is worth acknowledging that Reddit have contributed to a family in morning having even more to be upset about, and that's still really shitty.

That is... I don't even know how to put it into words. Someone decided to enact social justice on an individual they believed to be responsible for Boston. A guy who... I think we pretty much confirmed... didn't do it. I can't tell if this person might have been influenced by stuff they saw on Reddit or maybe elsewhere on the net.

It's just getting scarier and scarier to see what the internet influences nowadays.

[Kim]

The person found dead was missing for a while before Reddit blamed them, so the death /probably/ doesn't have to do with the Boston bombing.

---------- Post added at 06:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:03 PM ----------

The surviving attacker for the Boston bombing was questioned for sixteen hours before being read his Miranda Rights.

[Ryanderman]

Originally Posted by Kim

The surviving attacker for the Boston bombing was questioned for sixteen hours before being read his Miranda Rights.

Which I don't even understand. Everything he said in those 16 hours is now inadmissible in court. What exactly did they think they were gaining by not reading him his rights?

[Amake]

It's the next best thing if they can't ship him to Gitmo. If they can get him to spit out any terrorist connections off the record in that time, they (or more likely Homeland Security) can investigate those without leaving a trail. Which is probably important by some War on Terror kind of logic. It might interfere with the actual police investigation of this criminal but that's obviously a small price to pay for a chance to perpetuate the War on Terror.