Language Tortured in Aftermath of Marathon Bombing

One of the casualties in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and terror spree, is language, or at least common sense in regards to language. Rush Limbaugh today played a montage of news anchors and commentators referring to the Boston Marathon bombers as "kids". It was unreal. There must have been at least two dozen, if not more, newspeople and talking heads using the word "kids" to describe two cold blooded killers.

FYI, These are "kids":


Kids brainwashed and blinded by hatred, but kids, nonetheless. Nineteen and twenty-six year olds, who plot and plant bombs designed to maximize death and dismemberment, and get in shootouts with police are not "kids". Not sure what the endgame of this particular meme is here. Maybe to make Dzhokhar Tsarnaev more sympathetic to those who see him more as an enemy combatant, subject to interrogation, rather than a "first time offender" in the criminal justice system, entitled to full Miranda rights...

The second thing that bothered me was in today's news coverage, a statement by the surviving bomber about the motivation of his brother:

The surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect has told investigators that his brother orchestrated the attacks because he 'wanted to defend Islam from attack'...

"He 'wanted to defend Islam from attack'...". And the 30,000 runners, 8,500 volunteers, 1,100 media members and 500,000 spectators of the Boston Marathon were the primary enemies of Islam? What? Had they just run 26.2 miles to desecrate a mosque?? Passed out cartoons of Mohammed to wear in lieu of numbers???

This is not a reason. A rationalization, perhaps, but, this is only an excuse. Nothing more. Random murder to make a political statement is not a "defense" of anything. This seems to me to be the groundwork for a variation of SODDit. Some Other Dude Did it. My dead brother was the mastermind. He talked me into it. I was just some dumb "kid" who looked up to his big brother. Blame the dead guy, not me!

Kids a lot younger than 19 have been tried as adults. Kids who acted without as much premeditation or planning as this attack. I don't care if this guy wasn't the ringleader. He participated in a deadly bombing and shoot out which killed and maimed people, scarring them for life. He is clearly old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. His careless disregard of human life prior to the attack, through his attempt to escape, so that he could kill again, makes this guy a candidate for lethal injection. Whether or not the Obama justice department, which fumbled a case as simple as the New Black Panther voter intimidation case, can obtain justice for the victims of the Boston Marathon and its aftermath, remains to be seen.


Cross posted at LCR.