Bridge falls into Mississippi river

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I saw the NBC interruption bearing this news. It was naturally shocking and I felt poorly for the victims, but the voiceover person said something that gave me a bit of a "WTF" moment.

He said, "We've spoken with a representative from the Department of Homeland Security and they do not believe that this was an act of terrorism."

And why would it be? A bridge collapsing is a plausibly domestic problem. In fact, the possibility of terrorism hadn't occurred to me - or anyone in the room - until that nimrod said anything. The comment felt more like a quick grab at sensationalism than anything else.

Actually, uhhh. Back right after 9/11 'round these parts, they had both state troopers and the guard out by the major bridges and water supplies.

The national guards literally carried big guns and were OMNIOUS looking. Usually, people went for walks over some of the dams and around the reservoir. They were no longer allowed to, thanks to scary people with guns.

Of course, after 9/11 kind of fell into the cobwebs of most peoples' minds, this hype died down.

I saw the news and I was thinking "Huh. If I was a terrorist, thats not how I would terrorize the nation." But it did cross my mind in a kind of humorous moment, which I shouldn't have had.

You have to admit, though. It LOOKS cool.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I guess my point is that it's not healthy for a nation's first response to calamity to be one of suspicion and cultural animosity. The proper response is "What a shame.", not "Which cowardly bunch of sand-niggers did it this time?"

It's been a reasonable amount of time since 9/11, but the damned news media just won't let the people heal. Even mentioning terrorism still stirs the pot of fear and intolerance. That's what bothers me about the coverage.

It's a sad state of affairs, that. The people have been told to constantly worry about "attacks on America." You never know what they're going to do next! Live in worry! Live in fear of those attacks. Are you kidding me.

The only reason I thought of terrorism (and subsequently wondered if other bridges would fall) is because the bridge crossed the Mississippi. I was thinking maybe other bridges would fall from north to south in a nice line-up.

But that's mostly because I love drama, so.

Ence, it's an extremely rare thing to happen. It's happened before, sure. But considering all the bridges in the US that we pass over without even thinking out it, it's not a very regular kind of incident.

Weather conditions I doubt had anything to do with it, though. Fluctuations in seasonal temperatures would be considered in the engineering of a bridge in Minnesota (or anywhere else with vast differences in season temps/conditions).

I'm willing to put $10 on shore erosion.

There's nowhere I can't reach.