Explosion at the Boston Marathon.

[phiwum]

So when the FBI speculates it's OK to strip people in public and haul them off in handcuffs, but it's not OK for lay people to speculate on social media?

If you honestly see no difference between a bunch of guys speculating about suspects in their spare time on a public and widely read forum and the police being extraordinarily but reasonably cautious in apprehending an apparently suspicious person at the site of a significant firefight, I guess we have nothing really to discuss.

This is really the most bizarre comparison I can recall here at JREF from a non-CTer.

 

[NoahFence]

Not playing games. What do you think should be done?


He's dead.

What similarities do you see to the Jewell case?

Why don't we go to Revere high school and ask the track star who was fingered in this bombing if there are any similarities.

No, wait. You can't. He's too scared to death to leave his house.

 

[phiwum]

Do you think it's wrong to view other photos online to see if they might contain a clearer image of the two subjects who were identified as suspects by the FBI?

It's contrary to what the FBI wanted, but if done reasonably carefully, it bothers me less than what we've been discussing.

If the results of such comparisons are not made public then it bothers me not at all.

The primary risk I see is the possibility that a false positive match is identified online, and that this distracts others from the photos the FBI released and wants them to consider. In addition, a publicized false positive might again result in unfortunate accusations against the innocent person matched with the FBI original.

 

[Childlike Empress]

His twitter account. @xXjungaXx is his brother as in "bro", not his actual brother, and about to start a "freejahar" campaign.

Another of his bro's announced this an hour ago: http://www.freejahar.com

#FreeJahar is trending. Apparently mostly thanks to people who tell the FBI to investigate users who use the tag for terrorist sympathizers.

 

[phiwum]

As bad as what happened was.... I can't think of a better way to publicize his case.

Must've been very emotional for the family, but you're right that I'd never heard of Tripathi before all of this.

 

[NoahFence]

The missing guy is likely dead, he's not suffering any harm. As for his family when you seek publicity you invite speculation and rumors, it's the nature of the beast. And the high school student was only identified as not the suspect.


Forcing an innocent man to strip in public in front of cameras is "cautious"? I guess that word means something different where you're from. And he wasn't the only one handcuffed and lead away by police in front of cameras.


They were working according to the limited information the FBI released. If they had just released the video they had sooner the high school kid and others wouldn't have come under suspicion, and the actual perps may have been identified sooner and the MIT police officer might still be alive.

The fact is once they finally did release the video they had the perps were promptly identified, not by the FBI but by the aunt of the suspects. If she saw the video on TV instead of the internet does that make her a "TV sleuth"?

Internet sleuthing is 100% dead on after the fact I see. Nice to see folks can view hindsight in 20/20.

 

[zeggman]

Was he? Ooops, sorry, zeggman.

No problem.

 

[phiwum]

Another of his bro's announced this an hour ago: http://www.freejahar.com

#FreeJahar is trending. Apparently mostly thanks to people who tell the FBI to investigate users who use the tag for terrorist sympathizers.

And, if you'll look at the "Proof" page at the freejahar website, what do you find?

The photos from our friendly Internet sleuths.

I'm not saying that this means the sleuths are to be blamed for this site or anything like that. I just thought I'd point out the connection.

 

[zeggman]

Why don't we go to Revere high school and ask the track star who was fingered in this bombing if there are any similarities.

No, wait. You can't. He's too scared to death to leave his house.

Then he's an idiot, and should probably stay inside so he doesn't accidentally glimpse his own shadow and spook himself so badly that he darts into traffic.

 

[phiwum]

Then he's an idiot, and should probably stay inside so he doesn't accidentally glimpse his own shadow and spook himself so badly that he darts into traffic.

I'm with you. So he was shown in a photo on the front page of one of the ten most popular newspapers in the US, together with a headline insinuating that he had intentionally killed several innocent people, including an eight-year-old boy. Where's the harm in that? I'd just laugh it off.

Ha ha! I'd laugh. Ha ha.

 

[NoahFence]

Then he's an idiot, and should probably stay inside so he doesn't accidentally glimpse his own shadow and spook himself so badly that he darts into traffic.

He's a what?
You know how he's feeling and why he's feeling it?

I'm sorry. I can't recall you detailing how you dealt with similar situations. Was it in a different thread?

I think you'll find the idiot in the mirror, kiddo.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I am reminded of a South Park episode:

Cartman: Well Baahir, I was thinking that maybe I owe you an apology.
Baahir: Really?
Cartman: Yes, but then I realized that, technically, I don't. Because by being suspicious of you I saved your life and everyone else's. So really, you owe me an apology. But that's cool.
Kyle: ...You didn't save everyone, I did! You were just out harassing Muslims!
Cartman: But if I hadn't called you in the first place to check out the Muslim, you would have just stayed in bed sick all day, right?
Kyle: ...Maybe. [looks away]
Cartman: Maybe? If I hadn't called you, you wouldn't have been on your computer checking out the Clinton rally. That means my intolerance of Muslims saved America.
Kyle: ...That is so missing the point.
Cartman: Me being a bigot stopped a nuclear bomb from going off, yes or no?!
Kyle: The-that's not the right way to look at it, I-
Cartman: Yes or no, Kyle?!
Kyle: No! ...Not... not like you're saying.
Cartman: But that's all I'm saying: today, bigotry and racism saved the day. Baahir, you get this, right?

 

[zeggman]

I'm with you. So he was shown in a photo on the front page of one of the ten most popular newspapers in the US, together with a headline insinuating that he had intentionally killed several innocent people, including an eight-year-old boy. Where's the harm in that? I'd just laugh it off.

Ha ha! I'd laugh. Ha ha.

If he wants to sue the paper for defamation, he has a reasonable case.

Scared to death, and afraid to leave the house after one suspect is dead and the other is in custody in a hospital bed? Idiotic.

I don't live in New York, or read the Post, but as someone with a reasonable level of interest in the case I couldn't pick him out in a line-up. He's already cleared himself with the police, and is not considered a suspect.

 

[phiwum]

If he wants to sue the paper for defamation, he has a reasonable case.

Scared to death, and afraid to leave the house after one suspect is dead and the other is in custody in a hospital bed? Idiotic.

I don't live in New York, or read the Post, but as someone with a reasonable level of interest in the case I couldn't pick him out in a line-up. He's already cleared himself with the police, and is not considered a suspect.

He lives in the Boston area, an area so on edge that a Muslim mother pushing a stroller was accosted after the bombing.

I don't think that the high school student is a moron to feel some trepidation and resentment over this situation.

You do agree that the student suffered some unfortunate harm as a result (in part) of online sleuthing, don't you?

 

[NoahFence]

If he wants to sue the paper for defamation, he has a reasonable case.

Scared to death, and afraid to leave the house after one suspect is dead and the other is in custody in a hospital bed? Idiotic.

I don't live in New York, or read the Post, but as someone with a reasonable level of interest in the case I couldn't pick him out in a line-up. He's already cleared himself with the police, and is not considered a suspect.

I think in between smug declarations of how certain you would be of your safety, you must have missed the post that I made a while back, detailing how a woman almost got murdered a thousand miles away from Florida, the day after Casey Anthony was acquitted, because some psycho thought it was her.

You think this kid is afraid of the police? Do you think the police are the only ones who can do him harm?

Do you think?

 

[Childlike Empress]

And, if you'll look at the "Proof" page at the freejahar website, what do you find?

The photos from our friendly Internet sleuths.

I'm not saying that this means the sleuths are to be blamed for this site or anything like that. I just thought I'd point out the connection.

Yeah, and the youtube link goes to an Alex Jones video. These are his actual friends who are convinced that he's innocent, so it's only natural that they point to everything available in this direction.

 

[zeggman]

He lives in the Boston area, an area so on edge that a Muslim mother pushing a stroller was accosted after the bombing.

So there are bigots who will use this as an excuse to harrass people who look Muslim (or Chechnyan, one now assumes).

You do agree that the student suffered some unfortunate harm as a result (in part) of online sleuthing, don't you?

The harm he's suffered so far is the lost time he spent going to the police to assure them he had nothing to do with the bombing, which he could otherwise have used more productively.

 

[NoahFence]

So there are bigots who will use this as an excuse to harrass people who look Muslim (or Chechnyan, one now assumes).


The harm he's suffered so far is the lost time he spent going to the police to assure them he had nothing to do with the bombing, which he could otherwise have used more productively.

Listen. If you're just trolling, just say so. It'd save a lot of heartache.

 

[zeggman]

Listen. If you're just trolling, just say so. It'd save a lot of heartache.

If you would like to allege some other harm instead of attempting to insult me, please do so.

He hasn't been beaten up. He hasn't lost his job. He hasn't been kicked out of school. One assumes his friends have not shunned him.

He saw someone in a parked car talking on a cell phone before he went to the police. Big whoop.

 

[phiwum]

The harm he's suffered so far is the lost time he spent going to the police to assure them he had nothing to do with the bombing, which he could otherwise have used more productively.

His perfectly reasonable fear, especially prior to Friday, doesn't count then? That's not a harm?

In your opinion, he lost a bit of time and nothing else of value?

Presumably, then, if we (knowingly or otherwise) began publicly accusing you of a horrible crime, the only harm you would suffer is whatever time you took denying you were guilty. No other harm matters.