Response to Cynthia Enloe

During her lecture Monday evening, Cynthia Enloe ended up talking about the bombings at the Boston Marathon. She focused mostly on how the incident was being portrayed by the media, an observation made possible by her feminist curiosity. All stories surrounding the Boston Marathon seem to be based on pure speculation. I am glad Enloe brought up the hasty terrorist accusations that were jumped to immediately. She raises a good question when asking why this was a terrorist act and not any other recent shootings. Is it all based on race? How is it justifiable to tie these two kids to an ethnic war and disregard everything else? The connections that the media has been making to their Chechen ethnicity are so over stretched. Are we that concerned with security? Must we always create this phantom menace? Not to mention that all this reporting and reactions just cause more fear which is then blanketed by a false sense of security. Everything seems to be blown out of proportion so emotional responses are the first to be had. I mean, have you seen the footage and pictures they have been showing in the news? The graphics are so unnecessary. Yes, there should be transparency and the people have a right to know what has been going on but the way it is presented is completely unclassy. But of course, the more “in your face” it is, the bigger the response will be, and the easier it is to gain control. Haha, this totally sounds like a conspiracy theory. I think we should always be wary of the information we are presented and approach it with a critical eye.