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Do We Need To Understand Boston Bombers?

6 points by pond_lilly ↗ HN
Last night crowds cheered as suspect #2 was caught and for many the case will be closed. Everyone moves on once the perpetrators are caught, (i.e. Holmes or Dzhokhar) without recognizing the interconnectedness between us all. The immigrant community can be very cut-throat, merciless and anyone familiar with it can see it in words of one of the uncles that did not hesitate to call the oldest brother "a loser" (very common insult in immigrant community, especially among those from Russia and nearby regions). Many 2nd+ generation Americans do not quite understand what newcomers are facing. The old immigrants like the uncle who came in during 80s or 90s are much more established and successful compared to newcomers that came in during the worst economic crisis ever. Add to that being Arab looking young man with broken English (Tamerlan), big ego and you get an explosive mix. Tamerlan was essentially jobless, his wife worked to support the family, he babysat their daughter. Add to this honor based culture and one can see why Tamerlan became indoctrinated by radical Muslims as they could not care less about him being a loser or jobless, as long as he was a warm body that can deliver a bomb. Younger brother was also in trouble, although better adjusted. Both brothers appeared to be on their own without any safety net.With all hopes on Dzhokhar now, failing grades and troubles at college were signals of “loser in making”. Perhaps the expectations were not even realistic, I mean a doctor, really? Everyone around these two brothers is responsible to some extent. We need to recognize that when people fall through the cracks with no one to catch them, the only ones who WILL catch them will be some radical movements because they prey on distress, misery and vulnerability. If we want to prevent this type of insanity we need realize that we all indirectly participate in creation of a monster that will explode at some point and will harm the innocent.

7 comments

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qzxt
I often see arguments like these that basically go "well if only some extraneous event would have gone slightly differently said person would not have had to resort to this". The propensity to lay blame to pathetically extraneous phenomena, and remove all idea of human agency from analysis is representative of our modern "touchy-feely" idea that if only we'd all love and hug and sing kumbaya, bad stuff wouldn't happen. WRONG. At the end of the day, this guy - of his own will - decided to harm others by the multitudes. They strategically picked a venue with an incredibly large gathering and they CHOSE to commit this horrendous act. Now I'm not saying you're wrong and that the stigma of being a "loser" in immigrant communities may indeed been a factor in leading them to commit such a heinous attack on other human beings. What I'm saying is it's no excuse for it and if that's the case, then every homeless guy, riff-raff, and just anyone who plain isn't satisfied with their lives should feel free to commit mass murder 'coz y'know "they made me a monster". At the end of the day, while extraneous phenomena should be taken into account in analyzing a situation, the deed that gets done, usually is done out of one's agency.
pond_lilly
I did not try argue that brothers bear zero responsibility, au contraire. It was a complex mix of external and internal circumstances and influences that resulted in tragedy. Just like some people are more prone to alcoholism, others are prone to extreme violence when they find themselves cornered. The question is could we at least argue that both human agency and environmental influences can be considered equally important?

Also the mentality, "My life is good, I do not care about you, you are on your own, loser" is another problem I see. People barricade themselves in gated communities and pretend everything is peachy around them failing to see interconnectedness. Then when crap hits the fan everyone is like very surprised why it happened.

doe88
I certainly have less read about their background than you have but I thought the younger brother Dzhokhar was smart at least that's what few witnesses seemed to imply. Also I would not consider failing grades on a short period of time necesseraly be qualifying as loser in making. I even think that what's make part of the learning process in college and university important is to learn to fail sometimes, learn about it and have the resilience to perseverate and improve your grades because in the end this constant struggle is what life is about. If every people struggling with life decided to make horrible actions in order to express their anger there will be no one left standing. Struggling is not an excuse for blowing up people.
pond_lilly
http://news.yahoo.com/stories-2-brothers-suspected-bombing-1...

some detailed background reported in this article. He failed "Principles of Modern Chemistry, Intro American Politics, and Chemistry and the Environment". When you set unrealistic goals you set up yourself for a failure. Dzhokhar had a lot pf schooling done in Dagestan, so even though he attended good school in the US he was clearly behind and not a "medical school" material. Med schools are competitive, he was probably pre-med, how realistic was it for him to get in med school with F in Principles of Modern Chemistry?

kellyfj
Don't forget these men lived smack bang between the campuses of MIT and Harvard. Must be tough to consider yourself a loser and see these students walking around like they own the world or will (I know because I work in Kendall Square). Although these men made their own choices and should be responsible for them I can't help but agree that there was probably several opportunities to turn these guys around at some point. You can't drive out hate with intolerance - only compassion and love can do that. Boston is a very tolerant city but also very cliquey - if you don't fit in or find a community it can be very lonely.