The Perfect Storm Of Crazy

Boston has had a busy few months with big story after big story, so as you would expect some things have started to overlap with one another. The current trial of the year, the people vs Whitey Bulger, is going on at the moment at the Federal Courthouse and is filled with the kind of expletive-filled exchanges you would expect when two old guys from Southie have a disagreement - the fact that they are in a Federal Courthouse be damned. Of course, that is just the place-holder for the next trial of the year which will take place whenever the Aaron Hernandez case comes to court. But the real meaty center of this judicial system sandwich is the case involving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who was arraigned today (and entered a plea of "Not Guilty", which seems to contradict his own confession given to the man he carjacked). As you would imagine, those two hearings taking place at the same time in the same building created a bit of a media storm as well as a security nightmare. (I feel like the problem is that there is only one Federal Courthouse in the city so when there are multiple big trials going on they have no other choice but to share space.) If today's minimal court procedure was any indication, this is going to be a very emotional trial as the courtroom was filled with bombing victims and Tsarnaev's family. Outside was no better as the MIT police silently stood in tribute to slain cop Sean Collier just a few feet away from the people who think Tsarnaev is the victim of a government conspiracy.

It's the people who think Tsarnaev is being set-up who I want to really focus on, because I just don't understand why they exist. It is one thing to support a person you've known for years who has been accused of a horrible crime because it is human nature to think we are good judges of character. But I'm pretty sure none of these supporters ever actually met Tsarnaev, so it is not like they have any personal history to fall back on as an example of why he would never do this sort of thing. And while I happen to think a little skepticism of the government is totally healthy, there is a line which should be drawn about how far that skepticism goes and I think it ends when you start to debate whether or not the US government would seriously attack their own citizens. Think about it logically for a second (which I know is always hard for conspiracy theorists): if the government was this all-knowing, all-controlling body wouldn't it make much more sense for them to keep things running as smoothly as possible? People are a lot less likely to rock the boat when their life is going well, which means scaring them by reminding them they may not really be as safe as they feel is counter-productive. On top of that I have yet to see anyone present any hard evidence as to why Tsarnaev is innocent. All these wackos harp on the same theme - lack of evidence he is guilty, but at the same time they don't have any evidence of their own that he is innocent. Shouldn't the burden of proof go both ways in this argument?

Another theory is that these people don't really believe what they are saying, they simply get a lot of satisfaction out of provoking people and getting an emotional response. I'm sure there have always been people who like to push buttons for no other reason than to be a jerk, but it does certainly seem like since the days of message boards and anonymous internet posting that things have gotten a lot worse in that regard. Perhaps these guys are just frustrated Reddit users whose ability to comment has been temporarily suspended and they need an outlet, knowing 99% of people are far too rational to punch them in the face, which is what really should happen to them. Worse still than the conspiracy theorists are all the young girls who seem to think there is no way Tsarnaev could do this because he looks like he should be in some boy band. Having never raised any children of my own I am always hesitant to criticize anyone's parenting skills, but if your daughter is holding up signs about how cute a terrorist murderer is, you fucked up as a parent. Honestly, the people whose daughters are strippers are parents of the year compared to you. Sadly, this is not even a new phenomenon. For as long as there have been criminals there have been people who fall in love with them. I can only assume it is the 'bad-boy' fantasy taken to an extreme but couldn't they start smaller, like with the kid who is failing English? I can only hope that these parents didn't know this was going on and a few of those girls got home tonight and discovered they were grounded until the trial is over.

Of course, the main reason I probably don't understand these people is that they are all crazy to some degree (probably why they support a terrorist, who is also crazy. As we know, crazy tends to attract crazy, which is why these groups were together in the first place.) and trying to understand why crazy people do what they do is like trying to nail yogurt to the wall. It is entirely possible that some of these people are just doing it for the attention and the chance to have their faces splashed all over the world. (The fact that one of the supporters is an 'aspiring rapper' was as predictable as it is sad.) In fact, I kind of hope that is the case. While I find the idea of thinking any attention is good attention to be very disturbing, it certainly beats the alternative of believing in this man or his cause. The good news is that the number of people who support Tsarnaev are small and while they are vocal, I have yet to hear any of them make a good enough point so as to encourage supporters. And while I firmly believe everyone has the right to free speech, I would just caution the people in the "Free Tsarnaev" movement to choose their words carefully. This is still an emotional issue for the people of Boston and it would be unwise to provoke certain citizens. Especially when you remember how close the courthouse is to South Boston because if the Bulger trial down the hall has reminded us of anything it is that there are plenty of people from that neighborhood who still know where to hide a body.