There are more good guys than bad guys

11987_2167816916993_581339721_n

Bryan Caskey posted this over on his blog. I don’t know where he got it — the URL makes me think some social media site such as Facebook, But wherever, I liked it, too. So I’m sharing it.

21 thoughts on “There are more good guys than bad guys”

  1. Phillip

    True, there are more good guys than bad. But if the good don’t outnumber the bad by an amount sufficient to override a filibuster…

    1. Steven Davis II

      Really??? Phillip wants to bring the failed gun debate into the Boston Marathon bombing?

  4. Mark Stewart

    The photo also clearly shows the other reality; the cops were all on the race side of the barriers (and there were a lot of them in their day-glo vests) but it appears – from other photos and the fact that no officer was injured (or at least not so reported) – that the crowd side wasn’t patrolled. In the videos, the police had their backs to the explosion and their eyes on the runners. What was their perception of the threat that day? Or were they just front row spectators to give the illusion of presence?

    The police can’t, and shouldn’t be expected to be, everywhere. However, this does seem to be another sad tale of a basic failing.

    1. Barry

      That’s an assumption and nothing more.

      I think it makes reasonable sense that most of the officers are protecting the racers- and quite likely a much smaller number walking through the crowd areas. After all, the crowd at marathons is largely made up of family members, children, and friends of the racers. It’s not exactly a crowd that screams out “heavy police presence needed.”

      The 2nd guessing that the police and risk management officials will be doing now will be more focused on why where any trash cans, mailboxes, or containers of any kind allowed to stay put in crowded areas. From watching National Geo specials about the secret service and presidential visits- one of the very first things that get moved out are containers of any kind.

      Of course in this case it appears the containers weren’t used. However, a trash bag sitting by itself usually draws some interest – but a trash bag sitting next to a trash container isn’t going to be touched- nor will it draw any interest from anyone.

      2. Steven Davis II

        So from now on will mailboxes, trash cans, paper boxes, etc… are expected to be removed for every parade, race, event? Who’s going to pay for the removal and installation of those items.

        Will trash cans be removed from concerts, sporting events, and other heavily traffic areas? How about in a subway… that’d be a prime location for a bomb because you’d have a directional blast if placed up against a wall.

  5. Brad Warthen Post author

    The photo is by Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki, and was chosen for the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated. It’s a cropped version of this wider-angle photo.

    From The Globe:

    A shout-out to Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki, who snapped the dramatic photo of 78-year-old Bill Iffrig, who hit the deck after the first of Monday’s two bomb blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The image, which went viral almost immediately, says it all about the frantic, scary moments after the explosions. And Sports Illustrated seems to agree. The magazine chose Tlumacki’s pic for the cover of the issue it is racing onto newsstands. Explaining the decision to use the picture of Iffrig, SI managing editor Chris Stone said: “We felt it truly captured the horrific moment at the end of the race — there’s a fallen runner, police with their guns drawn, and loose debris from the explosion.” We’re told it’s the first Sports Illustrated cover with a non-sports figure — not counting the magazine’s annual swimsuit issue — since Sept. 26, 2011.

    Here’s another picture you might have seen from Tlumacki, taken apparently a split-second later.

  7. Burl Burlingame

    So girls in bikinis are “sports figures,” while an old guy running a marathon isn’t? Go figure.

    Oh, and good guys do outnumber bad guys. That’s why bad guys need easy access to machine guns, to even things up.

          1. Steven Davis II

            conflationary, I thought that was a term used to describe rising prison inmate numbers.

        2. Steven Davis II

          So then, how do you tell the difference between good guy machine gun owners and bad guy machine gun owners?

      1. Steven Davis II

        No idea what you’re talking about, or are you just writing stuff as it pops into your head… Mary had a little lamb, right-click on your My Documents file… kinda fun.

Comments are closed.