Jorge just sent me several articles on the ridiculous bomb scare in Boston, where two men were arrested for placing ads for a guerilla marketing campaign for that most nefarious of all status quo subverters - the Cartoon Network.
This week, we have something else happen that is ridiculous. Bruce Schneier has a good overview of the events. My summary: Cartoon Network puts up magnetic signs with blinking LEDs advertising some cartoon in ten cities, including Boston. Photo of one of these in Cambridge is the accompaning photo. After two to three weeks, people in Boston notice them and think, “Oh, my God! Blinking lights, wires! It must be (cue organ) terrorists!” They shut down half the city. They postured, they arrested the perps.
This brouhaha is worthy of ridicule for two reasons. First, they were embarrassingly wrong. Second, they were two weeks late! Comparing Boston’s Finest to the Keystone Kops is a grave insult to the memory and bravery of those immortal boys in blue.
That’s from Emergent Chaos, referring to Bruce Schneier’s post.
The story is almost too funny to write about seriously. To advertise the Cartoon Network show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” the network put up 38 blinking signs (kind of like Lite Brites) around the Boston area. The Boston police decid ed — with absolutely no supporting evidence — that these were bombs and shut down parts of the city.
Now the police look stupid, but they’re trying really not hard not to act humiliated:
Governor Deval Patrick told the Associated Press: “It’s a hoax — and it’s not funny.”
Unfortunately, it is funny. What isn’t funny is now the Boston government is trying to prosecute the artist and the network instead of owning up to their own stupidity. The police now claim that they were “hoax” explosive devices. I don’t think you can claim they are hoax explosive devices unless they were intended to look like explosive devices, which merely a cursory look at any of them shows that they weren’t.
But it’s much easier to blame others than to admit that you were wrong.
Schneier’s post is worth reading in full. What did the suspected bombs, which were up for weeks before the police noticed, looked like?
A Mooninite, from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Two more bits: