Boston Marathon thread

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#1
Cant really type right now as I sm out to lunch but thought perhaps the marathon bombing should have its own thread? That way those who don't want to be involved in the conversation, speculation, etc can still vent on the venting thread.
 
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#2
Well :p Guess everyone is done talking now

I will add my thoughts here though.

Conjecture based on evidence (which may or may not prove to be relevant or true) is totally different from conspiracy driven thoughts. My FIL is notorious for after something happens, he then goes back and looks for signs. Guess what, if one wants, you can link almost anything to anything. You can MAKE things "fit" when you have a conclusion that you have jumped to and then go back to find things to prove it. That is totally different from taking actual facts and circumstances and making conjecture and educated guesses from that.
 

sparks19

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#3
Yeah, conspiracy theories aren't going to help anyone really.

My whole issue with the reporting on this is the PHOTOS. When did it become OK to post photos like that? I was totally not expecting what I saw as I went through some of them on major news sites. A guy with half his leg gone and his tibia totally hanging out? and it wasn't until later that they at least blurred out his face. another photo with a paramedic taking a ladies pulse on her carotid artery... was she dead in that photo? I mean... it's just insane.

I regret ever looking at them but I am astounded that they are allowed to post pictures like this especially before anyone was able to be notified about their loved ones.
 

Beanie

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#4
I was very careful not to look at any photos. My co-worker told me not to because he knew it would upset me... I make no secret of the fact that I don't like gore. And he knew I was already really upset so he warned me, just don't look at any of the photos.

This morning I have seen news stories that have a WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES tag on them at least. I don't have a problem if they are going to publish those with a graphic images warning, but I do have a problem with those photos just being splashed around like it's nothing... I don't need to see gore to know it's horrible. All I had to see was a still photo of the explosion to almost burst into tears.
I was home for lunch and my dad was watching CNN and they aired a video captures the explosion the moment it happens and I happened to be walking past the TV when they aired it. It was horrifying. You can't even see anything, just the building exploding, and you hear cheers turn to screams... and it's horrifying.

The most haunting image I saw from 9/11 was a man jumping out of the towers... the buildings were burning and people decided to jump to their deaths instead, and somebody took a photo of this guy jumping... on his way to his death... to this day it still disturbs me. I wish I had never seen it. And that's not even "gore." God knows there's plenty of gore out there related to 9/11...

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just unique. Maybe "most" people need to see gore to understand the horror and the tragedy. But I don't think so. I know this was something debated during Vietnam... what do you show people? Do you really need to shock people to let them know it's real? Or is that just desensitizing people? I mean, surely there's some level of desensitization that has occurred that news groups don't think twice about publishing those photos...
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#5
While I agree those photos are not appropriate for the general public I am MORE bothered by doctoring photos for the public. Talk about blurring the line. The guy, in the wheelchair, with the blanket on his lap? There is an identical shot on another news site without the blanket and while the shot is upsettingly gruesome it really makes me uncomfortable that they doctored the photo without a clear admission such as an old school blur or big black censor bar.
 
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#6
While I agree those photos are not appropriate for the general public I am MORE bothered by doctoring photos for the public. Talk about blurring the line. The guy, in the wheelchair, with the blanket on his lap? There is an identical shot on another news site without the blanket and while the shot is upsettingly gruesome it really makes me uncomfortable that they doctored the photo without a clear admission such as an old school blur or big black censor bar.
That is....odd.....just odd. Why do that? I saw the pic cropped several times, and that makes sense but yeah, adding a blanket is weird.

I go back and forth with the pics in general. I will have to admit, I am drawn to them. They upset me and make me horribly sad and anxious, but I also feel, for ME, I need to see them. I dont need them to make it more real, but it does seem to help me process it faster somehow.

It also makes me sad when I realize for many countries and communities...these pics? They are a common reality for some :(
 

Beanie

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#7
It also makes me sad when I realize for many countries and communities...these pics? They are a common reality for some :(
Oh yes. For us this is a horrifying event that is a relative rarity.

For other countries things like this happen about once a week...

It is definitely an upsetting and sobering thought.
 

Laurelin

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#8
The poor guy in the wheelchair. I find myself wondering about him. I hope he is doing ok. I can't even imagine what he is going through. The pictures are horrible. I clicked an article today that didn't say it was photo related and that pic popped up right away. I closed the window before I could tell if it was one of the doctored versions or the full shot. I don't want to see the full shot again.

Then again, I shocked myself yesterday with the first bloody picture I saw. My immediate thought was that it looked like a movie. Then I was horrified that I was that desensitized to violence. Ugh
 

sparks19

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#9
While I agree those photos are not appropriate for the general public I am MORE bothered by doctoring photos for the public. Talk about blurring the line. The guy, in the wheelchair, with the blanket on his lap? There is an identical shot on another news site without the blanket and while the shot is upsettingly gruesome it really makes me uncomfortable that they doctored the photo without a clear admission such as an old school blur or big black censor bar.
I didn't see that one. I saw one with a guy in a wheelchair with what looked like a blanket on his lap with a bloodied up face but that wasn't the same guy as the one missing his lower leg and I haven't seen the photo of either of those with blanket added or with blanket taken away. I did see the cropped photo of the guy missing half his leg and thought "wow he looks so grey" and figured it was from the explosion and then when I saw the real photo I was like OMG... he's grey because he is missing his leg.

I remember there used to be a time that if they were showing something with blood in it (a news story... not a fictional show) they had to at least make it black and white so it wasn't just BRIGHT RED.
 
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#11
. I did see the cropped photo of the guy missing half his leg and thought "wow he looks so grey" and figured it was from the explosion and then when I saw the real photo I was like OMG... he's grey because he is missing his leg.
If its the one guy I think...he is missing both legs I think? One was just gone, the other was the mangled mess in the photo

ETA : just went back to look...maybe it is only the one. When I first saw it I thought it was both but now thinking the other is just not as visible
 
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#12
And yeah, the one pic with the lady in blue...and the worker checking her pulse....I do fear that may be showing what I think. Another pic shows her kind of "in" the barricade (I think its the same person, same color shirt etc)
 

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#13
If its the one guy I think...he is missing both legs I think? One was just gone, the other was the mangled mess in the photo

ETA : just went back to look...maybe it is only the one. When I first saw it I thought it was both but now thinking the other is just not as visible
No it's definitely both.

I know graphic photos can help the public in some ways but at the expense of these poor peoples' privacy?
 

Oko

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#15
It is so weird commuting today. The military and the police are everywhere. This whole thing makes me so sad. The pictures didn't really get to me, and then I started crying so hard when I read the about the little boy dying. That made it real.
 
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#16
And yeah, the one pic with the lady in blue...and the worker checking her pulse....I do fear that may be showing what I think. Another pic shows her kind of "in" the barricade (I think its the same person, same color shirt etc)
I cant find the pic now (and not going to really search to hard for it) but with the releasing of the second victims name and a pic of her - I think they are the same.
 

sparks19

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#17
I cant find the pic now (and not going to really search to hard for it) but with the releasing of the second victims name and a pic of her - I think they are the same.
ugh... yeah see that is just beyond disturbing to me. The one with the guys leg (I thought it was just one but who knows since you can't see the other one and I definitely didn't want to examine too closely, weak stomach) is horrific but the idea that they just posted a photo of a woman who was likely dead in that photo and who they obviously suspected was dead (hence checking her pulse) is just... I don't even know. That is just NOT RIGHT at all
 
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#18
ugh... yeah see that is just beyond disturbing to me. The one with the guys leg (I thought it was just one but who knows since you can't see the other one and I definitely didn't want to examine too closely, weak stomach) is horrific but the idea that they just posted a photo of a woman who was likely dead in that photo and who they obviously suspected was dead (hence checking her pulse) is just... I don't even know. That is just NOT RIGHT at all
Its not there now, where I think I saw it before. My guess is at the time the were just posting all the pics but when they realized what it may contain, it was too late and already out.

(I mean, it was a wide shot of several victims, not just her)
 

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#19
I've seen the pics. I feel compelled to look.... They are horrific, but that's the reality. We can't comprehend it. We don't like to think about it.

Its so sad :( those people could have been any one of us. They were just having a nice day out.

So so so sad. For those dead and injured and those who just saw those scenes.
 

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#20
I am extremely uneasy about censorship, and I think that it is the media's responsibility to release the photos and videos that they have. It can be done in such a way as to not slap people in the face, such as posting them on news websites rather than TV, including warnings, and blocking out people's faces if appropriate. Being graphic and disturbing are not good reasons to not make images public, particularly considering the impact this event will have on the US going forward. I understand that the victims do lose some privacy, but like it or not this was not a private tragedy, it was a very public one.
 

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