If terrorism isn't involved...

[Coinneach]

...then why do They keep bringing it up?

Every. Single. Time. There's a disaster, like this morning's explosion in NYC, some meat puppet from the Executive branch feels the need to remind us that "terrorism isn't a factor."

I have my own cynical thoughts, but I'd like to see what the rest of you have to say about this.

 

[jcoiii]

The surface answer is "because people are immediately thinking 'is this terrorist-related."

A little deeper is "because we're the media and we have to assure the poor, innocent, scared public and make them feel safe"

beyond that, I'm sure there's more, but I'm too lazy to worry and too apathetic about the news media to care anyway

 

[Eghad]

Well I think the market value of that house went down. I dont think any body got killed though...amazing.

 

[Ausserordeutlich]

Assuring people who experienced 9/11 that an exploding building isn't due to terrorists' actions sounds pretty prudent to me. What would you suggest, just leave them wondering?

 

[gc70]

What would you say if you were an administration spokesperson and a Starbucks-addled reporter asked "Do you have any comment on the building explosion in New York?"

Obvious answers might be "no" (not popular with the press), "I hope nobody was hurt" (sounds pretty shallow), or "that's not a federal government issue" (true, but sounds callous). Since the spokesperson probably wants to say something that is at least halfway related to the federal government's responsibilities, you end up with an answer like "terrorism isn't a factor."

 

[Coinneach]

What would you suggest, just leave them wondering?

No. I suggest answering the gorram question, not that this was the Administration's problem anyway.

What would you say if you were an administration spokesperson and a Starbucks-addled reporter asked "Do you have any comment on the building explosion in New York?"

I would say something like "Of course I, like everyone else, regret this tragic incident. However, handling it is best left to the folks on the scene. If Mayor Bloomberg requests the assistance of the Federal government, we'll be happy to oblige."

 

[JR47]

Which is enough to let the MSM talking heads discuss the possibility of a terrorist incident. Add then, that the government ( pick one, local, state, or federal) is investigating thoroughly, and doesn't want to unduly alarm the public, and off we go.

Besides, with the instant media blitz, there was probably not a definitive answer available. It can take days to pin-point the cause of such an explosion, but only hours for trained investigators to determine if some sort of man-made source was used.

 

[Waitone]

Rule of thumb I use.

The chances of terror motivations is inversely proportional to the amount of time that elapses between the incident and governmental denial.

Event A happens and govt immediately denies it was a terror hit. It was a terror hit.

Event B happens and government waits numerous days to deny it was a terror hit. It most like was not a terror hit.