From the tragic events of yesterday, there are many things to be taken from the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Recovery efforts continue to be made as officials sift through the wreckage for someone to blame and loved ones visit those caught in the blasts as they fight for their lives in nearby hospitals, which had their windows rattled yesterday from the sound of bombs going off. At this time, there are thought to be three dead and up to 140 injured. According to the Associated Press, the explosives were activated by pressure cookers and used ball bearings, among other amateur ammo.
The explosives used in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing were contained in 6-liter pressure cookers and hidden in black duffel bags on the ground, a person briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
One of the explosives contained shards of metal and ball bearings, and another contained nails, the person said.
A second person briefed on the investigation confirmed that at least one of the explosives was made out of a pressure cooker.
President Obama has declared that investigation is underway and the FBI is treating this as a terrorist attack, but it’s unknown by who or why, or whether this is a foreign or domestic strike. See his full press conference in the video below.
While the majority of Americans seek to find a reasonable course of action now and whatever ways they can to help, there are those who respond immediately to great acts of violence like yesterday’s bombing by immediately requesting similar responses, even if they don’t know who should be the target of that revenge. Aptly-named blog Public Shaming, whose goal is to call out those who use social media like Twitter to make asinine and offensive remarks, could barely keep up with the amount of violent statements flooding the internet.
WARNING: Potentially offensive language ahead.
There were those that jumped directly to blaming Muslims and Arabs.
Then, there were members of the twitilliterate who thought the bombing was caused by North Koreans. Some of those being shamed couldn’t even bother to get their racial slurs right.
Public Shaming encourages its followers to address the people it finds by replying directly to them and tell them what idiotic assholes they’re being. Who are we to argue with that?
Of course, a national tragedy wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from the Westboro Baptist Church, and the group has certainly been active on Twitter the last couple of days, desperately groping for attention. As with the previous images, and fitting Westboro’s modus operandi, the following images can be wildly offensive and upsetting. They are all, however, sadly real.
WBC has already made an announcement that it plans to picket the funerals of those killed during the Boston bombing, but there will hopefully be a wall of people to stop them from getting anywhere near upcoming ceremonies, much like what happened when the hateful group tried to protest the Newtown funerals. Besides hate, both the outward and inward kind, WBC lives off of lawsuits. So, be careful if you decide to confront any members of this volatile family.
However, the online hacktivist group Anonymous has taken on the task of going after Westboro in this regard.
If #WBC protests the Boston funerals, they will have to expect us.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 15, 2013
Anonymous isn’t alone in finding unique ways to help during this time of turmoil.
One of the many different ways to help out comes from Yale Stewart, creator of the JL8 comic, which Techcitement spotlighted as a Tumblr blog to follow. For his part, Stewart has created images to be sold through his site for a dollar a piece, with the intent of donating all of the money raised to the Boston Children’s Hospital and Red Cross of Boston.
Go here to pay one dollar and receive a ZIP folder containing left- and right-oriented versions of the wallpaper, along with an image to use for your Facebook cover photo.
Pictures quickly spread across the internet of those helping the injured during this crisis, including ones of peace activist Carlos Arredondo jumping into the fray as soon as the first bomb went off. Arredondo was at the Boston Marathon to support National Guardsmen running in the race in honor of fallen soldiers, including his son that he lost in Iraq in 2004. Arredondo used his last small American flag, one of many he was giving away that day, to create a tourniquet for a severely injured bystander.
(Charles Krupa/AP)
Boston’s tech community, under the name of Technology Underwriting Greater Good (TUGG), has created a fundraiser for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. The group has a goal of $50,000. As of 3:30 ET, TUGG had raised $43,000. Here’s hoping TUGG far exceeds its goal.
UPDATE: Due to an outpouring of support, TUGG’s goal has been increased to $100,000. The current funds are now encroaching upon $60,000. Hopefully, the goal will continue to rise as the money keeps coming in.
Then, there’s the Boston Marathon Conspiracy website. No, it’s not an Alex Jones creation, but that’s all we’re going to tell you because we want the great and simple idea of it to speak for itself. Go on, click the link.
UPATE AGAIN: It seems the creator of the Boston Marathon Conspiracy website took down the text, so here’s what awaited you if you clicked the link when it had the description up.
In all of this, there are both moments of sadness and hope. Moments of anger and relief. Moments of shame and pride. What we choose to focus on next, as it does whenever any tragedy of this magnitude strikes, defines us.
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