Politicians and political groups have already begun pointing fingers, only one day after the tragic bombing in Boston, looking to blame anyone, and everyone, who fits their political agenda. While it may still be too early to know the motives or find the culprit of this tragic event, speculation ranges from counter-terrorism, to the government, to gays and lesbians. Predictably, right wing figures are voicing their unsubstantiated claims too and it is no coincidence that circumstantial evidence on the matter, according to them, directly supports to their agenda.
The former Homeland Security Committee Chair, Peter King, who has a made a habit of accusing Muslims, has linked the attack to Islamic terrorist, specifically mentioning ties to 9/11. Another looking to cast the blame on Muslims is Pamela Geller, a rabid anti-Muslim Blogger, was immediately picked up by the New York Post after she reported that a Saudi National was a suspect. The report was wrong.
Already, the talk of immigration and its effects has become part of the argument. Steve King (R-Iowa) linked the Boston bombing to immigration when he told the National Review to slow down talk of immigration reform that would give undocumented immigrants citizenship. “If we can’t background check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where,” he said.
The speculation carries on with Alex Jones, a known conspiracy theorist. Jones, infamous for his theories against the government which include the shootings in Newtown, CT and Aurora, in the stir of the deadly explosions preached conspiracy theories involving the government, claiming it to be a false flag staged attack to take our civil liberties and promote Homeland Security.
And not to be outdone, Westboro Baptist church has pushed the blame to gays and lesbians. The extremist church blames the bombing on same sex marriage saying in a press release that “God sent the bombs,” and that “God hates fag marriage.” The church has vowed to picket the funerals of those killed in Boston and will continue to use the tragic event to fault gays and lesbians.
As the nation mourns the victims of the Boston bombing, activist point the prejudice finger to anyone who undermines their political beliefs. Though some pundits may prove to be correct, the inaccurate speculation, coming just one day after the attack, appears to be based on political biased rather than fact.
Sara Papantonio is a writer and researcher for Ring of Fire.
