April 19, 2013 
(EDIT: lively Facebook discussion on this blog here. Feel free to join in)
On the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 I blogged about how the terrorists had succeeded in changing the very fabric of our culture and had thus won. Now, in the wake of the horrific events surrounding the bombing of the Boston Marathon, I say again that the terrorists have won.
As I type this blog, a massive manhunt is taking place in Boston for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect still alive and on the run. The entire city of Boston is shut down as a result of this manhunt:
- All schools are shut down
- Taxi cab service is shut down
- Buses, subways, and other public transportation are shut down
- Businesses are being told to stay closed and not open today
- Residents are being told to stay indoors and stay home
- The FAA has suspended all flights in and out of Boston and has declared Boston a “no fly” zone.
- Thousands of police are roaming the streets, fully armed, going door-to-door looking for Dzhokhar.
All of this; for a single man. A man who perpetuated a horrific and terrible crime, along with his brother who is now dead, but a single man nonetheless.
Much of the city of Boston is on lockdown. That, in addition to the, literally, hundreds (if not thousands) of officers on the street means that this is costing tens of millions of dollars. For a single man.
We have, yet again, allowed the terrorists to consume our lives, allowed fear to dictate our behavior, and allowed city, state and national governments to grind an entire locale to an economic and social halt – all to hunt a single man.
No man is worth the destruction of our way of life. No amount of perceived “safety” is worth the complete relinquishing of our rights. I was so proud of the measured and appropriate response of authorities to this point. I was overwhelmed by the fearlessness and compassion of the people who jumped in at a time of crisis to help their fellow man.
And now this. The terrorists win when we allow them to dictate our behavior. This is not the behavior of people who “refuse to be terrorized” as President Obama recently said.
The terrorists win when an entire city is shut down to find a single man.
The Binary Biker 
The only thought I have after reading this is simple: What should the alternative be? It’s not a baiting question, but an actual inquiry about what the “right” way to handle this *could* be?
Depends on wether or not you agree that the terrorist must be cause at all costs. If you do not believe so, then you hunt the terrorist without shutting down the entire city. Warn the populace, and make them responsible for their own safety. Enforce smaller “restricted” areas as you get closer to the suspect. Don’t take the approach of killing a cockroach with a bazooka – you may get the bug, but you’ve destroyed your home.