Lileks and Steyn cover the madness in Beslan better than I can.
Lileks handles the media reaction to the horror:
Cicadas, airplanes, wind in the trees. A peaceful weekend. At least here. Theres a bloody child on the front page of the newspaper. The Strib subhead calls them Islamic guerrillas and fighters and militants, because you know one mans terrorist is another mans disciple of God who practices his sharpshooting so he can nail children in the back at 50 paces. This teaser to an inside story made my jaw bruise my sternum: This weeks bloodbath in Russia shattered the notion that innocents are taboo terror victims. This is why I despair sometimes. Now we learn that innocents are no longer taboo terror victims.
Steyn covers why sadness isn’t enough:
Sorry, it won’t do. I remember a couple of days after September 11 writing in some column or other that weepy candlelight vigils were a cop-out: the issue wasn’t whether you were sad about the dead people but whether you wanted to do something about it. Three years on, that’s still the difference. We can all get upset about dead children, but unless you’re giving honest thought to what was responsible for the slaughter your tasteful elegies are no use. Nor are the hyper-rationalist theories about “asymmetrical warfare”.
Good stuff about bad stuff.
