This passed weekend violent events took place in Chelsea, Manhattan. Pipe Bomber, Ahmad Khan Rahami placed explosives hidden in garbage cans that went off Saturday night. “A deafening explosion…injuring 29 people, blowing out scores of windows and forcing the evacuation of at least two buildings.” says the New York Post. The explosion went off near a construction site in a Dumpster on 131 West 23d Street. After the first device went off, a second device was found blocks away. There was later a bomb explosion in New Jersey. All believed to be placed by the one suspect. There were also pipe bombs found in Elizabeth, New Jersey where the suspect was captured after a shootout.
Jack Shafer of Politico Magazine released an article just yesterday asking the question, “Was the Terror Coverage More Explosive Than the Bombs?”. Assuming that these explosions were apart of a terrorist plot the media went crazy. (Rightfully so, I’d say) This is scary stuff. Exactly fifteen years after the September 11th attacks, terrorism is still a strong concern on the mind of this nation’s citizens. “Thanks to the cables news channels and some in the Web and print space, we’ve turned it into a mighty conflagration.” says Shafer. (Conflagration: an extensive fire that destroys a great deal of land or property.) He also mentions how Donald Trump jumped to use the media coverage as a way to immediately place blame on our “problematic” leaders. “Terrorism is to New York as hurricanes are to Miami. Even the near-misses are big stories” Shafer states. He also talks about how he would be the last person to say that the press covered these stories too much but that he will say that he feels the terrorist threats have been extremely low. He talks about how he truly feels safe until he turns on the TV. The talk of terrorism and bombings are likely to send anyone into panic mode. Over-thinking will take over the mind. President Obama has constantly reinstated that he feels that the terrorist threat is low but overtime he tries to comfort the country by saying this in the media, it comes out as if he is trying to tell us to “put our heads in the sand” as put by Jack Shafer. This is usually where Donald Trump chimes in. “Once again someone we were told is OK turns out to be a terrorist who wants to destroy our country & its people—how did he get thru system?” Trump posted to Twitter on Monday afternoon. “In the current atmosphere, every terror-motivated crime has come to feel like a dire assault…exploding in the news with much more success than the actual bombs involved.” is a point that Shafer makes very clear throughout this article.
Images Courtesy of New York Post Photographer: Christopher Sadowski