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This is the point at which we lose our minds
By adamg on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 4:55pm
Bomb threat at the federal courthouse, following wrong reports about an arrest. Suspicious vehicles checked at Brigham and Women's and in Maverick Square. Sirens all over. After somebody went on Twitter to warn people to stay away from Harvard Square, Cambridge Police had to tweet:
The area is SAFE
On the return-to-normalcy side, people are returning to Twitter to complain about the T, stuff like switch problems on the Red Line and Massholes on commuter rail:
Manners-free MBCR rider visibly annoyed by having to move newspapers/share 3-person seat. just threw papers on the floor.
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Comments
Keep Cahm!
Well I haven't posted on here in many, many years, but boy, I've been watching UHub and Boston.com since Monday. Thinking about you all lots and lots from down here in Raleigh, NC. I love Boston (even though I didn't have the moxie to keep living there). You'll get through, guys. :)
Maverick Square?
Hadn't heard that one. Wha' happened?
Some car deemed suspicious for some reason
But all clear, I think.
I don't know the guy's name,
I don't know the guy's name, but the man on NECN down by the courthouse just had a solid three minutes on the media's "frustration" that officials are refusing to respond to things the media is making up and reporting ("reporting") on. This is the point at which all our connectivity becomes less useful.
The officials want to prevent "infotainment"...
...from taking away from their investigation.
The officials want to make sure they have the correct facts before the media reports it. Although social media has been outstanding since the attack, the regular media is looking for anything as insignificant as a used kleenex so it can blare "Breaking News!" on the screen. Something like that could kill an investigation by wasting time calming the hyperactive media down.
Oy
Rumor and conjecture have always outpaced the facts. Unfortunately, with the 24-hour news cycle and the insatiable demand of the media-consuming public for facts now now now, rumor and conjecture gets the imprimatur of the media, whether it's NY Post, CNN, boston.com...
I'd like to see a media source say, We might not get it first, but we'll get it right.
The Truth
What's that quote from the Discworld book? Something about how rumor's on the other side of the world before the truth can even get its boots on.
Big fan of Pratchett, but that's older than Discworld
Yeah, OT, but I can't help myself:
Often mis-attributed to Mark Twain, the oldest known version of the quote comes from a 1855 sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, an English Baptist preacher. He's relatively well known in the UK, and Pratchett probably lifted it directly from him when he used it in _The Truth_.
The Rev said:
"...You know there is not a man that stands at all prominent, but what any fool in the world can set afloat some bad tale against him. It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, 'A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.' ..."
But no one has ever found a printed expression of that 'proverb', so Rev Spurgeon gets the credit!
That tweet about Harvard Square...
...was from Monday! Delayed much, CPD?