bosoxs45's Blog

On occasion I interact with parents of BC athletes. One of my first recommendations is “don’t read the BC message boards.” I base this advice on history and the nature of the forum. Mostly unmonitored and relatively anonymous posters pick apart all aspects of the players and coaches lives with little worry about fact, slander or the consequences of their posts. I am not condemning the medium. I am active on one board and have spent numerous hours reading and enjoying both. They are vital to BC sports. However, every message board (including those outside of sports) builds up its own patois, list of references and humor that can easily be taken out of context by outsiders. At the end of the day, message boards are not for the faint of heart. If you are easily offended or sensitive, it is best to avoid and ignore them.

That preamble leads me to this bit of news via the Brighton blog: community activists are aware that they are being discussed and mocked on the BC message boards. For better or worse, BC is getting involved. The school has apologized for the behavior of the boards and may take action against Scout and/or Rivals.

In my opinion, BC should steer clear of this whole mess. Neither site is owned or officially affiliated with the school. If these remarks had run in the reader comments section of a Herald or Globe article, would the school feel the need to get involved? In my opinion these activists will never be happy with any BC solution for the Brighton campus (nor any changes to the main campus). Engaging in dialogue about these offensive comments or apologizing for the actions of anonymous message board posters just distracts from the bigger issue at hand -- the land. The neighbors have shown very little flexibility or willingness to discuss realistic solutions. Acknowledging this message board nonsense or even taking partial responsibility just reinforces the activists firmly-held (and unlikely to change) beliefs that BC and its community are a bunch of ogres trying to destroy Brighton.

As for the comments themselves…I don’t condone them. They are in poor tastes. But I don’t think anyone should give them any attention. I’ve seen much worse on the internet. The reality of today’s world (where anything can be said on a message board or blog and personal information is readily available via google) is that the minute these Brighton folks got involved and started writing, campaigning and giving interviews they opened themselves up as targets.

I would love to see this all get resolved. BC needs the Brighton campus. It would also add to the community around campus. But any long-time observer of the situation can tell you this won’t end smoothly or soon. Let’s move forward. The focus should be on solutions that work, not offensive online nonsense.

If haven't seen this already on youtube,its about Bill O'Reilly Blasts Virginia Tech President Over Rapper NAS.

First things first,I grew up in the early 90's where Hip-Hop was king.I admit today's generation is nothing but,crap.

Bill doesn't even listen to the songs in its entirety.He cherry picks quotes in the songs to portray's  Nas as rapper who promotes violence.First off,there couldn't be a better choice of a performer to sing at VT than Nas.Anyone who listens to Hip-Hop knows that Nas is one of the most positive rappers around.He's not a "gangster rapper" nor promotes violence in any way.Nas talks about, all types of issues and promotes peace and education to kids.He wasn't asked to perform he was selected.

 

I'm moving to Canada by the way people have overrated to a stupid ignorant statement,seriously Maria,David,bloggers.I've never liked Imus or his radio show;but this is a disgrace,He got Janet Jacksoned. Unreal.This country really is going to heck by their PC'ness.I'm sorry,Don Imus has no reason to apologize. 

While it seems like the school is trying to protect its students, they are going about it the wrong way. Its a violation of free speech to police the students in this way. Educating the students about the dangers of a web presence would be a more reasonable approach.I don't understand why can't they just have blockings of(those unsafe sites,myspace ect) My cousin told me they blocked Sports Illustrated's website,because they have photos of women in swimsuits.(it's a freakin sports site,gimme a break.) I mean my work place has a little bit of freedom of what I should be able to look at during my work hours.It keeps me busy from blowing my mind out.

 

what's your take on this? 

Nice! The "bombs" are glorified Lite Brites. Boston officials need someone to blame for the scare so ATHF will get dragged thru the mud. I didn't know that flashing lights constituted as bombs. If so, there must be a lot of possible bomb threats all over the country. I only hope that the creative minds behind this campaign don't get blasted too hard. Look at the pics in one of the links above. There is no way this was a "sick joke". Someone had an overreaction. At least we can feel safe knowing people are calling weird stuff like this in.
Come on, the morons who planted fake bombs all over Boston should obviously be blamed, whether or not you like ATHF. You have to assume that a bomb-looking device is a bomb, err on the side of caution. This is no doubt a good amount of publicity, but whoever thought it up should at least pay a large fine, if not serve a brief prison term.
I partly agree, yes it was slightly blown out of proportion but at the same time they have to react that way when something like this is called in. If you don't know what ATHF is, the figure on the front is just some cartoon-like thing giving you the finger, it's irrelevant to the actual "device". When something consisting of wires and circuit-boards is found hanging underneath a bunch of overpasses on major roadways at the same time... people are going to think something is weird and the police can't ignore it.