Welcome to Senseless, USA

The utter pointlessness of the violence inflicted on the people of Boston is hard to believe. The only suspect left alive has been charged but many lives have been irrevocably changed. Media reports indicate that the suspects might have been motivated by religious beliefs which, if proved correct, will make the whole tragic series of events all the more dismal.

News that authorities may seek the death penalty is also concerning given that violence hardly seems like an appropriate response to violence. In a sense, though, it speaks to something in American society. We have seen many acts of the most terrible brutality in the US in the last few years and yet when President Obama attempted to introduce what amounted to a weak bill aiming to introduce background checks for those wishing to purchase firearms, it was defeated in the senate.

The Guardian reported on the significant donations the gun industry has dished out to many of those who voted against it but there is something more behind the opposition.

The intermingling of the concept of freedom and weaponry in the American psyche can perhaps be traced to the frontier ideals on which the nation’s folk tales rest or the constitutional right to bear arms. Each of these in turn are evidence that the United States, as it exists today, is a nation born of great violence. The genocide of the Native American people by European settlers is not often discussed but it is a bitter history that cannot be denied.

The 20th century saw the United States involved in many wars with the outings in Vietnam and Korea noted for their brutality and the level of opposition on the part of citizens.

This pattern has continued to this day and one of those who helped a good number of people at the site of the bomb had himself lost a son to the conflict in Iraq. The man, who was hailed as a hero in the American media, had taken part in anti-war protests in Washington and reportedly received a severe beating at the hands of police for his troubles.

In the aftermath of the most recent tragedy, there have been calls for the defendant to be tried not in a civilian court but as an “enemy combatant” involved in the “War on Terror”.

It had been some time since I heard that phrase deployed and had thought it a relic of Bush’s era and rhetoric but it seems it is alive and well. It is also clear that not only is it alive in the minds of American politicians but it is thriving in the hearts of those who wish to attack the state. However deranged the people who carry out attacks such as that in Boston are, to create the fiction that America is in a permanent state of war on its own soil is not only fuel to their cause but endangers the lives of citizens.

As with the availability of guns and the horror of school shootings, the rhetoric around a “War on Terror” and the attacks against innocent civilians is starting to look like a feedback loop. If people with what they see as ideological justifications are intent on attacking the US then to give them the impression that they are soldiers is grist to their mill.

It is this concept of a war that makes events such as that in Boston all the more distressing because of the sheer pointlessness of them. As always happens in these situations, it the innocents who have suffered.

Those maimed and killed in this incident are not the nation. They were not responsible for the grievances that drove their attackers to their act of violence but are somehow seen as legitimate targets by the perpetrators. It makes their deaths all the more senseless. Many people have branded the “War on Terror” unwinnable and it certainly is for both sides. It is self-perpetuating and unfortunately most of the casualties are civilian.

In the aftermath of the bombing in Boston there was severe criticism from many quarters regarding the media coverage of the event. The issue of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan not being reported was raised and it was asked if the failure to cover these tragedies could be seen as giving different value to human life depending on nationality.

The inequality of coverage is certainly extremely troubling and of course in these situations that most deplorable of phrases “collateral damage” lurks in the background. Such language creates a fertile ground for the perpetration of terrible acts and seems to excuse what most people would think inexcusable. The fact that states can carry out terrible acts and suffer no consequences creates a sense of injustice and anger that can lead some to carry terrible acts in response which hurt only the innocent.

Every time we witness an event like that in Boston we express the wish that it will be the last. Similarly we hope that drone strikes will cease to be deployed and the murder of innocents in that way will cease.

Unfortunately it is unlikely that nothing will change any time soon. If the only victims in these war games were those who make the decisions to engage in them it would be possible to regard them as simply distasteful creatures who would inevitably wipe themselves out but unfortunately we all have to share the planet with them. Sadly they will continue to cause death and destruction and the innocent will continue to be their main victims.