Be Americans

The attacks at the Boston Marathon are horrible. Mind numbing. Three people died and more than 170 injured? For what? America has got to wake up and realize what this nation has become. We are a people under siege from within and without.

We’re not going to offer our usual spiel about how the media once again blew the story of a disaster, offering rumors for news, inaccurate reports for information, and lies as truth. Just look for the first-day reports of extra bombs, draconian measures used by police against the crowds, numbers of dead (did it ever get above 13?). Calling for change in the poop-scoop media makes us like a lapdog that yaps at the sound of a car door closing.

But officials, including our president, have simply got to stop talking around the truth in situations like this. Two bombs go off in a crowd. In his first statement to the American public, President Obama said, “We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this. We’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

We understand the need for coolness under ignorance of the full facts. But anyone can look at the simple evidence of their own eyes and see an act of terrorism. So in the context of the millions and maybe billions of comments on the world wide web, such reticence looks deceitful—the sort of thing that political parties eventually politicize to drive Americans apart, like in the case of the deaths in Benghazi.

And the FBI searches an apartment in Revere, Mass., a suburb of Boston, but claims to have no suspects? So the Bureau can search anywhere for no reason? Come on, America is supposed to be a transparent government, especially in times of tragedy. Just tell us what you know or what you think you know and tell us you’re not sure.

CNN has reported that apartment is occupied by three Saudi men on student visas. CNN also reported that one of the men may have even been injured in the blast.

Not making a definitive statement has just as deleterious an effect on us citizens as a misleading statement, like after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. And how does our government think this reflects on our citizens and visitors of Middle Eastern descent? And how can it expect to protect them from real and virtual assaults when it can’t protect the thousands and thousands of attendees at the Boston Marathon or any of the huge events across this nation?

It didn’t take an hour to see the trolls on the internet start making assertions as to who committed this act of terrorism. The truthers began even before the racists, saying it was a setup to push through gun-violence legislation. The opposite view, that these bombs were set by people who are against gun-violence legislation (to show the need to keep Americans armed), appeared at the same time.

America, you’re not safe. You have never been safe. Enemies both foreign and domestic are in our midst, and the extents to which the government would have to go to ensure everyone’s personal security are beyond anyone’s measure of what can be described as a free society.

Stay alert, hold your families close, and do not allow our government use this terror as another means to diminish your liberties. Be Americans.