Marathon

Yesterday, I had the TV on when the news hit moments after the explosion in the Boston Marathon.  I hoped against hope as the initial reports would turn out to be a horrible accident, but as the time wore on, it became clear someone, some coward, had attacked.  As is always the case in this age of instant information, reports came out, reports were walked back, numbers of the hurt grew and thankfully but just as tragically the number of dead did not grow exponentially.  Sadly once again one of those murdered was the least among us.  And amid it all, the conspiracy theory crowd...the tin foil hats...came out in full.

Amid the shameless statements of those who would attach this to the gun debate which a terrorist act has zero to do with, were those who began discussing subliminal messages suddenly appearing in one of the announcements and the pictures that captured the moment showing details.  One thread on the web a person announced she had seen a face flash on the TV during one of the reports.  I am not sure what that means or why it would be done, but she was positive a subliminal message was being done.  Must've not been too effective or subliminal if she saw it and didn't know why it was done.

And then there was the picture...

It is a picture of a man on a roof top after the bombing. Who is he? We do not know. The photo was taken by spectator Dan Lampariello and shows the explosion of the second bomb. It also captures a guy standing on a rooftop. Judging from the fence on the roof, it is designed for people to be up there. Once the pic went viral it took about five seconds for someone to decide it was the bomber. Let's think about this for a few moments. An event with 27,000 runners and who knows how many spectators, and someone is on a roof during the event. I am actually surprised that there are not more on the roof. He may be a witness or he may be just some guy on a roof who got caught in the picture.  Other speculation is foolish.  To create an ominous presence without any other information is simply wrong.  

Soon after came the mysterious Facebook page...

The picture is of a Facebook page set up about the explosion. What makes it suspicious is the page was set up two days before the explosion. Fortunately the paranoid person whose links "mysteriously disappeared" after the page disappeared was paranoid enough to take a picture of the page. I know I take pictures of the pages I visit just in case they turn out to be mysterious later on. I am told that it is not difficult to change the name of a page on Facebook. So someone who set up a new page a few days ago could easily change the name. You may notice the address bar which would bear the original name of the page is not in the picture. You don't suppose the person who made the page and then deleted the page also took the picture and then started to spread the strange and mysterious and suspicious page. Sorry, my conspiracy theory friends, nothing to see here. Move along.

Look.  We suffered a tragedy. Boston suffered a tragedy.  We were attacked by a coward or cowards, and the last thing anyone needs is a bunch of conspiracy theorists trying to get their moment of fame or injecting their irrational fears of the media or government into what is a time for  support.  We don't need anyone to try and make this a political meme or try to tie this to any unrelated agenda whether it be gun safety or the price of taxis in New York.  Terrorist cowards get enough press and operate for their own warped reasons.  Personally, the tin foil hats and conspiracy theory crowd are already pretty nutty as they rant from the street corner.  Those, who would use this event for a political or social problem like guns...shame on you.

Besides, it is only a mater of time before the face of God appears in the smoke from one of the pictures and the bombs turn out to be supplied by the men in black.