Kudos to the Obama Administration for their Information Mastery

President Barack Obama (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the aftermath of the bombing of the Boston Marathon yesterday, 15 April 2013, chaos ensued.  Pictures went up online. Videos were posted quickly.  Within minutes the conspiracy theories started popping up. Accusations were made.  The New York Post withdrew a story of a possible suspect from a foreign nation.  The networks and many other stations/channels provided full time coverage, stating what they knew again and again.  Heroes arose like a phoenix and victims were mourned.  Police, emergency medical personnel, soldiers, firemen, state police, the FBI, doubtless the BATF was there, news flashes via tweets and texts were flowing and prayers saturated the social media.  There was also much flailing about, blaming this group or that, foreign and domestic.  Like 9/11/2001, rumors of more attacks proved to be incorrect and corrections were quickly published and promulgated.

I put out a message to friends and colleagues, stating the most basic facts, urging us to rally around our President, his administration, our government and most of the people and governments of the world and use this as a catalyst for peace.

…and the President was presidential.

At 6:10 pm EST, President Obama spoke on ‘national’ television.   Certain words were avoided in his speech but were later used by designated spokespersons in his immediate staff.  The President appeared to rise above petty accusations, urging calm, providing a unifying position for people reeling in the aftermath of this tragedy and stating our dedication to justice.  Whenever anyone spoke from the government, the message was clear, unified and unwavering.

The administration seems to finally “get it”.

I could end this blog with that decidedly upbeat declarative statement, but I have to now reveal the dark side of people.  A video of the President’s speech was posted on a website in the UK, which has a very international following, where the readers range from experienced professionals to dark and twisted trolls hiding behind anonymity.  Their comments range from extremely progressive to extremely conservative.  The comments range from puppy love to dark and twisted, even criminal.  What is rather unique at this particular website is their rating system, where one can be rated ‘up’ or ‘down’, accumulating points.  These people comment about everything and if they don’t like a position, they will let you know.  The website is LiveLeak.com

Following the posting of the President’s speech I expressed my support for him, noting his job would be very difficult. What floored me was the number of ‘thumbs down’ ratings I received, which are very, very rare for me.  During this time of mourning and international pain, some people are still highly biased against President Obama and the United States in general.  They really hate us.  I was actually called a troll (by someone who publicly admits to being a troll in his profile).

The world is a dark and forbidding place, filled with people of all types.  I believe in the goodness of people but it is the evil ones who bomb the Boston Marathon, causing pain, suffering and death.  We have always had them and always will.

We cannot go back in time, we cannot undo the death and destruction brought upon us.  We can, however, thank our lucky stars that we are being well informed by our government.  Regardless your opinion of our government or our President, this is the time where we must rally together and offer our unwavering support.  It is only human.

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