BRIAN WILLIAMS: THE KILLERS OF CHILDREN ARE “TWO DISAFFECTED YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ACTED OUT”

4/19/13

As I write this, Brian Williams is anchoring the CNBC (and I presume the NBC) special coverage of the aftermath of the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.  As part of his coverage, Mr. Williams asked one of his guests whether we know at this stage whether the Boston abomination was part of a wider scheme or, to use Mr. Williams’ words…

“two disaffected young people who acted out.”

The question is a legitimate one, and yours truly thinks that the law enforcement agencies and the politicians involved in (or, in the latter case, glomming onto) this case ought to be a little more circumspect in assuring us that the case has been solved and the danger has passed, especially when, according to reports, the national security exception is being invoked to deny Mr. Tsarnaev his Miranda rights; why give this guy a possibly fruitful legal angle to work?   But I digress.

While the question may have been a good one, how about Mr. Williams’ choice of words?   “Two disaffected young people who acted out?”   How politically correct!   How understanding and anodyne!  How non-judgmental!  How in line with the new American therapeutic ethos of always finding a way to soften and humanize the most savage and barbaric!

These weren’t “two disaffected young people who acted out”.   They were two vicious, bloodthirsty, horrific, thugs who killed four very young people who had done nothing more than either enjoy a sporting event or do their job protecting other people.

Let’s not try to humanize those who have violently and callously forfeited their human cards by referring to them, oh so humanely, oh so understandingly, as “two disaffected young people who acted out.”   Let’s call them the bloodthirsty, heartless, murdering cowards that they are, or were.