Boston Marathon bombing

{{crimenav}}
The '''Boston Marathon bombing''' was an attack at the annual Boston Marathon in Boston, [[Massachusetts]] on April 15, 2013, carried out by two Chechen-American brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Two homemade {{wpl|cordite}} explosive devices detonated near the finish-line of the 26.2 mile footrace route, killing three people and injuring 264.<ref group=note>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6AZFzOspP4 Some conspiracy theorists like to claim this number isn't consistent]</ref> During the ensuing manhunt--during which Greater Boston was virtually shut down--Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed along with one police officer, while 16 other officers were wounded capturing Dzhokhar.

==Reactions==
Within hours, and without any [[evidence]] ([[Breivik|sound familiar]]?), speculation about motives and responsibility started appearing on the internet.

*[[Fox News]] and surrogate ''[[New York Post]]'' reported that a 20 year-old [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] man was a suspect, but this turned out to be fictional.<ref>http://www.reallyfoxnews.com/post/48066636146/boston-police-no-arrests-have-been-made-in-marathon</ref>  The ''New York Post'' also reported significantly inflated deaths/casualties, conceivably [[PIDOOMA|from thin air]].<ref>http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/two_explosions_at_boston_marathon_iMR0LCkcwASg0RQfVsH1yI</ref>
*Fox News/[[World Net Daily]] contributor [[Erik Rush]] blamed [[Muslim]]s, suggesting that they should [[genocide|all die]] for this.<ref>http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/erik-rush-kill-all-muslims-response-boston-marathon-attack</ref> (To put things into perspective, that's over 1.5 billion people, so ''75 times'' the scale of the [[Holocaust]].  Brilliant!)
*A "report" that [[CNN]]'s Wolf Blitzer blamed the [[Tea Party]] or other [[tax protest]]ors made the rounds on [[Twitter]].<ref>http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2013/04/15/here-we-go-cnn-wolf-blitzer-blames-anti-tax-group-or-tea-party-for-boston-marathon-explosion/</ref> The report turned out to be completely [[bullshit]].<ref>http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/wolf-blitzer-did-not-blame-the-tea-party-for-boston-explosio</ref>
*The [[Westboro Baptist Church]] reacted predictably, blaming the [[gay]]s and Massachusetts (being the first state in the [[United States]] to legalize [[same sex marriage]]).<ref>https://twitter.com/WBCSays/status/323909076004261888</ref>
*The [[religious]]ly [[brainwash]]ed made their opinions known on Twitter, blaming [[atheist]]s and godlessness.<ref>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/04/15/on-twitter-the-godless-are-already-to-blame-for-the-boston-marathon-bombing/</ref>
* NBC's Luke Russert made the connection to the [[Waco]], [[Texas]] events of 1993,<ref>http://www.mediaite.com/online/nbc-reporter-luke-russert-speculates-on-boston-explosions-link-to-1993-waco-siege/</ref> an idea which was only taken seriously by [[wingnut]] [[pundit]]s as an attempt to paint [[liberal]]s as liars and thugs.<ref>http://newrepublicoftexas.com/news/russert-boston-bombing-may-be-connected-to-waco-texas/</ref>
*[[Jordan]]ian [[Al-Qaeda]] head Mohammad al-Chalabi also reacted predictably, praising the attack.<ref>http://bigstory.ap.org/article/jordan-extremist-praises-boston-bombing</ref>
*[[Reddit]]'s claim that a 22-year-old from [[Rhode Island]] (who disappeared a month earlier) was one of the culprits, was propagated around the Internet and considered news.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/magazine/should-reddit-be-blamed-for-the-spreading-of-a-smear.html?pagewanted=all</ref> He was found dead on April 23.
*[[Alex Jones]], as usual, asserted on [[Infowars]] that the attack was a [[false flag]] operation.<ref>http://www.infowars.com/terror-explosion-at-boston-marathon/</ref><ref>http://www.salon.com/2013/04/15/alex_jones_labels_boston_explosion_a_false_flag/</ref>
*Various other [[conspiracy theorist]]s concurred with Jones. A recurring piece of "evidence" was an episode of ''Family Guy'' from the previous month, in which the character Peter Griffin kills several Boston Marathon runners by driving a car over them; some claimed this was [[predictive programming]]. Apparently, the programming wasn't predictive enough for certain conspiracy theorists: a doctored video was posted on [[YouTube]] combining this sequence with an unrelated scene elsewhere in the episode, showing Peter causing several explosions.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/17/entertainment-us-usa-explosions-boston-f-idUSBRE93G03L20130417</ref>
*{{wpl|Bob Beckel}} said no more visas should be granted to Muslims, and no more mosques should be created. Far-right commentator [[Bryan Fischer]] agreed with these views.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20131213014730/http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147539836</ref>
*Some conspiracy theorists inevitably linked the attack with the West Texas explosion that happened two days later.
*Some of the loopier conspiracy theorists claimed the whole thing was staged, and witnesses and victims (some with horrific injuries) were all "[[crisis actor]]s" faking it. Stella Tremblay, a New Hampshire state legislator (and all-around moron), argued that it was clear that victim Jeff Bauman was a plant, as he was obviously "not in pain" following the loss of his legs, as traumatic shock is clearly not a thing that exists<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/stella-tremblay-jeff-bauman_n_3196131.html</ref> (it is not explained how no workers at the 100+ hospitals that treated victims came forward and said the injuries were faked). These claims resulted in some pushback by conspiracy theorists who believed the bombing was a [[false flag]] attack, but who nevertheless thought the bombing was real.<ref>[https://www.sott.net/article/262361-Why-there-were-no-actors-at-the-Boston-Marathon-bombings Why There Were No Actors at the Boston Marathon Bombings], 2-June-2013, posted on a site really really into false flag claims</ref>
The race began after a minute's silence for the victims of the [[Sandy Hook massacre]]. Even this led some to connect the two events initially.

==Date relevance==
The date of the bombing had some interesting relevance which fueled speculation.  April 15th is the [[tax]] filing due date in the United States, so tax protest was considered a possible link (particularly in the same city as one of the first tax protests in the country, the [[Boston Tea Party]], no relation to today's Tea Party).

The date was also the observance day for Patriots' Day (which also is the day chosen for the annual marathon), a Massachusetts state holiday, which technically lands on April 19th, in commemoration of the [[American Revolution|Battle of Lexington and Concord]]. April 19th also happens to be the same day as [[Timothy McVeigh|Oklahoma City bombing]] in 1995, and the end of the Branch Davidians compound siege.  As if to bookend the story, April 19th was also the day the last surviving suspect was taken into custody.

==See also==
* The [[Glenn Beck#Boston Marathon bombing conspiracy mongering|Boston Marathon bombing conspiracy mongering]] section in [[Glenn Beck]]

==External links==
*[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/04/the-saudi-marathon-man.html?mobify=0 The Saudi Marathon Man], ''The New Yorker'' (feat. [[Pamela Geller|Atlas Juggs]], [[Megyn Kelly]], [[Andrew Napolitano]] and more!)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5CH4od6CIPE Watch CNN's epic fail]
*[http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/04/15/why_the_conspiracy_theorists_will_have_a_tough_time_with_boston.html Why the Conspiracy Theorists Will Have a Tough Time With Boston], ''Slate''
*[http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/boston.asp Boston Marathon Bombing], Snopes (debunking conspiracy theorists)
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Terrorism]]
[[Category:Islamic extremism]]
[[Category:United States history]]

Categories: Terrorism, Islamic extremism, United States history