That didn't last long. Not even two full news cycles. There were more pictures of the week's football games than of the blasts that rocked mainland China last week. Certain internet scrubbers must have been busy on the other side of the world.
But in the first few hours after the bombings, the Associated Press did manage to send the rest of the world a dark photo of a building in southern China. The picture looked suspiciously similar to a photograph of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., after another bombing circa 1995.
Dispatches say dozens of mail bombs exploded across southern China Wednesday and Thursday. At least seven people were killed, and dozens wounded. That's the official count anyway.
Also official: This was not terrorism. That's the official word from official sources from approved spokescomrades in Beijing, and that word was sent out before the smoke cleared. Instead, the government blamed the bombings on a Disgruntled Citizen.
Nope, not terrorism. The government is calling the bombings a criminal act.
Criminal act? Or terrorism?
Here's a question: Why can't it be both?
Editorial on 10/05/2015