O/T - Explosions at the Boston Marathon

[Ulidia]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Not entirely the same, but on the topic of "media view", when Russia had their brief war with Georgia, the US media covered it almost entirely from the side/perspective of the Georgians. The fact that Georgia had been the aggressor, had attacked S Ossetia and killed Russian soldiers was barely mentioned initially, and not mentioned once the heavy fighting began. I'm not saying one position or country was right, but it's frustrating because the media (especially US) tends to choose a side (usually the easy "victim") and go with it. This has happened several times in the past few years. "Freedom fighters"/"Separatists" are often gentler words for "terrorists"/"insurgents".. the names we choose to call them usually depends on which perspective we're viewing it from. Media has a huge influence in that.

adding: PS- I'd be very interested to learn more about what life was like in Belfast during those years/decades. I visited Ireland in college.. there were still some attacks/bombings happening, but never made it to the north.. I mostly only knew/know what I've seen in movies like "In the Name of Father"/ "The Boxer"/etc.

Coincidentally, I have a soft spot for Georgia and its capital of Tbilisi as I was there in 1997 - not that long after the civil war and after it won independence from Russian rule.

Was only my second time behind the "iron curtain" and whilst I've been behind it many times since, I've never returned to Tbilisi. The city was frightening, magnificent, beautiful and so much more ruled into one. My travels there were back in the day well before inexpensive travel and before prevalent use of the internet. Really did seem a different world and, certainly, Tbilisi wasn't an overly easy city to get into. Should add that I'd only gone there to watch a sporting event .... Dynamo Tbilisi versus Crusaders of Belfast in a soccer match. I was the only supporter who traveled.


As for life in Belfast? Happy to talk offline about it all sometime. Although I "live" in London these days (for work), Belfast remains my home - it always will be. Beautiful, historic city with tremendous links to the US - those links were solidified during WWII when many US troops were stationed in Northern Ireland before seeing action on the European continent.