To be quite honest, me too. I expected it to just be background radiation: I too feel badly, conflicted and confused. I didn't expect this.

Sitting at the top like that it really does start to look like soap-boxing or attention whoring. Apologies all, I really didn't mean it that way.

I think you're being too hard on yourself. I live in Boston and have friends who were in very real danger, and I still had that same thought go through my head. On the merits of the the thought, we should not accord much weight to the "it's too soon!" line of thinking. Nor is the tragedy of a death proportional to its media coverage. So you aren't being monstrous.

But more importantly, having a thought you aren't proud of is no mortal sin, nor is publishing it honestly on the internet. You're supposed to feel conflicted and confused; something bad happened and we're all going to have a wide range emotionally-charged responses.

I didn't read it as attention whoring. I'd be inclined to think that the relatively few (but nevertheless very visible) harsh responses you've received are at least in part expected, valid, and understandable reactions to the possibility that you might just be right. After all, we don't want to believe that a tragic event like this might be used to tighten the noose of security around our collective necks. But what if it does?

Given recent history, there's little reason to feel that it won't and plenty to worry that it will.

Well stop agonizing about it and delete it then. I'm not saying that to be snarky, I'm pointing out that it's something useful you can do right now to get it off the top of the page.

That doesn't accomplish anything useful. A day or two from now, someone who hasn't yet seen the thread will wonder what the "deleted" part of the conversation was for.

The best thing to do if you disagree with the position of the OP's comment is to upvote other siblings. Personally, I think this discussion is interesting because it addresses in real time the implications of what this attack might be (if any).

Good news. Looks like someone upstairs noticed and knocked it to the bottom.

Thank you, moderators.

All's well that ends well,then. I understand you didn't expect it to become the top comment.