Crime and fear: Two Oregon bombs, set a universe apart | OregonLive.com
A valid comparison of two bombings, one real, the other a fake sting. The “bomb factory” in San Diego also illustrates this as well: perhaps our fears of terror from foreign sources are exaggerated. Maybe we should be paying a bit more attention to domestic anti government terrorists and just plain old criminals. Who’s more likely to get you statistically?
By contrast, the accused Woodburn bombers appear to symbolize little more than the boundless capacity for greed and stupidity.
The Woodburn bombing has had no broad impact on public perceptions of safety, despite the random nature of the crime and the incalculable harm to victims and their families. People harbor no new suspicions toward white Baptist guys or gun owners who hate President Barack Obama.
In the court of public opinion, the Turnidges are judged on their own merits —while Mohamud serves a national ink blot test for the global war on terror.
Fair? Hardly. Rational? No.
But fear rarely is.
Other bomb scares:
Soda can Bomb at a polling place that didn’t go off