Comments on: Minnesota al Qaeda Attack Thwarted by Patriot … or maybe not

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:39:00 +0000

i think asses like greg laden are the al qaeda… i guess he feels good ripping on an ad who acted in safety of the players and others around. they didnt know if he was going on the court to unload a clip, start a fight, or anything else. i cant believe this guy writes this kind of horse shit

By: NJ

NJ — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:11:31 +0000

Sorry, but I’m not much of a koolaid drinker, Liz. The fear factor of someone out of control at a HS basketball game? More likely driven by Columbine, Va Tech and NIU than al Qaeda. And as Tom noted, 10 years ago the response would have been the same (plenty of video footage of nutcases disrupting pro sports events being treated similarly is available).Petra- I think I got the point of the post: Greg was using his personal indignation over that tackle to generalize about our excessive paranoia about terrorism. I think that his aim was a good idea, he just chose the wrong video snippet to support it.Matt Penfold- there’s a difference between force and violence. The AD used force to restrain the kid.jefrir- leading the kid off by the arm is an excellent idea…unless he has a weapon. And if you have someone off-kilter enough to disrupt a game like that, you have to take that into consideration.Again, let’s keep in mind that this was not a particularly powerful tackle. Anyone who has been in HS football, basketball (and even baseball on some days!) has taken and given hits worse than this all the time.

By: grieve

grieve — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:20:54 +0000

I really was expecting a much more exciting tackle after all the build up.I really wouldn’t consider that violence, so much as aggression.

By: Junco

Junco — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:30:57 +0000

This was the second time he ran onto the court? Why was he not removed after the first time? This might not have come to a violent confrontation if there was a nonviolent enforcement of behavior standards after the first incident.The athletic director and/or principal should have defined a policy of what constitutes acceptable spectator behavior. They should have put in place a nonviolent enforcement plan to deal with disruptive people. And they should have acted on it. Instead, they let the disruptive person stay and so bear direct responsibility for the second incedent. Is this really the first time some youth was disruptive in their high school?I disagree however that number 2 “safe environment” issue is a bugaboo. My take is the same as David Canzi above. I have been at sporting events that seemed very much in danger of turning into melees and/or stampedes because of disruptive fans arousing the ire of hundreds or thousands of people packed in close quarters. Unless, of course, the athletic director has actually made his justification for number 2 in terms of terrorism. If so, then shame on him.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:05:15 +0000

David, from a safe emotional distance is exactly where we should be discussing this kind of thing, at least if we want to think about it while we’re talking. Intoxicated kids (and plenty of other people) will do stupid stuff again. If we discuss reasonable responses now and ask people to think about better ways to handle things, the next idiot kid is less likely to get his face smashed into the bleachers, which almost happened this time. About two feet make the difference between cheering and screaming in this footage.And allowing people to cheer this unquestioned makes the kind of crowd reaction you hypothesize more probable too. Make the maverick the hero, and everybody wants to be a maverick.

By: ...tom...

...tom... — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:58:38 +0000

…Hmmm.Transport this incident back ten years. I can easily see the same thing happening.I have to think that laying this at the feet of al Qaeda hysteria (to slightly mangle that clichÃ©) seems a bit much….tom….

By: jefrir

jefrir — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:53:37 +0000

Personally I don’t see how jumping on the guy achieved anything that taking him by the arms and leading him off would not have done – and even if it did, an activities director stopping a game from being disrupted does not in any way make him a hero. In fact,I’d see it as kind of part of his job.

By: decrepitoldfool

decrepitoldfool — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:58:01 +0000

All our cinematic heroes are toughguys and our politicians emulate them. Our national motto could be “Go ahead, make my day”. When redshirt guy assaults the interloper the cheerleaders clap, the crowd cheers, the cops rush to assist him, and he’s lionized in a video with triumphal music. Interloper guy had committed a serious crime in our culture; he disrupted a basketball game.No wonder it’s so easy to get us into a war.

By: David Canzi

David Canzi — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:56:48 +0000

Unlike you I do see a threat to the “safe environment” here but not directly from the young fool interrupting the game or his egg-throwing buddies. The first angry fan who came down off the stands to stop the young fool’s second interruption of the game would have been followed by more, and then things would have gotten really dangerous. And if some people had also been hit by thrown eggs, that would likely make it worse.Perhaps Janke thought this out before he tackled the kid. More likely he just lost his temper and acted without thinking. I’m not criticizing him either way.There is nothing admirable about pontificating from a safe emotional distance.

By: Doug Alder

Doug Alder — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:01:42 +0000

Greg – good post however there are two meaning for the word integrity. One is for morality the other is for continuity. I think you may have confused them herehttp://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=integrity# S: (n) integrity, unity, wholeness (an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting) “the integrity of the nervous system is required for normal development”; “he took measures to insure the territorial unity of Croatia”# S: (n) integrity (moral soundness) “he expects to find in us the common honesty and integrity of men of business”; “they admired his scrupulous professional integrity”the comment “to preserve the integrity of the game” could be referring to ensuring the game is not broken up any more than it has been by the interruption. (not likely I agree but still a possibility)