A Day Later, The Daily Norseman Honors Boston

As you are all now well aware, yesterday was a dark day for Boston and the United States, as the worst terrorist attack since 9/11 (assuming that this was indeed a foreign attack) occurred. With two bombs exploding near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, 3 people (including an 8 year old boy) were killed with well over 100 injured- some incredibly severely.

We still don't know why this happened, or who did it. As I just said we don't even actually know if this was foreign or domestic terrorism. We don't know what sick and twisted perversion of "ideals" was used to justify this attack. Conspiracy theories abound; by the way, that does include the insane "false flag" idea that the government itself was somehow behind this. (No, loudspeakers did NOT tell the crowd to ‘remain calm' just before the blasts, that was just a piece of the torrent of false information that flooded the media- both social and traditional- afterwards.) I don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, I don't care if you like Obama or the government at large- if you truly believe that our own government was behind this, then I hear Canada has some great real estate. Seriously, as shady as our government has acted both historically and recently at times, the concept that they would intentionally murder a mass portion of innocent civilians on our own soil is simply... well, I don't have words for it. If you wish to discuss the other conspiracies, however: Islamic Jihadists, North Korean infiltration, domestic terrorism (left-wing or right-wing), a crazed lone wolf; well, have at it.

Also, be aware that on Twitter you have your usual bottom-feeding slime suckers who, for reasons utterly incomprehensible to me, are promoting stupid "RT this and we'll donate $1 to Boston relief" stuff. Be aware as of this writing there is absolutely no validated, certified accounts that are actually doing this- they're just looking for attention. If you see them, mark them as spam and move along.

If you want a way to help, there's always the Red Cross. Donating blood or money directly to that organization is always a surefire way to ensure that your proceeds are going to the right place.

And if, like me, you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach after events like this, that feeling that there's just no hope for a sick and twisted human race, I urge you to read none other than Patton Oswalt's piece on that. Yes, he's best known as a comedian/ guy that shows up on every TV show you've ever watched in the past year. But what he wrote on the matter of humanity after events like this- the guy has it right. Dead right.

To those hurt by this tragedy- be it directly or by the loss/ injury of a loved one, we stand united with you. We share in your pain- although we'll never feel it as deeply as you- and we are joined together in prayers, thoughts, mourning and hope.

Allow me now to speak from the heart to whomever did this, which typically involves a curse word or two. I apologize in advance.

See, every time some sick bastard thinks that something like this is a good idea- that it somehow proves a point or whatever- they fail. Why? Because for every sick bastard, there are five heroes. As Mr. Oswalt said- the good will outnumber them, and they always will. The strength it takes to indiscriminately kill will always pale pathetically in comparison to the strength it takes to risk your life to save a stranger's, and I think we all know that.

And guess what? When the bomb blasts occurred, many ran away. But then there were those- both police and regular civilians- who didn't. They ran towards the blast. They didn't stop to think of another bomb going off. They didn't stop to think of the potential traps laid for first responders. None of that mattered- what mattered was that people needed help. And yesterday, we saw the sick and twisted insanity of whoever attacked us, and we raised them one epic heroism. Marathoners sick and exhausted from having already run the whole day surged through it all, and then ran straight to the nearest hospitals to donate blood. People opened homes for those without a place to stay. The good in humanity shone through it all, no matter the dark pall cast on the day.

So dear whoever-did-this: Fuck you. We won. As we always have, as we always will.

Oh, and we're going to catch your ass. Enjoy what little time you have left.