I know two people who have kids who know Dzhokhar (the younger, alive, brother) from Cambridge Rindge and Latin H.S. I know all kinds of kids at Rindge & Latin. It's a couple of blocks away from the Choir School where I teach. Dzhokhar was, from every appearance, a well-adjusted, popular, *normal* kid, who was, i believe, the captain of the wrestling team at R&L. I've heard a lot of kids talk about him, and they sound just like my 16 and 18-year-olds. His older brother sounds like a classic maladjusted immigrant--no friends, etc., but Dzhokhar came here when he was really little, Seemingly, he was completely Americanized, and an athletic, popular kid. I say "seemingly," because God knows what was going on behind the all-American exterior.
My Eastern European/Russian friends (most of the people I work with) tell me that there are two separate but related beefs Chechyns have with Russia and the rest of the world (the same thing in Chechyn eyes): 1) There's Chechyn independence. The Chechyns are old-school and miss Stalin a lot, not to mention the Czar, who REALLY knew how to kick ass, BTW. They want to be the Czar's bodyguard and wear cool hats and long swords, or they want the Russians to go to hell and let the Chechyns run things in their neck of the woods, where they can really, REALLY kick ass. And then there's, 2) The Moslem thing. We all know that one.
So, those are Chechyn beefs in a nutshell. How they get a popular, Americanized-seeming, happy young guy to kill and maim innocent bystanders and to throw his own life away, well, that's anyone's guess.
Stay tuned.
16 comments:
No reason to get excited, said the Dzhokhar to the thief...
I had a Boston report too.
tits.
Yes Titus, but Troop front pages you all the time and even gave you your own series.
Tim rarely gets the attention he deserves.
I'll chirbit your Boston experience if you want me to though.
As Paul Lynde though, of course.
My terms.
This made me think of Elvis Presley.
Elvis died at 42, a frightfully young age for anyone's life to end. His death ended what was a career of unparalleled brilliance. There had never been a singer or performer like him, especially like early Elvis. And no on since has come close.
He died overweight, drug addicted, and over indulged. He had everything and anything he asked. Money, fame, and sycophants. Especially sycophants.
His best buddies were also his band members and backup singers. The Jordanaires, they were called. And whatever Elvis wanted the answer was "Right away, King!" They brought him food, drugs, women, and all kinds of indulgences. They let him beat them up during karate practice so he'd think he was the best on at that sport.
What Elvis needed was one good friend who had the balls to look in in the eye and tell him to knock off the shit and behave like a man and stop his damn nonsense because it was going to kill him. He didn't have that; he had sycophants and toadies. And he died.
That kid in Boston, the young one, needed one good friend tell him to quit fucking around with the shit his older brother was doing. He needed someone to grab him by his shirt, drag him outside and tell him "Listen shitforbrains, I'm going to beat your ass until you get some sense about this. That shit your brother is planning is not going to end well for you. Knock it the hell off."
It's the kind of stuff an uncle would do, or an older friend who had some wisdom and chops.
It's happened to you, hasn't it? Someone knocked some sense into you when you were seriously lacking in the sense department? I sure happened to me, thank God.
Poor stupid kid. What a fucking waste of a life, caught up in the fantasy of that terrorist shit.
I think that's a weird comparison Michael. You could have picked somebody who actually killed somebody (besides himself). It's not like terror bombing is unprecedented. We're all fascinated by the Chechan background and all, but still, Elvis? JMO
Let's start calling Titus "Needy"
Hello.
I think I have decided that I want to be the gay Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter.
Yes, I am married to a brownie Indian but I want more danger.
I want to marry a hot fundamental terrorist muzzie and move to his country and risk my life.
This past week has cemented my goals. I want them hot, insane, psycho and struggling with living among Americans. I also want them completely unable to socialize yet still get it up late at night in the cover of darkness and suck cracker hog.
The rare clumber will be shipped off to live with the parents and I will move where ever and when ever to assume my role. And yes I will be in full beekeeper outfit.
Thank you.
I want to marry a hot fundamental terrorist muzzie and move to his country and risk my life.
Just tell your Indian hubby you want to fudge Pak. He'll under 'stan"
Don't forget to pack the RAPEX!
I'm going to quote a Facebook update I wrote this morning. I'm referring to a piece by Kevin Cullen in the Boston Globe that I linked here as well:
"This, especially for my out-of-town friends, is a must-read. I've commented on how tough it can be for newcomers in the Boston area. As a newcomer myself 30-odd years ago, I can tell you stories. But one point of Kevin Cullen's piece is that the Tsarnaev brothers settled in Cambridge, one of the most open and welcoming places in the US. They did not find themselves in some tight little neighborhood, like I did, where nobody had moved in or out for 100 years, very common in Boston and environs when I arrived. Of course, a lot has changed in 30 years, one of which is Cambridge has gotten even more open and welcoming, for all the good it did here."
A Tale of Two Immigrants - Metro - The Boston Globe
Tim, Thanks much..great column. And please don't ever move to Maine, it takes 20 years to be accepted.
The thing that's hardest for us to get our western heads around is that Jihad to a muslim is honorable. What that means is that the two who committed this absolutely horrific act, well, to them it wasn't horrific, they didn't have to overcome the natural revulsion that would have filled them if they had set out to kill fellow muslims. We are infidels to them and that's not just a word. We, by existing, insult their Allah. This is hammered into their heads in childhood. We are to be converted (a large part of which involves sowing fear by terrorizing the general infidel population) or killed. Period. Don't think for a minute there was anything unique about this twosome, there are a great many more just like them in our country and they're walking time bombs. Which, by the way, will never be admitted by the scum in the White House, nor will he and his minions take measures that might make us a bit safer.
And one last thing from a soon-to-be ordained Jesuit who had family and friends at the finish line.
Along with Kevin Cullen's Boston Globe article, this, to me, is important. There is anger, but a refusal to hate, a Christian understanding of evil, the possibility of repentance, and what needs to be done, in fact, to keep everyone safe.
Dear Dzhokhar
But I was told this was the Religion of Peace®? Or is it Pieces?
Here is another look at Chechyns, and why I mentioned "kicking ass":
Confessions of A Wannabe Chechen
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