Why?
Why would anybody do something like this? I of course have
been trained at least to a certain extent to analyze these kinds of things without
emotion overwhelming my thoughts and to look in particular directions for
answers. Is it because an individual felt powerless to be heard? Was it just a
random act to demonstrate how powerful they are? Was it even an individual at
all maybe it was an organization with an organized agenda?
I doubt I would make a very good investigator. I am more
interested in the rational theory rather than in gathering the evidence although
I find the process interesting.
Was there a purpose to this? Did they think that they could
force people to change to do whatever it was that they wanted?
Social media gives us the opportunity to voice an opinion that
may not otherwise get heard. Why couldn’t the bomber or bombers have just
spoken out in a rational and nonviolent way? Was this type (Social Media) of
opportunity to create change not sufficient? Social Media is developing to an
incredibly powerful platform for change.
What drives a person to the tools of violence instead of
other tools? Our society will never be free of violence I imagine but are we
making a dent in the number of violent acts?
To help answer this question I went to Google a search
engine and arguably a form of social media. I asked it for trends in violence
per capita. It in turn sent me to Wikipedia which directed me to an article
from Steven Pinker of Harvard University (an institution dedicated to educating
individuals in a social environment). His work, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has
Declined (Viking, 2011) postulates that violence
is indeed on the decline and gives supporting evidence.
One idea that feeds this is that we are in a social society
with strong government with a monopoly on violence being the norm. In other
words it is more beneficial in society for those with a less violent nature,
the nurture debate. Conversely we can also see that there is conceptually an
argument there that would support the idea of the nature debate as well and
perhaps even the evolution debate.
To bring my ramblings back around to the issue of social
media, it may be that we are evolving to a higher level of need for social connections and an ability to
reach deeper into our organizations with an ability to effect change. Social
media allows us to reach farther and more broadly than ever before. I can’t see
it myself but maybe someday we will be able to end violence as we become more and
more connected to each other.
I don’t know why or what exactly was the motivation was but I
can say that the opportunity is there to be heard if you are willing to
connect.
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