This morning a lot of Boston commuters were late for work, thanks to a suspicious package found under a bridge near I-93. The "package," newspapers reported, had tubes and wires sticking out of it and was eventually contained and neutralized. After the device was safely detonated and determined to not be an explosive device, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went on with their lives.
Until a few hours later, when another package was found under another bridge. And then another. At least five packages were found, all under bridges. What the heck was going on? Why were they all under bridges? Were we being attacked by trolls?
Sirens went off all over the city. People started to panic. A press conference was scheduled for 4 PM, with both the mayor and governor set to address the rash of suspicious devices.
Here's a photo of one of the "packages":
And here's one of the "packages" under a bridge at night (sorry, all i could get was a link).
During the press conference, the mayor said the devices were "inert" and was calling the whole thing a hoax, but warned citizens that if they say any of these devices to call 911.
I know that our authorities and political leaders more than likely have never heard of Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, or even guerrilla marketing. And being a major metropolitan area ripe for terrorist attacks can make anyone a little jumpy. But couldn't anyone have thought to go on the internet, where they'd find that this things are popping up in cities all over the country? Here's one in Philly, which actually references one of the ones in Boston, as well as mentioning them appearing in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles , Atlanta, Chicago, Philly, Portland, Miami, Seattle, and Boston. And they've been up for TWO TO THREE WEEKS! But as far as I know, we're the only ones that blew them up. Way to go, Boston.
UPDATE: Turner Broadcasting has issued an apology for the ad campaign.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long...
14 comments:
Amazingly, nearly everyone over the age of 30 is continuing to refer to these things as "hoax devices" and are trying to figure out what the people who put them up were trying to accomplish.
For crying out loud, IT'S NOT A HOAX!! A hoax would be intentionally placing fake bombs all over the place. This was a national AD CAMPAIGN, that had been in place for weeks, and the objects in question (which I wish they'd stop calling "packages," because that makes them sound like something they're not) are freaking magnetic Lite Brites. How do you confuse that with a bomb? Have we gone completely insane? It angers and frightens me to no end that people are so easily thrown into a panic. Aside from the fact that they don't look anything like a bomb (not that I know what a bomb looks like, but I'd assume there'd be some kind of explosive device held within it, right?) but if you were going to stick bombs all over the city, with the intention of causing destruction, wouldn't you hide them from public view?
There are actually people questioning what Cartoon Network was trying to accomplish with the "hoax". They think this was some sort of practical joke, even though the light up ads were intend to illuminate at night, not be mistaken for an explosive device. As to what they hoped to accomplish, what does any ad campaign hope to accomplish? And this one in particular, thanks to all the media attention, inadvertently worked better then they could ever hope for.
So far, they've arrested two people. For an ad campaign. That they police blew up. I can't help but think all this posturing is the police trying to save face for taking this so ridiculously out of proportion. Don't get me wrong, when they got the first report, I think they did exactly what they were supposed to do. But just thirty seconds of research could have determined what the thing was and could have avoided the day-long, city-wide disruption that followed.
The only thing that really troubles me about this is that the ads had been up for a few weeks. And apparently jittery motorists just started noticing them yesterday. If they really were bombs, we'd all be dead by now.
Wouldn't the fact that they were giving the finger tip them off? Terrorists give us hugs and falafels, not tell us we suck. And here's the crazy thing - since when do bombs come with pictures? I was going to rant about this today, so I'm glad you took care of it for me. For crying loud, people, watch cartoons!
"I was going to rant about this today, so I'm glad you took care of it for me. For crying loud, people, watch cartoons!"
Hey, this is my home turf. When Nebraskan police start blowing up suspicious billboards for Arby's or something, run with it.
I'm almost positive that an actual bomb wouldn't have blinking light all over it to draw attention to it. But what do I know?
If this was a TV show, the real terrorists would then show up with bombs masquerading as Err. All part of the plot, you see. And the citizens would then laugh and point and say, "You can't fool me! You're inert!" followed by an ear-splitting KA-BOOM! seconds later.
Terrorists are big on ironic twists and stuff like that.
Way to go Mr. S...
Now they'll know just what to do, thanks to your advice. :P
Maybe Cartoon Network was just waiting for someone to fly off the handle, and Bombston was the key for their hole.
...or something like that....
As a person over 30 I must protest. I'm not calling them hoax devices. Just saying... with a bit of a grumpy expression on my face.
I was yelling at the TV yesterday, (us old farts do that), because they kept calling them packages. I loved the press conference with the kids they arrested. They seem to be the only ones treating this whole situation with the respect it deserves.
"As a person over 30 I must protest. I'm not calling them hoax devices. Just saying... with a bit of a grumpy expression on my face."
Sorry, didn't mean any ofence. I meant over thirty mentally. No wait, that's not right either. Especially considering the way some people reacted.
How about this: there seems to be a steep generation gap, with a variable age cut-off. Ah, that's better.
I've seen the show, but if I saw one of those under a bridge, it would get my attention. How could the Boston PD know it wasn't set to a timer? They were just doing their jobs.
Jose
Explosive devices usually have explosives attached to them.
How did you know they didn't? I'm glad nothing happened, I'm just saying better safe than sorry.
Jose
Ummm, What about the fact that there is a Billboard with the same picture right off of Route 93 GOING INTO BOSTON.
Perfect Southwestern Airlines Commercial, wanna get away?
"Ummm, What about the fact that there is a Billboard with the same picture right off of Route 93 GOING INTO BOSTON.
Perfect Southwestern Airlines Commercial, wanna get away?"
Exactly. You know I'm not one to go around saying the police suck and all that, but in this case they really messed up.
Part of their job is to make people feel safe. They're supposed to keep their cool. Instead, they sent everyone into a panic that could have easily been avoided. When they got the first call, they did the right thing, I don't think there's any question about that. They went out to investigate the call just like they were supposed to, and did everything right, right up until they blew thing up instead of taking a closer look at what it was. That's literally the definition of shoot first and ask questions later.
Not everything with circuit boards and wires is a bomb, you'd think that, if not an average citizen, then at least the BOMB SQUAD would know what constitutes a bomb. If they had determined that the first one was just a light-up sign, then all the mess that followed all day would have never happened, and would have saved the city $500,000, or whatever it was (I heard it might have actually cost over a million.)
Now Boston's pretty much the laughing stock of the entire country for our overreaction, which honestly I think in itself is an overreaction. A lot of people are comparing this to they panic caused by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938.
To be a little more original, it reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons. Yes, It's sad that I find a relevant Simpsons moment for virtually every occasion, but the way the police, government and media overreacted to some Lite Brites reminds me of the time Lisa came to Homer after having a bad dream about the boogeyman. Instead of making her feel safe, he screams, runs into Bart's room and says, "Bart, I don't want to alarm you, but there may be a boogeyman or boogeymen in the house!" When Marge comes home, she finds Homer and her terrified children hiding in a sofa-cushion fort with a rifle pointed at the door. Here's a clip.
That's pretty much what happened.
Yes, the Boston Police came across as a bunch of ridiculous twits in this one. Perhaps they've been watching too much 24. Or Fox News. Whichever.
I don't have any plans to build a bomb (hear that, Homeland Security?), but if I did, I think adding a lighted finger-giving thingy is an excellent idea. It should light up right when you cut the wrong wire, just before the *BOOM*.
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