And now back to Iraq where at least 50 football fans have been senselessly slaughtered whilst celebrating their team's semi-final victory. Poor bastards.
THX, I think it might also depend on who's doing the bombing. Depending on how orthodox (or unorthodox) their beliefs are, the very attire worn to play the game can be considered illegal. As for the celebratory shooting, it's not just Chicago. I grew up in the South, and more than once heard a particular NASCAR or SEC Football win punctuated with the unmistakeable roar of Double Barrels of Redneck Fun. After Desert Storm, there was much celebratory fire in the streets of Kuwait City and the surrounding areas. It got so bad in some areas that we were afraid to sleep outside in tents, and bunches of us would set up camp in the lobbies of abandoned office buildings and hotels. A strange custom to be sure, no matter who's doing it. And a sad statement on humanity, setting off a bomb in the midst of your own countrymen as they celebrate a rare happy moment. Savage, brutal, cowardly, and a tragic waste of life in a place where life certainly needs to recapture some of its value.
One wouldn't think that the car bombings were not related to the futbol teams victory unless it was in response to the ethnically diverse team. I haven't read any account to suggest that the fans were targeted for being supporters of the football team. I think part of the terror strategy employed by the Iraqi insurgents/anarchists/
terrorists/whatever you want to call them is to take out as many people as possible. So any large crowd is a target. And large crowds had gathered to celebrate the victory. According to the NYT (really the AP), "But these bombings, in parked cars less than an hour apart in separate corners of Baghdad, appeared designed to gain attention rather than target a particular sect." (emphasis added)
The things people do in the name of GOD.
The things people do in the name of GOD. To attribute an act of sectarian violence in Iraq to a religious squabble doesn't do justice to the complexity of the situation there and the motivations of those perpetrating the violence. But you are, after all, the Atheist, so gotta get your digs in huh? Kind of like in the Coolbaugh thread.
A strange custom to be sure, no matter who's doing it. Even stranger when at a funeral. I got caught up in a Hamas procession a few years ago in Ramallah. My ears are still ringing from AKs going off a few feet from my head. By the way, that Iraqi team is pretty good - they walloped Australia 3-1 in the group games and many of the same players did very well at the 2004 Olympics. Made up of both Sunnis and Shi'ites, in a better world, their performances would be bringing people together.
Words fail me.
Cecil Adams addresses the question of Celebratory Gunfire: How dangerous is it anyway? His answer: "It has been scientifically shown that firing guns into the air for entertainment is not a good idea. Please stop right away. Also knock off with the holy wars and random violence. Thank you."
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Very sad, though the universe clearly has a sense of irony given they beat Vietnam... As for firing guns in the air, clearly the people who do that need some elementary physics lesson. "What goes up must come down".
