You’ve probably heard about the recent bomb scare in Boston.
In a guerilla marketing scheme gone awry, some crudely made lightboards featuring poorly drawn cartoon characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force were mistaken for bombs. The media coverage of the scare has been wall-to-wall. Predictably, most media outlets have missed the most important part of the story – the Boston government’s epic overreaction. We’re talking gross incompetence here.
CNN dutifully notes the following facts:
-The Boston city government shut down a major bridge and a section of the Charles River.
-The light boards were not bombs. They were, in fact, light boards. One witness described them as “Lite-Brites,” which are toys for children – not bombs.
-The Lite-Brites were also put up in nine other cities. None of them thought they were under terrorist attack.
-Boston’s police commissioner called the incident “unconscionable.” If he had been talking about the city’s overreaction, he would have been absolutely correct. Sadly, he was instead being absolutely stupid.
-Most humorously, the mayor of Boston – without a trace of irony – blamed the incident on “corporate greed.” Huh?
If anything, the “perpetrators” should be suing the governments of Boston and Massachusetts for gross incompetence. After all, if this is the state of homeland security in Boston, nobody is safe. Today we have witnessed absolute failure in what is perhaps government’s most important responsibility.
As a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I am pleased that this unexpected attention will boost the show’s popularity. Even so, stories like this tend to diminish my faith in the goodness and rationality of my fellow man.
Inertia Wins! 