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Cartoon Network CEO Resigns Over Aqua Teen Scare
DesertBlade writes "Jim Samples, CEO of Cartoon Network, has resigned over the bomb scare prompted by the Aqua Teen marketing campaign. Turner (CN's parent company) ended up paying over 2 million in restitution to the city of Boston, and a man with a thirteen year record at the company has lost his job. Though many people have been citing this as 'the ultimate successful advertising campaign', there have obviously been real consequences from the incident." By virtue of the consequences of the campaign, was this now officially a bad idea? Or is your opinion that this is all far too much knee-jerking? Have your say in the comments.
It's highly likely that if this had happened on September 10, 2001, there wouldn't have been this kind of uproar. But in a post-9/11 U.S.A., the authorities have to assume things like this could be terrorist in nature and respond as if they were. Just because it's cartoony doesn't mean it should be taken less seriously. If we took that attitude, next thing you know, you'd be getting shredded by a Hello Kitty full of C4 and nails.
I think it's cool that he is taking responsibility instead of cleaning house. He can afford to go without a salary for a good while, and the rest of his accomplishments as CEO will probably earn him a nice position once the smoke clears. The marketing guys who would have been sacrificed if he cleaned house instead, are probably just living to the edge of their means on 5-figure salaries. And if his replacement cleans house, at least he's earned them some time to prepare for the axe.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
Clearly it was an overreaction and someone in Boston should have resigned/been fired instead. See here http://www.dailynews.com/ci_5180780 (via http://www.schneier.com/) for a way to dispose of bombs in a way without shutting down a major metropolitan area.
"What kind of music do pirates listen to?" -Paul Maud'dib
"Yeeeaaarrrrr n' Bee!!" -Stilgar, Leader of Sietch Tabr
Maybe the guy was on his way out anyway (unwillingly or willingly) and this provides the perfect cover/excuse to do so. Assuming he was an otherwise successful CEO, it seems strange to have to resign over something like this. Or perhaps the insanity that's infected Boston has now seeped in Cartoon Network.
Not only Boston overreacting, but now the network itself? Where are the people willing to stand up for sanity? It's truly a sad day...
Jim Samples, CEO of Cartoon Network, has resigned over the bomb scare prompted by the Aqua Teen marketing campaign.
Resigning from your job is easy. Getting a 10-speed, filling it with illegal substances and sending it across the border is not.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
That's right kids - we're one step away from failing to have the ability to sort by color and shape. How did it come to pass that Lite Brites shut down the city of Boston?
The government has been very successful in scaring the public into thinking that the terrorism threat is real. The fact is, more people have died from lightning strikes in the past fifty years than from terrorist acts on American soil. This is fueled by the new status of new media as entertainment rather than information, which creates a sea of idiotic speculation before any facts are actually discovered. Witness the media trial of the man accused of Jon Benet's murder, or any of the number of bomb scares that have turned out to be simple security breaches.
There's no simple solution, but I think we as a society need to admit first that we have a problem.
Thanks a lot, Boston. America as we knew and loved it is gone. The terrorists have officially won thanks to you.
You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Not because it caused an irrational bomb scare, but because it was a commercialization of public space. How would you like it if everybody did that, for example by spraypainting the company logo all over the city? Guerrilla marketing is still marketing. If you're going to contaminate public space with your commercial message, pay for it like everybody else.
As the t-shirt says...
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the Bomb
Cartoon Network stand up to the stupid city of Boston! They are at fault.
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
At least the city of Boston found the weapons of mass deception.
The Boston media screwed up. The Boston Officials Screwed up. The two schmoes who put the signs up will pay for that as they're charged with everything from littering to having bad haircuts (real charge: making city officials look foolish). Big media tosses a bit of pocket change around to make sure things don't get any higher than the two dudes already arrested. And the exec at the cartoon network is fired because the cost of the advertising campaign exceeded the value of the show. So while the Boston Media and Officials try to convince themselves that two million dollars proves they were right, the rest of the country has pretty much concluded that Boston is one supremely messed up city.
Did I miss anything?
In this post-9/11 world, the advertising agency should've:
1) made sure they had permission from the landowners before they placed their ads
2) given the police a heads-up along with photos
3) given the major media a "this is not a story but people may call you about it" heads-up, since people tend to call papers when they see things like bombs
For bridges and other public property the city is probably the landowner.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
It's everyone's fault really. The media and government hype terrorism for certain political forces to establish a "comfort zone" in the middle east by trying to scare the crap out of Americans. Then the same people who own the media companies are trying anything to make money like any other big businesses and it's no secret that bad publicity is somehow good publicity because people are still talking about it versus not.
- John
http://www.jabcreations.com/
Seriously folks, I understand that people are still all sorts of freaked out over a terrorist attack which happened in the US over 5 years ago, but it is time to chill out and not be so uptight about anything which may be suspicious.
b g?articleid=180349), and have been focusing entirely on a silly marketing stunt which didn't hurt anyone. Honestly people, do most terrorists even know where Boston is? It isn't exactly the biggest city in the US, nor does it have any huge symbols of American Imperialism such as the World Trade Center. It has a couple of nice universities, but do you thing the terrorists care at all about those?
These 38 lighted signs which were mistaken for bombs, never should have made the news. They did not look like bombs in any way shape or form, and had been in place for a considerable amount of time before people started going apeshit over them. People seem to fail to mention the "real" fake bombs which were planted in Boston on the same day (http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.
Security will never come through "preparedness" against an enemy which doesn't care whether it lives or dies. If terrorists/crazy dictators/serial killers/thugs want to kill you badly enough, they probably will. The only way we will ever be secure is to make people not want to harm us
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
It's because it's Boston, and that's the only reason why this happened. Don't forget, what part did Boston play in 9/11? Boston's the city whose security was so fucked up, they let the terrorists onto the planes. Boston is the city that caused 9/11. Not surprisingly, after being the primary cause of the worst terrorist attack on United States soil, Boston is a little jumpy about terrorism.
But other than causing 9/11, what else is Boston known for?
Well, there's always wasting billions of federal tax dollars to bury a highway to improve the city skyline, which lead to
crushing a woman when three-ton ceiling tiles that had been glued to the ceiling fell.
Apparently Boston wasted billions of federal dollars, only to glue three-ton concrete ceiling tiles to their tunnel.
If you want to look at government waste and horrible mismanagement, look no further than Boston. The only reason this happened is because Boston is run by incompetent idiots. The part 9/11 had with this is that 9/11 is Boston's most well known failure, one that they're not eager to repeat.
The reaction of the City of Boston and Turner officials tells me that the terrorists have won. America has sunk very low since the days of the founding fathers. This nation was founded by people who would not put up with being jerked around like this. Compare the reaction of the idiots responsible for public safety in Boston with the heroism of the firefighters who gave up their lives on 9/11. It makes me sick to my stomach.
..."the terrorists have won".
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Sony could put up a PSP campaign saying "white is right"...
But these guys are getting fined and losing jobs over something that was truly harmless?
If real attacks come, they'll be like Madrid. You won't know it until it happens, it'll be in a crowded place, during rushhour, and there won't be any ambiguity or warning. Boom, and it's done, and lots of people will be dead. And there's little chance of stopping it. That's life, and it fucking sucks, but here's what I can tell you for sure:
They won't be leaving fucking light-brites at the side of the road.
Some things just aren't plausible.
occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
(Meanwhile, in the parallel universe where these things actually were bombs)
COME ON! It's a huge pile of electronics with a display that's giving you the finger! What retard would possibly not know it's a bomb?
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Maybe the guy was on his way out anyway (unwillingly or willingly) and this provides the perfect cover/excuse to do so. Assuming he was an otherwise successful CEO, it seems strange to have to resign over something like this. Or perhaps the insanity that's infected Boston has now seeped in Cartoon Network.
He's the CEO of Cartoon Network, but Cartoon Network is a susidiary of Time Warner. He has bosses, too.
Most likely he was given an opportunity to resign with some grace instead of being fired; this would be (in a way) mutually beneficial as he can be the martyr who accepts all of the blame (which is actually a prized trait in a CEO and may help him find another position) and allows his superiors to remain pretty much invisible.
Of course the other option would be for all parties to resume business as usual, considering this already seems like yesterday's news and the incident will be quickly forgotten, but the corporate world doesn't work like that...
Thank you for your insightful and totally on-topic reply Anonymous Coward! For you, I TURN MY CAPS LOCK KEY ON.
... then I would have just blamed the whole thing on Meatwad. Shake gets away with that kind of crap all the time.
If Boston doesn't freak out at least a little bit, what keeps other companies from launching the same types of campaigns at taxpayer expense?
The question asked is whether Turner / etc. got what they deserved -- which they did. The only other thing would be to slap some sense or respect into those two mental children who hung the signs and then made the absurd comments about hair. Hope the one kid is laughing as he is deported.
Yet we are still talking about "Boston's Response"...
If he's resigning, a new CEO of Cartoon Network must be in the works. Admit it, everyone just wonders if Ranma ½ is going to show on Adult Swim? Really, the whole 'Run for your lives! That Lightbright's a killer!' thing is sad, but I'm wondering how a ghange of CEOs will affect the network itself. I hope whoever comes in next won't give the anime the kiddie down treatment. At any rate, after all this commotion the ATHF movie better not suck.
While it's a shame that inept CEO's get millions in severance packages, if there were one guy who deserves one, it's him. Let's hope he gets a bundle in cash, so he can chill for a few month before picking up the next gig.
If he's resigning, a new CEO of Cartoon Network must be in the works. Admit it, everyone just wonders if Ranma ½ is going to show on Adult Swim? Really, the whole 'Run for your lives! That Lightbright's a killer!' thing is sad, but I'm wondering how a change of CEOs will affect the network itself. I hope whoever comes in next won't give the anime the kiddie down treatment. At any rate, after all this commotion the ATHF movie better not suck.
I think this says it best... http://bostonbombsquadtraining.ytmnd.com/
It costs money and time regardless of the level of reaction.
Boston would have / should have billed Turner if they hadn't offered to pay for the money. In fact, it probably would have been a LOT MORE if it had went to court.
I'm sure no one would have commented on this story without your prompting. Good work.
It is successful.
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
the fact that the government and the media sensationalize war and talk about 'terrorism' as if they weren't committing it themselves... (so we're all scared, in the name of freedom, and the shit that this country stood for almost 200 years ago...) we wouldn't be in this mess.
I mean seriously; would people be freaking the fuck out if it was the Pillsbury dough boy? Or maybe Mario? Should I call the police and let them know that there's a sign on the highway threatening unknown danger if I'm going over 45 miles an hour?
If we can impeach a president over a few blowjobs and then another one can get on TV and say "Fuck you idiots I'm the king." and that's cool then I don't know what the fuck the point is.
Its quite obvious that the high-strung nut-jobs in Boston over-reacted. The EXACT SAME ads were in Atlanta for a week before they were installed in Boston and on the very first night in Boston people were crying that it was 9/11 times a million!!! They didn't even bother taking the ads in Atlanta down until a couple of days after everybody freaked out in Boston and still not a single person thought they were a bomb.
... and in the DRM, bind them.
What terrorist would leave a bomb decorated with a scaled-up 32x32 pixel motif lit up in bright blue LEDs?
Osama Bin LightBright
No further comment beyond that.
On top of this, Forbes is reporting that this whole sorry episode didn't even help raise the number of people who watch the show. The good news is that the ratings haven't gone down either.
I came here for a good argument
He personally signed off on the campaign, yes, but it wasn't his idea. I know who approved at the level below Samples. This was not designed to be a fun way out. This was just a campaign on the scale of anything else Adult Swim does which is crazy, off the wall and ballsy.
Whereas those things looked like a marketing gimmick.
Anyone who parks a car in Boston should be forced to resign from whatever job they have, and then have their genitalia pointed at by an unattractive woman whilst being water-boarded while a continuous loop of the Barney song plays in the background.
Azural - instrumentals
People in Boston are cowards to have such an over-reaction to some LEDs and batteries. Seriously this country is doomed if people are so willing to buy in to cowardice like that.
Yes, I forgot to say that my opinion on the situation was limited to the known universe. Thanks for catching that for me, though. In that parallel universe, your post might have had a point.
...what the hell are you talking about?
Read the friggn' question in the article...
The question here is whether Turner got what it deserved...
1. It broke the law by placing / defacing / etc. public property.
2. A two cent sticker on the back of the sign listing the ad company / turner's contact information could have prevented this.
3. It cost taxpayer money / city time to remove in ALL the cities.
To run around saying Turner/CN/etc. has no responsibility is, well, irresponsible..
On the side of the marketing team someone could have been smarter and discussed this with police and city hall before they let it loose. Unknown electronic devices without a label on the back stating "it's ours, call this number" was possibly not the brightest idea.
On the side of the police someone could actually have been clever by investigating a device instead of trying to hog news coverage in their eagerness to show how wonderfully they were "protecting the public". Now they look like fools.
In short, neither side has exactly covered itself with glory here.
Insert
One day going up the freeway, there was a white car parked dead center on a busy overpass.
The 'alarm' went off in my perception - *great sniper spot*.
I slowed down, and sure enough it was a sniper
- A state police man in an unmarked car, with a radar gun out the window.
Lined up on the next on ramp was a collection of regular marked police cars, zooming up the ramp and ticketing speeders.
A 'harmless' speed trap.
But my first impression was not that of a law enforcement officer, but of a 'lone gunman' scenario - like the east coast sniper team from before.
I was really surprised no one called the police - on the police, for disrupting traffic during rush hour.
I have to say it again:
"oONoEzbLINkylIGhtswe'ReaLLgONadIE!!1"
Should there be limits to Marketing? Damn straight there should be. Can we assume that given the punishment given to the company responsible is limit enough and that other marketers will take a lesson from this? Not so much. Can we assume that marketers are still willing to push their limits ever outward at any cost to themselves or the public? I think yes, but what you think. Been getting spammed lately? Got more than enough crap in your mailbox to throw away? People calling your phone at inconvenient times? Strangers knocking and hanging crap on your doors? People jacking with your car to put crap on it? Got a fax machine printing out a lot of crap you don't want? How about every imaginable effort to ensure that you record and watch the TV commericials that you'd just as soon skip? How about the broken promise of "commericial-free TV?" You decide.
This reminds me of John Belushi's samurai...
S amurai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_
Unfortunately, someone's going down, and it's not going to be Ted.
The city, homeland security, and the department of defense are still f-ing retarded.
Sorry, I never thought this was actually funny, I laughed, but only because it's so sad that these people are getting paid TRUCKLOADS to run the nation and "keep us safe". They're all dumb-asses.
No, I'm not trolling, I'm dead serious. I'm sick of my tax dollars paying for BS wars, BS church-building, BS programs and BS blowing up LED signs.
Also, the signs were cute. Fuck them for blowing them up. But that's hardly the point...
I can safely say that americans are stupid.
I hope he can hear this because I'm typing as hard as I can.
The Boston politicians have flung quite enough slander at their network that I'm surprised Turner doesn't sue them. Looks to me like a slam-dunk win, too.
Any ideas?
Jim Samples shows he's got more integrity than any Boston public safety official or federal official of any kind.
No reasonable person would conclude that these devices were bombs.
Those who claim, "But...anything could look like a bomb! We can't take any chances!" are half right. Anything can look like a bomb. If that's the course you take, resign yourself to living under airport concourse rules: possess only the expected or explicitly permitted, keep it by you at all times, prepare to be searched at any moment by any official on any pretext.
The message here is that citizens must try to predict what pompous, cowardly officials will deem threatening or suspicious.
Of course, a real bomb would either not look like a bomb or would be completely hidden. (Wait till campaign season then hide your C4 boombox behind a Kennedy campaign poster.)
This is the public equivalent of arresting school kids for running around on the playground with pointed fingers and cocked thumbs, yelling "Bang! Bang! You're dead!"
Action was taken against Cartoon Network because that's a way of pretending to be tough on terror while carefully avoiding do anything that might offend actual terrorists.
Go ahead, folks. Try to imagine Boston officials trying to arrest, oh, say, a local imam or CAIR director for placing signs with the Crescent and Star picked out in green lights.
In the wrong hands, sanity is a dangerous weapon.
"Nothing should have happened to the people who thought up the campaign, actually did the work on the campaign or anybody in the Cartoon Network offices."
Except for the fact that it was against the law to place the things on public / private property.
Plus, do you really want this kind of thing happening again? I don't know about you but there's too damn much advertising as it is without breaking the law and defacing public property.
What do you think would have happened if a cop caught one of these guys in the act of placing the thing?
"They're always the cause of overhyping and spreading fear "
Same can be said for the reaction to the city's reaction and subsequent self-whipping of the posts here.
1/10 cities reacting badly isn't that bad considering the dumbfounding stupidity and irresponsibility of the idea.
"Pretty ingenious marketing really."
Not when you pay $2M dollars and the ratings for your show DON'T CHANGE.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It amazes me that the advertising campaign was taking place in 9 cities. Only the idiots of Boston had any problems with it.
And, how in the world did Boston seem to think that it cost so much? All of the law enforcement officers were probably already on the clock, so it wouldn't have cost them any more that it would have anyway.
Morons is the only word I can think of to properly classify:
- the people who reported "suspicious devices" with a cartoon character flipping them off (would they react the same to fred flintstone or pacman in LEDs?)
- the people who thought they were bombs ("OMG D batteries!!!!11`1!")
- the endless media pundits saying they were suspicious (maybe we can frighten people into watching our channel longer)
- the prosecutors that went after the marketers (well, we know this is stupid, but we have to now that the ball is rolling)
- all the people who spout things like "in a post-9/11 world, we have to be vigilant" (there's a coca-cola sign that looks suspicious near me... it's all glowing and red) there's a difference between being cautious and being stupid, especially once you realize you're wrong
- and now, the folks at Cartoon Network that gave in and paid 2 million dollars and then sacked people
For anyone that can't seem to think clearly, let me make this really easy:
LITE BRITE IS NOT A BOMB
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
"I'm doing it as hard as I can!"
How does ANYONE think those things were bombs? If they honestly did, should we let those people call 911 again?
Hey, Boston Bob - you see that thing that looks like a cartoon charcter giving us the finger?
I dunno. Looks like a bomb to me.
Careful Bob, remember the last time, when you called the bomb squad over the alarm clock?
It had batteries and wires, and it didn't light up. How was I supposed to know it was an alarm clock?
It was *your* alarm Clock, Boston Bob. It didn't light up because you let the batteries run out.
It was the alarm company's fault for not making it clear that it wasn't a bomb. I'm calling this one in and shutting things down. Can't be too careful.
www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
I know you can't see this, but I'm doing this harder than I've ever done it before.
It's a very dark ride.
http://thetruth.com/ is the (I assume government-funded) shock marketing campaign involving, in the last two commercials I have seen, seemingly severed body parts in trash cans and baby dolls (of unknown composition- could have been bombs) encased in ice.
Both of these ads film the astonished responses of people in public places.
Let's assume that the ad agency alerted the police that there weren't, in fact, severed body parts in trash cans- that it was all guerrilla marketing. Let's assume that the marketers also provided adequate proof that the dolls weren't bombs. But the passersby wouldn't necessarily assume this, and wouldn't necessarily see that it was advertising. How many calls were made to 911? How many resources were wasted?
It's possible that bombs could have been made to look like innocuous light-displays. Being vigilant is one thing. Charges of terrorism and hoaxes, a payout of two million dollars, heads rolling- that's something else. There are few similarities between these lights and bombs. The police acted as they should have- tested something out of the ordinary. The case might even be made that they could not be sure that some weren't decoys (lights) while others were bombs. But at some point along the line it must have seemed worth considering that they should turn their attention back to the cars, trucks, trash cans and suitcases (for the consideration of volume if nothing else) - especially if the lights blow up like lights and not like bombs.
What would have happened if these had merely been fans, without a corporate scapegoat? Would the charges have gone further?
All this uproar over some lights- the panicked view that anything and everything could potentially be a bomb. I'm never going to look at a severed arm in a trashcan the same way again.
I, for one, find it incredibly disturbing that authorities could mistake this for a bomb. That, to me, shows that they are ill-prepared. I've heard many times how they "still had to take it seriously" but they didn't. Anyone *competent* should've known several reasons why it wasn't a bomb:
* No source of shrapnel, that plus the odd placing makes them incredibly ineffective as anti-personnel weapons.
* They're WAY too small to cause structural damage, even if the batteries were supposed to be shaped charges. I'm sorry, but I don't see an explosive that size as being able to even scratch a bridge like that.
* No payload -- batteries don't explode (Sony's catch on fire, at most) and even if they did, and even if they were shaped charges, they're oriented completely wrong on the device, so I don't see how they were supposed to cause anti-personnel damage.
* You do NOT call attention to a device like that with blinking lights. SOME of us would know it was a bomb even if it had a cartoon on it and others would assume it was one anyhow. Now, it's true that the IRA used to do something somewhat similar, but what they did was have a small explosion to attract rescue workers & such, then a larger one to kill them. You don't attract people with blinking lights, you'd never be able to properly time the explosion unless you were standing there, waiting to get caught.
So what have we learned here? Hopefully that a terrorist's purpose is to cause terror.
Every time you panic, the terrorists win.
... did not it?
:-/
/.-er respects Bruce Schneier, who has this http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/nont errorist_em.html to say...
Oh, irony...
Paul B.
P.S. Reason has some good coverage of the incident: http://reason.com/news/show/118476.html and the aftermath: http://reason.com/blog/show/118625.html .
And of course any self-respecting
And everyone knows that bombs have blinking lights on 'em. Every single movie bomb you've ever seen has a blinking light.
For better or worse (with respect to America's view on terror) I'm glad these guys got hammered. If it takes the vindictiveness of city officials to put an end to what amounts to corporate littering, that's fine with me. I hate the idea that a wealthy corp that can easily handle fines designed for highschool and college kids takes advantage of said legal situation and puts crap like this around town. I don't have young kids, but if I did, driving past a moonite flicking us off that I knew was somonee's illegal ad campaign would annoy the hell out of me. And don't forget, they put these things on private property too. So if one good thing comes of all this, maybe it will be that these ad agencies will stop this "guerilla marketing" crap, and stop paying kids to commit crimes on their behalf. The whole thing annoys the shit out of me. This is largely tangental to the terror idiocy, however.
Cheers.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
"I think what the GP was trying to say is that the expense would have been much lower had the people in charge thought things through a little more rationally."
And if that would have happened, Turner, etc. wouldn't have paid out as much as they did and probably would have done the same crap again at taxpayer expense without consequences.
The good thing about the over-reaction (if there is one) is the bitch-slap it gives to stupid ideas like this.
"And don't go telling me that they had every right to act the way they did - like chickens with their heads cut off: they're paid to be leaders and they should act as such."
No they didn't.
But don't tell me Turner / CN / etc. has the right to do whatever the hell they want either including breaking the law and abusing city time and taxpayer money.
I'm just f*ckin tired of hearing about Boston as if that is the only thing to this story and being shouted down by the rabble as if I am insane when I say that it was a completely irresponsible, un-funny idea in the first place.
> COME ON! It's a huge pile of electronics with a display that's giving you the finger! What retard would possibly not know it's a bomb?
:] Well, a competent bomb squad, like those found in all the other cities...
The kind who knows that real bombs have payloads. The kind that knows that a device that small isn't going to cause structural damage to something like a bridge even if it was 100% high explosive. The kind who knows that they were very, very poorly placed as anti-personnel devices, called unnecessary attention to themselves, and probably wouldn't have been able to kill anyone at all, unless that person had been standing right next to them.
You know, the kind of person who might be found on a bomb squad
--
Every time you panic, the terrorists win.
Y'know, I needed this advertisement. Frankly, besides the constant quoting of the show both in online forms and real life, the thousands of avatar icons, the hordes of fans wearing T-Shirts with ATHF cast members on it, and the inevitable two months of daily Slashdot stories both before and after the movie's release detailing every element of it, I had NO idea there was a show called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, let alone that a movie was planned about it.
Of course, I say this sarcastically, but as evidence shows, the city of Boston honestly wasn't aware of this fact. Which makes me wonder what that style of advertising is supposed to do. They have Lite Brite representations of the Mooninites with no further explanations. No "ATHF coming soon to theaters near you", no "Coming this year", nothing. Who is this supposed to appeal to? Anyone who knows the significance of a Mooninite flipping you off "as hard as he possibly can" already KNOWS there's an ATHF movie coming out. Anyone who doesn't know why this badly-drawn character is flipping them off will most likely be annoyed by the show, more annoyed by the movie, and, as shown, may take it as a threat.
It may just be me, but I see these sorts of ads as a form of corporate/fanboy self-pleasure.
He's worked there 12 years, maybe he wanted to leave anyway. What better time than now. Keeps the network in the headlines for a few more days...
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. -Confucius
I want to know how they arrived at two MILLION dollars. I would think that after having the bomb squad out to look at one of these things and after the police realized that those two dimwitts couldn't plant seeds let alone bombs (it's all about "intent") that they would just send everyone home and charge Turner $20,000. But TWO MILLION? They must have used electron microscopy trying to catalog every tool mark on every screw. Turner obviously has some business they're trying to protect. If they actually went to court over it I don't see how they could loose. The authorities in Boston should be embarrassed.
Nothing to see here - move along.
:-)
I live in Atlanta and I'm married to an ex Cartoon Network exec who used to work for Samples. Apparently he's a real jerk to work for...
Common wisdom wandering through the CN and TBS employee grapevine is that either TBS was tired of Mr. Samples - or visa versa. Nobody seems to believe that his leaving is a strict consequence of crippling Boston with Lite-Brites - but it works for cleaning house.
I'm sure glad I live in Atlanta where the Lite-Brite attacks don't work.
that if you're not merely being facetious (I suspect fatuous is more accurate) with " If we took that attitude, next thing you know, you'd be getting shredded by a Hello Kitty full of C4 and nails." - you should immediately contact your local law inforcement and let them know that there are suspicious bomb-like things at the local Kmart, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.
Oh, lock your door and keep it locked. Don't come out, ever. The real world is a dangerous place, and you're simply not prepared to deal with it.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
What if they were really made of out cheese cake? Then everyone in Boston would be eating cheese cake and having a great old time! Think about it! Who would be laughing then? Everyone! Out sheer cheese cake manic delight!
We are a nation of assholes, cowards, soccermommies and pussies. How is it that the fucking NEWS departments can literally make shit up, get all their facts wrong racing each other to the 'scoop' and they suffer for it. In fact they never even apologize? Complete and utter bullshit. Big city cops want nothing more than to dress in black, sling their AR-15's and pretend they're holding the line on the robot alien horde coming over the hill.
From now on when cops scream 'fire' in a crowded theater and people get trampled you can bet that they won't be punished for it. Because of 'terrorism'......ooooh scary~~~~~~!
He's right - its weak. Right up there with 'The Brak Show'. And I -like- adult swim shows and have watched many episodes of ATHF. Its just not funny enough. I'm really sorry about that.
It was spam. Anyone involved in spamming should be fired.
Most of the comments here are of the mindset that the reaction was absolutely justified - that they should have seen it coming - that anyone in their right mind would have assumed those were bombs.
Its amazing to me how this state of paranoia and fear has not only become so widespread, but ACCEPTED even - as if everything really changed on 9/11. Here's a fact for you: NOTHING CHANGED AFTER 9/11. The ONLY thing that is different in America is the amount of surveillance we are being subjected to and the number of rights that are being eroded before our eyes.
More people die every year from peanut allergies or swimming pool accidents than terrorism. Terrorism IS NOT A BIG THREAT. Beyond that, it is IMPOSSIBLE to completely stop. The war on terror is a FARCE and its SOLE PURPOSE is to subjugate a nation enslaved by comfort and convenience - with their consent.
The people who should have to pay for this are the idiots who overreacted. Did you see those signs? THEY LOOKED LIKE LITE-BRITES and had a CARTOON ALIEN FLIPPING THE BIRD. What muslim extremist would use that as their terrifying logo of doom?!?!
HOW THE HELL DID YOU PEOPLE GET THIS WAY!? AREN'T YOU LOOKING AT THE WORLD AROUND YOU?! Don't you see how absofuckinglutely ridiculous it is to consider the reaction to these HARMLESS and FUNNY signs in any way justifiable?
"Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" - Thomas Jefferson
Chew on that.
in this world...
Mod parent up.
I live in Boston. The city screwed up, badly. Pretty much everyone I know thinks city officials made us look completely ridiculous. This was not a case of reasonable precautions, even, as they say, in a post-9/11 world.
All these people keep saying "But it could have been a bomb, you don't know!" or "Well if it had been a bomb, you'd be glad they responded the way they did!"
No. I agree wholeheartedly with the parent here. It couldn't have been a bomb. Literally, physically, something that looks like those devices could not possibly be an explosive device of any serious power, nothing that poses any danger to any structure or even any human who wasn't essentially holding them in his hands.
An ordinary person off the street might not know this. That's fine. But a bomb squad member damn well better know this, and it terrifies me that the bomb squad members in our city apparently don't. What the hell are they going to do if there is a real bomb, and they have to try and disable it without blowing up anything important? If they don't even have the basic grasp required to know there should be a payload, what exactly do they know about the construction of bombs? Seriously, I'm not nearly as bothered by the possibility of some terrorists planting a bomb as I am knowing that if there is a bomb, our trained professionals whose job it is to handle that sort of thing won't be able to do anything about it, even if they know where the bomb is and have plenty of extra time. What the hell is the bomb squad for?
I am the man with no sig!
I remember years ago, visiting MIT, and watching at a Frat Party, after Jello had been thrown out of a window and hit a car, how 5 squad cars and two police vans showed up, and very violently bundled the president of the frat house into a Van.
I've never seen a more inappropriate use of force, or too many police officers who looked bored and needed something to do.
This publicity trick was applied in several cities, and Boston seems to be the only one who reacted as if it were a genuine threat. In a time of "terrorism" Boston officials should be fired, because they have successfully miscultivated the attitude of the people and officials there, to think flashing lights are dangerous. If the authorities can't differentiate between a blinking sign, and an actual device, how can they be trusted to effectively, efficiently allocate resources in a time of geniune need?
He should not have resigned. He should have taken those responsible for this gross overreaction to task by produced a show about how stupid the response was. Using industry/military experts in bomb making, demolition, target selection and mission execution.
And it goes with out saying that he would not use the talking head pseudo terrorist experts, read political appointees, that spouted as fact that is possible to successfully get the components of on and to mix binary explosives on a moving plane loaded with real people and a flight crew who would notice that one washroom was never available not to mention the thermos cases the components would have to be brought on the plane in.
www.thebostonbomb.com
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
"While I might expect a bomb to be disguised, I certainly wouldn't expect it be disguised as a cartoon figure that will DRAW attention."
I would, then I could remote-detonate it. Taking out what really matters. No, not the civilians.
BTW with this mans act, I guess slashdot is going to have to revise it's cynical attitude towards business.
If people can't tell that this sort of thing is not a threat and in fact is simply a joke then I have even less faith in the people protecting this country. If I saw some weird looking circuit board, with a square looking character on it giving the bird, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely not "OMG BomB!"
Yes, it is definitely unfortunate that someone had to lose their job over this, especially since this means that turner will have to tighten the leash on Adult Swim once more, just when they were getting a little more freedom from their parents.
Relocating to San Francisco / Palo Alto... Hire me?
Buy a Lite Brite, make the image on it an American Flag, attach a battery so it can run by itself, and plop it in front of the fence at the White House.
In a letter to employees, Jim Samples, the general manager and executive vice president of the network, wrote: "I deeply regret...
I'm not sure where CEO came from. GM/VP is a different job.
Some cartoon giving the finger? And this was interpreted as a potential terrorist threat? Jeebus, got paran0id?
Sorry, I don't buy it.
Somewhere, some how, the signs should have been classed with "annoying, but harmless". This didn't happen in Boston, despite eight other cities being able to discern "terrorist bombs" from "annoying ads".
Not only do I object to Turner Networks paying Boston USD750,000 for thier costs, but USD 2,000,000 seems to me to be rewarding insane behavior. Turner should have said "Grow up. If that simple action is beyond your ability, we'll see you in court."
I fail to see where rewarding hysteria on any scale is a "good thing". Jim Samples should not have resigned, and Turner should not have opened a cash box to hysterical old ninnies. I've seen the sign in person, and there simply isn't any way a compentent person would have confused this device with any kind of bomb.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
care
(I know I'm going to be modded down for this but..) It seems to me that Americans are trying harder each day to convince the world that they truly represent the lowest, most idiotic people that have ever existed! If Americans existed in prehistoric times, they would have outlawed fire right after it was invented, citing safety concerns and then executed the person who found out how to make a fire!
when people are running around screaming "They've got guns! They've got guns!" only a moron pulls out a plastic gun and waves it around.
I for one welcome the day that the terrorists start decorating their roadside bombs with bright LEDs... Total overreaction on the part of the city; Boston is a laughingstock as a result and its politicians are lashing out in embarrassment. 2 million dollars because traffic got congested for a couple hours? Please.
I think you might be too harsh on the bomb squad here. While i don't have an attribution, one of the articles in the middle of that day on cnn had a quote from a random citizen who said something like "Well, earlier I saw on TV a bomb squad guy holding it in his bare hands and just walking along with [the device] so I knew it couldn't be TOO bad ".
What the actual bomb squad guys thought / knew and what the managers and politicians decided to do with the information, those are different things.
It is honorable that he goes and takes responsibility. Although I think much more blame is to be leveled with the (Greater) Boston police. I live in this town and they can be really on a power trip and quite corrupt.
It really does not make me warm and fuzzy if the police misses an object that is lighted for two weeks. If the locations are sensitive like bridges, etc. and cops drive by these place for 10+ days and do not notice or figure out what is going on, then major blame is to be leveled with their vigilance.
Also, the first object was reported and shot down in the morning. Why did the police at the very least at this point in time point out the other locations? They really never saw these things? They didn't know where thee were?
Well and when citizens find the other displays after noon the police still hasn't figured out that the pieces of the first display do not contain any explosives? Come on, The airport with explosives sniffing equipment is 15 minutes away!
That this escalated to a scare like it did is to be blamed on the inability of the police to do their job. This fine police force did even let the governor and the major stand in front of the cameras and make a big scene, while the press listening did get the word about the truth. I'm waiting for the guy or gal who takes the responsibility and resigns as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWUaQVZHzyI
in this age of communication i'm just not getting through
Anybody who's ever been stuck in traffic can understand the knee-jerk "those bozos should pay" response.
But anybody who cares about national security and terrorism should be sobered by what happened in this case: an utter failure of threat assessment. Our ability to survive terrorism is not just reliant on the ability to detect and respond to threats: it's crucial to be able to detect the lack of threats and not respond to them.
What Boston demonstrated is that they are ripe for terrorism. After all, terrorism is about creating terror, not about inflicting actual damage. Boston showed you can terrorize them with some children's toys and no explosives at all.
Of course, the knee-jerk conservative reaction will also include the phrase "abundance of caution" and "we can't take any chances". The problem is if you have an abundance of caution and can't take any chances, then a real terrorist action can have you dancing all over the place trying to respond to decoy threats and missing the real action.
Correctly assessing situations that are not threatening is just as important to security as correctly assessing situations that are.
I live in Boston. The city screwed up, badly. Pretty much everyone I know thinks city officials made us look completely ridiculous.
Oh, please. No, Massachusetts looks like its full of retards because everything coming out of that hellhole is retarded - starting with Ted "DUI" Kennedy and John "Our Troops Are Idiots" Kerry. When you combine it with media reports showing people from Boston upset at the people who placed the LEDs and with the fact that every news outlet from Boston is reporting the incident as a "bomb hoax" while every news outlet outside of Massachusetts is calling it what it is ("idiot officials think blinking things are bombs"), you have a pretty clear picture:
People from Massachusetts are idiots.
Don't try and minimalize this by saying that it was caused by just the city officials. It wasn't. All of Massachusetts overreacted to this, and all of Massachusetts looks like an idiot now. The Massachusetts media took the police at face value, and the Massachusetts people accepted it without question.
So, no, it wasn't the "city officials" making you look like idiots. It was yourselves.
Remember: those city officials were, at some level, elected. If you voted for Governor Deval, you're just as responsible for the overreaction as the officials themselves. You voted for them. They just represented the idiots that elected them.
I think in a society where people deal with hundreds of different pieces of technology on a daily basis that it is both sad and alarming that people can't tell the difference between a lightup display and a bomb. I mean, come on people. It had a picture of a Moonanite flipping you off. If that image says to you "bomb" then you might consider getting a job with the FAA working the security areas at the airport.
This reminds me of my time spent in Iraq in 2005. So you drive out in humvees, leaving the relative safety of a base surrounded by perimiter guards that only gets rocket and mortar attacks a few times a week. There you are, just 3-4 gun trucks, 9-15 guys, practically alone in the Sunni Triangle. You pass by blown up guard rails, craters in the side of the road 4-5 feet across, remnants of car bombs.
/should/ be.
Yet, even then, after many explosions targeting us, when we saw a pile of rocks on the side of the road, we'd still have the sense to know it was just a pile of rocks. Hell, we'd go kick it and see. EOD took time to respond. And they're needed at real bomb sites, not the fake or imagined ones.
Our platoon had a nearly 100% rate of not calling out EOD for non-bombs. And the only bomb training we got before hand was the old plastic utensil land mine detector course.
This shit in Boston is just crazy. My security image below is 'stoned', exactly what the Boston officials must be. Or maybe they
I think this quote, by the Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, sums up the overreaction and the unwillingness to look at the situation rationally:
(My source for that quote is a Boston Globe article.)
Oooooooh! Batteries and wires!! Run away!
My feeling is this: if I lived in the state, I'd damn well make sure I stayed away from Radio Shack, because I'm likely to get caught in the crossfire when someone buys a few electronics components and the SWAT team comes in to take out the "terrorist" with a storm of bullets. Have these people never, ever seen a homemade electronics project before!? For God's sake, MIT is located in their state!
In paranoid Boston the bomb is Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Should one be jailed and fined millions of dollars for plugging in an alarm clock at a public place? Littering, perhaps. Vandelism? Probably not.
The truth is that a car parked underneath a bridge is a much more realistic and simple solution for a terrorist. However, the city isn't calling out the bomb squad for every car parked under a bridge. In fact, I cannot think of more than one case that I've heard about where such an event has happened. I wonder why this hasn't happened more?
Really, the line should be drawn somewhere, and I think that line is 'common sense'. I think that this is a case of misunderstandings. The artists were too naive, they underestimated the stupidity of other people. The city reacted based on THEIR OWN concerns. This was not a hoax, the devices were not bombs, they weren't intended to look like bombs. Could some people mistake them as bombs? Apparently. However, I do not believe that one should be legally responsible for the mistaken actions and responses of another. The artists did break some laws, but nothing more than vandelism, trespassing, or littering.
Is this the result of the last presidental elections when Kerry was called a 'flip-flopper'? You know, sometimes people make mistakes. Maybe the city of Boston should realize that and consider changing their stance. Sometimes it is better to admit mistakes and correct one's actions, rather than carry a bad idea forward just because you're afraid of a little change. For that matter, I'd rather have a "flip flopper" as president than one that can't admit that they were mistaken in their judgements and decisions, and continues to drive our country forward like a Lemming off a cliff.
i'm sorry, i just don't see this as any reason for someone to step down. granted, i'm not used to brushing elbows with ceo's and hanging out in boardrooms, so i don't know how those social circles work, but i always imagined them as an "ol boys club" of sorts. i just can't see that he was under any real pressure to step down.
i just wonder if he was quietly wishing he could retire, or he was on the outs for some other reason, and this was just an excuse.
i assumed the 2 megabuck payout was kinduva acknowledgement that they got some publicity, "and, hey, it's pocket change" sort of a thing.
it just seems so implausible that they really freaked out about. then again, maybe they grew up with (and agreed with) mcarthurism . . .
mr c
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." - R. Feynman
"After all, a population won't revolt against a government when they think that it is the government that is the only thing standing between them and total unmitigated chaos."
Well that sure explains Bush's low popularity ratings. Bush isn't positioned properly.
It's funny, I was thinking how this was one of the worst advertising campaigns (what were they thinking?! Can they go any lower?! etc.).
So I guess that probably would make it the ultimate successful advertising campaign in the bizzaro world manipulative up-is-down logic of advertising.
On the moon innocent CEOs have their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks.
We live in a culture that has become so paranoid that we've traded freedom for "security."
Maybe it was, indeed, a bone-head idea to "tag" public spaces, but the government and media need to quit making stories out of nothing. There's plenty of stupidity to go around on this one.
The clue phone is ringing:
Boston, Line 1:
Your anti-terror "heroes" went all Barney Fife over nothing. You guys just need to chill the f**k out and learn to triage terror from shennanigans. If you go the full-monty everytime some paranoid citizen dials the bomb-squad over flashing light and some wires, you're gonna have to figure out a way to pay for that kind of over-kill out of your own budget instead of drama-queening your way into restitution.
Viral Marketers, Line 2:
WTF? Maybe go for something a little less obscure the next go-round, eh? Only about 1 in 5,000 people driving by those signs had any kind of clue what the hell those bird-flipping little dudes were anyway. Way to spook the natives, dorks. Don't forget to include some useful information about your "product" next time. Seriously, this is like the corporate version of "JACKASS."
Bottom Line: Two stupid parties did two stupid things. One was the government the other wasn't. Guess which one wins?
I think Meatwad summed it up like this:
I'll touch 'em all the way to the trash can is what I'll do...
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
IMHO, It was not so much of a knee-jerk reaction as it was about media whoring for ambitious small time politicians and officials.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Could be worse. Remember back when they closed half of of DC because some guy parked a tractor in a shallow pool for a day or two? There were about 50 things they could have done to just take the guy into custody. Instead they put him under siege as if he had hostages and shut down all kinds of buildings for two days.
The 9/11 terrorists could probably have disrupted the Pentagon more if they just dressed somebody up as a clown with bulky clothing and had him stand in the parking lot for a week...
Uhm.
Alright, this is a troll, but whatever.
First: Not all of Massachusetts overreacted. I don't personally know anyone who reacted the way you describe. Certainly those people exist, but I don't believe there are nearly as many of them as you're suggesting. The fact that news agencies managed to find hysterical people here is not surprising, but doesn't say much about (1) the density of those people (in both senses :-P), or (2) what those people were reacting to. A lot of people were probably reacting strongly at first, knowing nothing except that the T was shut down and there were "dangerous-looking devices" found. Okay, they believed what they were told, and didn't know any more than that, some concern is appropriate. But we're past that now, and the fraction of people who both know the details of the event and believe the reaction was appropriate is not very large, at least not judging by every single reaction I've seen here (as opposed to the completely different ones I see in the paper -- and, for whatever it's worth, everyone I've talked to here is also annoyed at it being called a "hoax").
Second: I did vote for Governor Patrick. I'm glad I did, because he's already undone some of the damage done by the previous governor, and his opponent was running one of the worst smear campaigns I've ever seen (including the recent presidential runs), not to mention having a very disturbing platform in other ways. Saying that this one incident is my fault for voting that way, and completely ignoring every other possible issue facing the state, is a little ridiculous, to put it lightly.
I don't like Ted Kennedy either.
The fact that you even included the "Our troops are idiots" thing probably means I shouldn't have replied, since that kind of makes it clear that you aren't basing your comment on actual events that actually happened, but on how it can be spun if you take things out of context and consider every individual in an entire state in the worst possible light. I guess Fox News has probably been making fun of Massachusetts a lot since this incident...
Of course, your "People from Massachusetts are idiots" should also have clued me in. Oh well.
I am the man with no sig!
Never underestimate the stupidity of average people. That was his mistake.
Oh no! Dear God NO! It's got blinking lights! Run for your lives! It's a BOMB!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!
The lighted ads featuring the mooninites were already up in new york city for 3 weeks when they were put up in boston. In my opinion, boston didnt even bother to check into it, and made a big fuss over nothing. Not everything is a terroristic threat, even after 911, and we shouldnt live in fear of a terroristic threat either. We need to live our lives and if something happens fine, but not take things too seriously. As for the law enforcement in this situation, did they even do any checking at all into anything before declaring it a terroristic bomb scare plot? I doubt they did and it is this overreaction that can and will let terrorism flourish in our country.
Perhaps you're right -- unsurprisingly, there has been little coverage of who exactly is responsible for the bizarre overreaction, and most media seems to be ignoring the issue entirely by pretending the overreaction was justified. Sigh. It is plausible, though, that someone jumped the gun and signaled the alert (shut down the T, etc.) before there was really any information, and then just tried to mask that afterwards by not releasing the information that the bomb squad immediately realized there was nothing dangerous.
Such a scenario would still be really screwed up. But screwed up in a "bureaucratic ass-covering" way which, while still highly distasteful, is still more appealing to me than what I had been assuming, that is, that the people encouraging this response were the actual trained experts...
I am the man with no sig!
Apparently he doesn't know about remote detonators.
People are quick to make sweeping generalizations about the entire city of Boston and its residents, but the fact is these things were in place for a while and obviously the vast majority of people who encountered them paid them no mind. It wasn't until one person out there saw this, didn't know what a mooninite was, and called the cops. After that the cops probably should have known better after seeing the device, but until at least one of them had been recovered there isn't really any way to tell what it may have been. So long as you don't know what the images depicted were, you have the option of either ignoring it and risk being called negligent if anything goes wrong later, or you can treat it as a worst case scenario and risk being called overly cautious. When in a law-enforcement position, being overly cautious is generally a better label to strive for than negligence.
Anyway, the point is, all it took was one person who didn't know a mooninite from an IED, and then when you call the cops screaming about bombs throughout the city, it's pretty predictable how they'll react. The vast majority of the residents of Boston clearly could have cared less. If anything, I think this shows the need for mandatory screenings of the movie as a public service, to prevent this sort of tragedy from ever happening again.
Why not Bush blew up the WTC for real as a publicity stunt to pass the Patriot Act.
I think that its completely wrong for him to resign. The ONLY city to freak out was Boston, no one else did not even New York City. If people can't tell the difference between Lite Bright and a bomb well then screw 'em. He should keep his job, this only shows how great of a leader he was, he got the community involved!
It's worth noting that even after the stupidity of Boston public officials netted the city a windfall of $2 million dollars in sorry-we-didn't-anticipat-that-anybody-could-be-th at-stupid money from Turner Broadcasting--over twice what the the city wasted on its absurd overreaction--the poor dudes who put up the signs are still being prosecuted. They didn't come up with the idea, or make the signs, they didn't intend to scare anybody, they were just young guys doing a job. But somebody has to pay for exposing the mayor, the attorney general, and the police, as the idiots that they are. So they'll accept the Turner money--and perhaps take a bit off the top for themselves (this is Boston, after all)--and scapegoat the innocent guys who put up the signs.
All they wanted was to incite fear and massive panic amongst the people of the USA.
They won.
America the brave. It is to laugh.
First a thank you to all the slashdotters who have unilaterally decided that citizens of my city are gun slinging luddites... Hopefully I can provide a little more of a first-hand analysis.
While there is no question that the reaction of the BPD was an overreaction, there is no question that the actions of Cartoon Network and Interference were totally unacceptable. The first "device" that was found was placed at a critical intersection of the major North-South Interstate highway that feeds the city, a major subway train line, and the commuter rail that services all communities north of the city. Further, it was adjacent to (a few feet away from) the main fiber optic right-of-way between the city and northern communities (a fact that was missed by media - surprise, surprise). Finally, despite the fact that many try to blame this on post-9/11 hysterics, a group of anti-Semites attempted to blow up this same bridge/highway on 4/20/01 (Hitler's birthday - classy) so forgive us for our post 4/20 paranoia.
An explosive device - even one with a limited payload - if successfully detonated would have impacted the ability for more than a half million people to travel to or from and communicate with the metro area. Further, the other devices were placed on every single bridge that allows people to travel out of or into the City of Boston from/to the North.
Finally, the foolish duo that installed these devices were filmed an hour into the incident watching the BPD and bomb squad in their investigation and decided to remain silent for several hours, allowing the situation to continue to snowball out of control.
There is plenty of blame to share here amongst all of the actors involved. It is tempting to blame "the man" for overreacting, but the reality is there is no one that should escape criticism. It is not ever - no - not ever - acceptable for a marketing campaign to be based on the illegal placement of advertisements on publicly owned infrastructure, especially not on critical pathways into and out of a major metro area.
Source: I was there (if only my personal experience could be validated in a wikipedia entry...)
Here let me fix that for you so the uneducated and mypoic masses can better understand were you're coming from.
"That too, is a tinfoil hat cry; That people are too myopic to see reality is a situation engineered by the masters of the mass media."...except for me. "That people are ignorant of politics is an engineered situation by those in charge of education."...except for me. "That people are too busy just making their mortgage payments is a situation engineered by the financial sector."...except for me. "All corporates have a similar goal: To sell stuff. A compliant, constantly consuming, politically disenfranchised public is the kind of public most willing to allow wealth to flow uphill without resisting."...except for me. "The corporate sector is deliberately engineering a system that people are unable to fight without catastrophic loss to themselves in the form of mortgage defaults, bankruptcy or outright criminalization under ever broadening crime and terrorism legislation."...except for me "Time to invade another country, this time over tin, because I just used up the national inventory!" Used up all the ego too.
It is reasonable to question whether an object is a bomb. But we have to remember that real life terrorists aren't as concerned about style as say ... The Joker. No, I believe tormenting the cops with riddles is the job of fictional villians who are excellent at constructing plot device but not actually killing. Yeah, it could be a bomb, but there are scores of other things one could build a bomb out of that are less visible (key if you don't want the Boston Bomb squad to foil you) and more effective.
I sincerely hope the citizens of Boston construct their own Mooninite light bright signs and put them up. This incident was a hoax by politicians, not marketers.
*scribble, scribble* *scribble, scribble* Anything else?
A lot of news, especially that from the US Administration, is probably some combination of smokescreen paranoia, or outright manipulation. And yet, I have to believe that at least some of the reports of "foiled plots" have some element of truth. And they seem to suggest that the terrorists are getting caught planning more carefully than you're giving credit for. I'm not taking notes, so not sure what to cite, but I have the definite sense I've seen stories about terrorists dropping items in public to how long it took for authorities to notice and take action. Consequently, there's no reason to suppose these couldn't have been such items. That might not mean the city was being attacked, but it might reasonably mean that it was about to be, or that plans were underway. Showing a good strong show of concern might mean the difference between terrorists choosing Boston or another city. And that might not seem like a big distinction, but if you live in Boston it could be the kind of subtle distinction that still ends up mattering.
As for the original thread question of whether this issue was overblown or not, I'd like to just say this: A lot of the commentary has focused on this as a binary activity with two possible postures--overblown or not. I wasn't aware of the activity as it happened, and only heard after-the-fact accounts, but my impression is that there were several unrelated questions that call for different answers. At first, the police found these things and there was concern. At that point, it's probably reasonable to guess that the perpetrators didn't know what was going on and were innocent of any intent to upset or deceive. And you could imagine it was possible they went about their day without knowing, in which case they'd be innocent all day. But as soon as they saw that a negative frenzy was created, the situation shifted and it should have been called off. At that point, their failure to come forward when they could see real fear shifted from "innocent bringers of a curiosity" to "reckless holders of important knowledge". There could have been a panic and a mad attempt to leave the city, or some part of it, in which people were injured. There could have been a large expenditure of resources better spent on real terrorism and robbing later ability to actually make such expenditure. And so on. In the case of the original broadcast of War of the Worlds, years ago, there were people who just committed suicide because they feared a bad situation. The world is different now, and space aliens might not scare that way, but there's every reason to believe that terrorism can still scare people, and such outcomes are not impossible. The fact that the individuals were aware of the concern and the network was telling them to hold off says there was a serious breach of good judgment, if not worse. How one measures it might indeed be a personal judgment, but measuring it as a non-issue seems ... underblown.
While I think it shows good leadership for the CEO to step down, I think it would have been better leadership for him to know what his organization was up to and to have either known about it in advance or to have stopped it when it was going awry. If he really didn't know because someone planned it without passing the info up the ladder, that person should have been fired rather than the CEO taking the fall. That it didn't go that way certainly hints at the possibility that it would have later come out that the CEO did know, though certainly he's due his day in court... or in People magazine ... or wherever we end up trying the case. But I wouldn't rush to call him a hero or a great leader or anything like that at least until the facts are in. It may simply have been an issue of taking minor embarrassment now or facing serious public embarrassment and possible legal action later. If such were the options,
Kent M Pitman
Philosopher, Technologist, Writer
Okay, if Boston thinks they're bombs... well okay. Thats what they saw it as. But why the hell didn't they do anything to stop them from setting up the displays. If they were truly concerned they would have noticed something was up and done something about it. The fact that the signs were put up is testament to the fact that HAD they been real, Boston most probably wouldnt have noticed in time. So lack of action by Boston in the face of a "terrorist threat" is the reason CN should have paid NO money, and the CEO should have kept his job. Anybody else see the bad judgement here?
Sephiroth2k
Man, it'd be totally awesome if they had a bomb squad blow up that clown. Confetti everywhere!
...or so I've been told.
"It has a couple of nice universities, but do you thing the terrorists care at all about those?"
Let's ask the Taliban. Or even better, the Iraqis.
In this post-9/11 world we must always remember 9/11 and never forget the lessons we learned from that unique day in history which took place on September the 11th otherwise known as 9/11. No other day in history other than 9/11 could be said to have made such drastic changes as 9/11. No other day in history could possibly said to have been as tragic. Uh... 9/11, terrorists, Jihad, Al Queda, Muslims, Boo!, weapons of mass destruction, dirty bomb, anthrax, homosexuals, flag burning, nuclear, abortion, family values, rape, child mollestor, serial killer, unpatriotic, pornography, sex offender, atheist, drugs.
That his severence pay is a LOT more than $2 million.
The reaction of Boston and the severity of the whole thing; I still can't decide if the entire thing is a joke or not. Life, that is. I can't decide whether or not life is a joke now. As hard as he can is apparently much harder than we thought.
sometimes, nothing.
You'll NEVER get a Masshole to admit anything of the sort.
To ensure safety in my household, I have grounded my children for 3 months for putting their lightbright in the hallway. Thank you Boston for teaching me how to rear my children. Oh wait, I don't have any children. I was just having a SIMS flashback. Please disregard prior coment.
...but it's PAINFULLY true. I'd have modded this "Insightful" instead of "Funny"- because it's dead to rights accurate.
We've handed the terrorists another high-payoff, extreme low cost, attack with a very definite soft-target- and they
now know we'll do almost all of their work FOR THEM.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I literally can't imagine a stupider response on behalf of the Boston police/gov't. I think they were legitimately confused, as to the nature of the signs, and instead of looking for a reasonable answer, let all the fox-news wolf-crying (are terrorists in your kitchen? find out tonight at eleven!) stir them into a bomb-squad frenzy. Then, I think they were so embarassed by their own resulting ineptitude and overreaction that, to save face, they went on the warpath and used their bully pulpit to cow those port advertising guys, as well as everyone at Cartoon Network. Which is a damn shame -- it's as clear a case of abuse of power as you can get. If anyone should be resigning, it's the Mayor, for infringing on freedom of speech and expression. This is not much different, honestly, than this story other than scale.
who let a poet in here?
Oh, please.
High profile devices, placed at an altitude that would have rendered shrapnel pretty much ineffective. (I watched the videos of them PLACING the damn things all over Boston...) Here's a clue: High profile, low cost, low risk- without drawing attention to the devices or people until the act
actually goes down. Light-brights made out of LEDs and D-cells do not make for this- they draw attention to themselves.
They EODed an unknown device. If they were being serious about a potential terrorist act, you HAVE to assume the possibility of
Sarin, Tabun, VX or similar- or a weaponized biological agent. EODing the stuff is the worst possible thing you could have done
as it'd very likely distribute the damn stuff instead of dispose of it.
I'm sorry, but this was an overreaction by this City. From start to finish. Worse, they did everything wrong if it wasn't one.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
We all go out, buy lite-brites, and put them all over every city in the US to show how stupid this all is.
America, as a citizen that has watched you go to shit over the past 30+ years (and watched the shit flow even more freely over the past six), I have to say you really and truly suck. I only wish I could leave, but thanks to this society that pretty much fucks over the life of anyone unfortunate enough to become unemployed for a while and can't pay bills, I'm stuck.
Thanks.
Apparently the whole media blitz did not register on ratings.
Target audience of 18-24 olds grew from 380000 to 386000 last week. In other words 2 million bucks bought mere 6000 of viewers. If that's not an utter disaster of ads campaign I'm sure it's very close to it.
It also may mean that show has saturated its audience and no matter what they do they won't get bigger ratings.
Causing such bad returns on such large involuntary investment is very upsetting and I understand why he resigned.
Hyperom.com
A violent over-reaction to things that are outside their knowledge or belief has been a hallmark of Boston for 300+ years. Were the unfortunate women burned because some people thought they were dangerous witches actually dangerous? Of course not. Exact same behavior here, just substitute "terrorist" for "witch."
"But if they were witches, you'd damn sure be thankful we burned them!"
In a sad way, the Northern witch-burnings were just the white equivalent to Southern lynchings. So much the North and South had in common! Think how history might have been different, if only they'd been able to find this common ground.
It's also sad how it's economically easier for Time Warner to kill the head of Cartoon Network than address the issue, which was the paranoid and incompetent response of the Boston authorities (in which they were much like the elephant blaming the mouse for being so scary).
Of course, most authorities don't become authorities because they're comfortable with anyone actually seeing their paranoia and incompetence, and so TW gets the "Boston Legal" plea bargain of either pretending they were wrong or paying a lot of money. TW, as one would deduce from watching CNN, is in business to make money and not defend principles, and so the outcome here is the one we might despise but should expect.
It is encouraging that so many people are able to see the incompetent paranoia in Boston's initial response, and the craven cowardice in Time Warner's. (In this respect the two parties are just caught in the same split in our national character the Republicans and Democrats act out for us at the national scale.) That people can see these two halves and recognize that neither one is right is (ahem) a good sign.
(The best response to this whole thing would have been for the Boston authorities to admit "wow, we overreacted. But it's because we were really scared by you." And then CN could have meaningfully responded "wow, we're really sorry we did something that had that effect. Is there something we can do to help you feel better?" And then some real connection and understanding and growth could have occurred on both sides. We didn't get that outcome this time. But since we can at least talk about that as a possibility, we're getting closer to the moment when it will be the outcome some next time.)
Its sad to see a mighty country like the USofA being afraid of its own shadow, this is exactly what these terrorist wanted, a government jumping at scary shadows, arresting innocent citizens, while denying habious corpus rights to the same citizens, its sworn to protect. In the words of Billy Witch Doctor.Com "Arise Chicken"
way to prove the terrorists have won, boston. bravo.
I can just see the next stupid warning label:
Warning: Placing in a public area may get you fined for causing a bomb scare.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
I agree. Maybe talking fast food is popular with stoners or people tripping on lsd.
Sorry, even people unfamiliar with Ignignot and Err, would be an earnest IDIOT to think that flat light box, OBVIOUSLY some sort of ad or joke to anyone but an idiot (or an entire city of idiots, in this case) and the fact that the city didn't admit to overreacting, instead a lot of very innocent people are suffering unnecessary consequences. This is one of the most absolutely ludicrous stories of the year, I am sorry. Just proves all the more what a sad state of affairs we are REALLY in, in this country right now.
-kneeL
"OMG they've actually re-elected him!" "...Twice! LOL"
-Entire World 2004
One could argue that anyone who understands the "sad state of affairs" the United States is in would be idiotic to perpetrate such a campaign.
Anybody who saw the two stooges who actually put up the signs would realize that these are two unbelievably stupid individuals who should have been drowned by their mothers long ago.
However, the executive shouldn't have resigned over this, unless he specifically told the two idiots what to do, what to put up, and where. Anybody who was directly involved in the erroneous placement of the ads are the only people who should either be resinging or fired. If the exec told Wingus and Dingus to go out and do exactly what they did, then, yes, he should resign. But if he didn't then why should he be at fault? I'm more than certain that there are more individuals who were far more involved in the actual scandal than he was. To play devil's advocate, he probably just said "We need to promote this movie. It's popular for the market segment we are targeting, so figure out a good way to advertise it."
Honestly, that's probably where his involvement ended. The two idiots who carried it out should be forced to bear all of the costs for the whole fiasco and fined into oblivion, along with their supervisor, but only if he specifically told them to do it that way.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
The issue is far more complex than just "who in hell would think this is a bomb?" I hope you are aware that:
* Boston had a legitimate bomb scare at a hospital on the same day.
* The hoaxsters may have called in the bomb threat themselves, explaining why no other city reacted this way, and also why they are facing prosecution.
* The dread-haired guy videotaped police officers removing one of his devices and didn't step in to inform them of its benign nature.
I am surprised by the triple fallout ($2m settlement, CEO resignation, and criminal charges) but this lends further support to the theory that this was a deliberate hoax. If it was a simple misunderstanding, then any one of the three penalties would have sufficed.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/01/boston.bombscare/
... of weed doers with your advertising.
"it has that look and feel of "bombs" you see in movies "
If what you're saying is true, it just goes to show that Boston's police have no more training that the average citizen when it comes to spotting bombs. And if you have no training, then the first thing you do is ask someone who does before shutting down the city.
That is, if you're not a moron...
"I've got a kid"
Yeah so what. So does the entire rest of the world's population, pretty much. I have a couple kids. That doesn't mean I becoming an idiot when they're born.
"And if a little overreaction means the difference between drawing flowers with him and placing flowers on his grave, then I'm all for a little overreaction"
Is there any chance you could hand your kids off to someone competent and then wait in the tunnel in boston to catch any ceiling tiles that might fall? I have a feeling the world and your kids would be better off.
No offense.
Provincetown may be P'Town but Boston is now PeePants Town.
Edith Keeler Must Die
Well, these days, if you don't want to get kicked in the arse, better get your ads certified and blessed by the ministry of truth before putting them out in the open. I would think it was not their fault some idiot thought those things were bombs (even my non-tech sister just laughed about the whole thing, me, well, I didn't laugh, I was sad), but I don't matter I've got used to that.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
Things like this make it very clear all the terrorists in the world aiming at the USA can go home and leave the USA alone for a few years. They won and anything they do won't be half as bad as the imagination of American bureaucrates and the average retarded Joe. The USA can destroy itself all by it's self. Unless Bush goes out the window and the USA gets rid of the fear mongering media you guys lost. clear and simple
Going back to the original question, I'd say the answer is "both".
I think the point has been sufficiently made in the comments thus far that this was blown way out of proportion and the fault for the panic lies with the response, not with the original act.
On the other hand, this is just another stupid marketing campaign. Sure, sure, it's an inside joke for everyone who watches the show to "get it" and everyone who doesn't to go "what the..?". It's meant to generate what the marketing weasles call "buzz".
But let's put aside the massive overreaction for a moment. Based on where these things were placed, they were essentially designed to cause a lot of rubbernecking. They're only a foot by a foot and a half, so you have to slow down and take a few seconds to figure out what this thing is... and wait... is that thing GIVING ME THE FINGER? Doh! (har de har) Only in the meantime, the rubberneck effect is rippling its way back.
Now if these were punk kids pulling a stunt and raising a little hell, that's one thing. But these are marketing weasles getting paid a chunk of money to make me late for dinner.
So, while I think the whole mess was much ado about nothing, I also think that corporate ad campaigns pretending to be cool and rebellious are a load of crap.
Are you aware of fact how it looks from Europe?
If blinking advert can stop whole city, how can you just live there?
I just can't believe that's true. This is too ridiculous.
I live in Boston. The city screwed up, badly.
Got any tea handy?
I applaud Jim Sample's prime example of responsible leadership. He understands that his company pulled this stunt, he is in charge of his company, therefore he should take responsibility for it. However, I think his resignation also displays a level of weakness. The mayor of Boston is a belligerent imbecile. Because his own stupidity led to his embarrassment and that of an entire city, he chose to respond like a typical pigheaded schoolyard bully. And Jim caved.
Yes, CN put signs up in Boston. It did so in several cities. It advised all of the cities in advance. Bostonians and their leaders ignored the notice, overreacted, look stupid (are stupid) for it, and now are lashing out, becoming ever more idiotic. Jim should have accepted responsibility AND told Boston to grow a sense of humor.
The people in charge in Boston totally overreacted. But the news outlets are the ones the ran with it and kept bringing it up. If I were the head of the Cartoon Network, I would go over to my my fellow Time Warner employee the head of CNN and give that person a black eye. Boston made the mistake but CNN and company made it news.
Of course if this had happened in someplace besides the East or West coast it probably wouldn't have even made the national news...
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
Even if ATHF is popular with you kiddies, it doesn't change the fact that this was guerilla advertising, aka unsolicited commercial speech, you know, the kind that the Supreme court erroneously believes is covered by the First Amendment.
I mean the signs didn't even have a copyright notice or some other clear form of commercial labeling. Thus proving that the signs were trying to bypass our regexes. OMG haxors!
Everyone saying that "they don't look like bombs." Quit trying to excuse their subterfuge. They purposefully hid commercial speech to get at your eyeballs. We hate that when spam does it, why don't we hate it here.
Boston over-reacting is akin to /. freaking out and having an adbusters
jihad when a new popup technique is found in the wild, because hey, it
could be a new javascript exploit. Not really the same degree, but
maybe the same dislike of attempting to subvert the system.
I mean hell, they were even using the [blink]blink[/blink] tag! It's like Minority Report all over again!!!!
When a blinking *toy* fergawhdzfuggin' sake can be construed as a security threat, how is it that we keep missing the most glaringly obvious one in the nation, the occupant of the Oval Office?
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
All I can say is that while the USA was frothing at the mouth over a harmless advertising stunt, Britain has been facing a campaign of real bombs sent through the post, while simultaneously coping with allegations of a seperate major terrorist plot - and the only thing that has threatened to stop life continuing totally normally has been the weather.
It's called having a sense of perspective. Stopping all postal deliveries might possibly save lives, but it would certainly cause untold damage in other ways - and it would mean the terrorists had won. And the targets of the bomb campaign are, frankly, sensible adults who are capable of taking care of themselves by not touching suspicious packages. Britain is often accused of being a "nanny state", while Americans pride themselves on their ideals of independence and personal responsibility... but today it seems those roles have been reversed.
I read this too -- they found two fake pipe bombs, they knew who made 'em, and didn't go after the guy. Boston's Police are fucked-up with their priorities.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Aren't there any electronics hobbyists left? One look at the pictures of the "devices" and it was clear to me that it was just a simple "blinky light" board. It shouldn't have taken an expert ten seconds to tell the devices were benign. If our "authorities" are so ill educated, how do we know they'd even recognize a real bomb?
I can understand them responding to the calls from the public but after seeing one of the devices, I cannot for the life of me figure out how poorly educated you have to be to think those things were bombs. Go look through any electronics catalog. Hell, go to Fry's. These kinds of circuit are sold as kits for KIDS.
Many folks think than studying your enemy's tactics makes you a "bad guy." I believe it makes you more prepared (and a better warrior.)
It's a little known fact that bombs only hide under the clothing of really attractive people
Join with me in the call to BAN clothing on ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE.
If attractive people aren't naked all the time, the terrorists will win.
Assuming that someone is trying to be The Joker by advertising their bombs with a Light Bright, I could understand them detonating a single device to see what's up with them. But after that, it should have been very obvious to them that the devices were NOT bombs but rather, just a lightbright board with a two dimensional figure making a lewd jesture "as much as he can". I don't think that Boston officials were stupid. I think they saw this as an opportunity to show how "vigilant" they were. They intentionally wasted city resources for their own political profit. In essence, they were just emulating Washington DC and the master of the house at 1700 Pennsylvania.
we have entered the new dark ages. freedom is replaced by state control. science is replaced with fundamentalist religion and the state makes sure we are terrified of everything so they may restrict us more. mass panic exercises like boston's athf episode are just part of it. every time they can roll out the heavy equipment they will. and eventually you will be used to having troops on the street checking your papers. there are plans for internal us passports and troops locking down the large cities in america. i hope it doesn't come to pass, but im fairly certain no one going to stop it. the american inquisition should be along soon, sadly, no one will expect it.
-=] M3 Heavy industries - Download Free Game Tools
Always!
I am the man with no sig!
That line from Syriana has rung true again. The reason that Boston's response seems stupid is that you are mistaking it for what Boston authorities have claimed it to be; a response to maintain public safety. They didn't make a response to maintain public safety. They made a response to maintain the illusion that they are protecting public safety. They are not paying attention to anything more than how they appear. It's the nature of corrupt officials to seek first and foremost to protect themselves, and usually to stop when they feel they appear to have done their jobs. Whether or not they actually have done their jobs is usually unimportant to the corrupt, and in most cases is repugnant to them, in that they are then no more cagey or clever than the audience that they seek to fool.
Another city in California found *real* pipe bombs when draining an aqueduct. And they didn't panic, either. There's a difference between taking the threat seriously and shutting down the city out of fear. They should take it seriously, but calm down once they know they're fake.
Like I said, every time you panic, the terrorists win.
These devices were, as I understand, placed in other major cities across the US, including NYC.
Now, after 9/11, you'd think that New Yorkers (irregardless of their renowned toughness) would be more "sensitive" to this sort of "prank" than would be Bostonians.
I think it was a bad idea, given the political climate. As I understand, however, these were just little "Lightbright" (remember those!?) boxes, relatively harmless. It still would have been a good idea to let the local government in on the campaign.
But let there be a lesson here, in case some idiot wants to promote his product in a similar way.
I think the CEO losing his job (having to resign) is a bit harsh here. Unless he was directly responsible (CEO's rarely are, read: plausible deniability). Maybe a suspension would have been more appropriate. There's a bigger picture to consider (the company's success).
Have we all gone blind, and mad?
No, it's possible to install the epoxied hanger inserts safely, but, especially with the working conditions in the tunnel, it was a very risky thing to try. These have been prone to failure. Their use was initiated by the contractor as a change to the original design in order to save cost and time.
And that lesson is, Boston is run by idiots.
This is really unbelievable. What on earth could possibly constitute that large a fine? At worst I'd say the marketing campaign is guilty of littering.
. . . is not as much one of destruction as it is to disorient, confuse, and otherwise cause paranoia. In this respect (IMHO), Mr. Samples and all of the paranoids in Boston handed would-be terrorists a victory by their overreaction and Mr. Samples resignation. While it may seem noble that Mr. Samples would take the fall for those that worked under him, I think the situation would have been better served by using this incident as an example of just how ludicrous our reactions to perceived threats have become. The only interests served by knee-jerk reactions like these are those of terrorism.
That being said, I believe Cartoon Network dropped the ball by not facing this issue head on and giving this outrageous reaction to mere flashing lights the ridicule it deserves.
"If your parents never had children, chances are you wonât either." -Dick Cavett
Which isn't quite so paranoid dealt with something similar.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bgsqOVSrVFU
Note the final words are "Serve and Protect" without sarcasm, something I haven't seen in American media in ages.
Many slashdoters have said Boston grossly overreacted to the ATHF mini-billboards. As a long time resident of Massachusetts, I'm happy the agencies' reacted as they did. Keep in mind the authorities who work as public servants care about their communities and fellow citizens. They are informed about strange looking devices located on sites, such as, bridges, and other important sites (Hospital, Fenway, etc.) For one moment let's suppose you were the public official dealing with this situation. What do you do? The public, your community, and your friends and family, depends on you to keep them safe.
You have minimal information and have devices on bridges and other locations. Do you treat it lightly (it's just some misconstrued marketing program)? Or do you treat it seriously until you have more information? If you treat it lightly it might turn out not to be a marketing program gone amuck but something more sinister. All reasonable people, i think, would verge on a more conservative approach and treat this event as potentially lethal. Frankly the public officials are dammed regardless of their actions. If they did not take this serious it would have been all over the news, "Boston indifferent to suspicious devices."
I have the utmost respect for the public officials who deal with public safety every day, it's an important job that is stressful, and has real consequences. The men and woman who responded to this event did what they thought would be in the best public interest of Massachusetts. Once more I ask everyone to put yourself into their position, the responsibility they are in charge of, the balancing act they must attempt, to make sure everyone can go home safely every night.
I'm 26 and love ATHF but the show isn't really the issue. The real issue is the company who decided to have this marketing program. For some reason, i bet if Cartoon Network contacted the proper officials, obtained the proper permits, and acted in a responsible manner we would not be talking about this sad event. Instead we would be talking about how crafty the marketing program was and how bad we wanted to have our own moonanites (bright light?) displays.
People who argue Boston's response was overkill have a valid point. However, I think we unfortunately cast aside the enormity of public safety. I don't know how many people would relish being responsible for such a task. I imagine if I was a public official dealing with public safety even a backpack left next to a subway entrance would cause me to react a lot differently then I would now.
Best,
Thepriceisright
by the fact that efforts of the Government and Corporations and the Defense Complex at keeping the populace scared of their own fucking shadows has apparently succeeded.j pg
Charles Shulz saw it coming -> http://www.trexfiles.com/peanuts_mooninite_large.
Other than this text, there is no discernible information contained in this sig.
I also believe the Boston authorities have the right to react the way they did. Goofy as it may seem, especially in light that they were the only major city to react this way, and goofy that they thought terrorists would go out of their way to draw attention to a bomb, they can react that way if they want to.
The problem is that now that Boston has egg on its face they're looking for someone to take responsibility. And the right people who should take responsibility are the Boston authorities. This incident should be no more unusual than one where a mysterious briefcase is found at an airport and has that place shut down while the authorities deal with it. If/when that case is determined to not be a threat, do you see the authorities going after the absent minded person who left it behind as a possible terrorist? No... you see the authorities realize that sometimes they get it wrong and the only harm done is that a suit case was destroyed and an airport was shutdown for a few hours. No other personal liberties were abused in this hypothetical case, and in the ideal world that I want to live in, it'd be the same way here. These guys could put up those signs fearing only possible littering/vandalism charges and the Boston authorities could react the way they did to the signs, but otherwise not accuse the sign-hangers as terrorit immitators.
And no, it's not like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. It's more like yelling "hey" in a crowded theater.
Right now, with Boston's reaction the way it was it seems to me the absolute best plan of attack for a terrorist cell would be to drop off literally thousands of empty boxes all over the city; on buses, trains, street corners, bridges. Everywhere. And watch the city go nuts. Your only risk would be being talked to by the police because you happen to be carrying a box with something like a teddy bear inside. Good luck prosecuting that guy.
The goal of terrorism is to terrorize, not to blow people up.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I figure that's the real reason why he's been told to go. If your advertising goes overbudget by $2 million with NO positive results, you've royally screwed up.
Gee.. those lite brites look like a character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (someone in the department must have known that) maby we should call up cartoon network to see if they know anything about this. *ring* *ring* Cartoon Network: Hello? Boston Police: Hi, this is the Boston Police did you put up lite brites around out city? Cartoon Network: Yes we did.. its a part of our advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Boston Police: Oh ok, we were just making sure they weren't bombs. Cartoon Network: No no.. nothing explosive about them. Boston Police: Thanks a lot, we didn't want to shutdown transportation all over the city over some stupid lite brites. Cartoon Network: Yeah, that would have made you look like dumb pieces of shit. Boston Police: Yes it would have.
Quick comment on your sig. Might want to change it slightly.
:)
We only RE-elected him once. He was ELECTED twice.. (Well technically one could argue we didn't elect him either time, what with the florida and ohio scandals, but that is neither here nor there..)
Just trying to grammar nazi in a nice way
My rantings, only longer and with better spelling..
Jim Samples should not have resigned. He did nothing wrong. His company did nothing wrong. The lawsuit and its result were unjust. But Samples rightly perceived that the public, as willing victims of globalization, had identified his company as "tur'rists", and decided that it wasn't worth himself or his employees going to a torture chamber.
The U.S.A. is full of hysterical ninnies whose sense of being American does not extend beyond cheap slogans invented by our British imperial enemy. That's why they can't see the enemy within: they have nothing left in their minds that is truly American that they can compare with Cheney, to reveal that he is totally un-American, and Bush, too, by implication, because he does everything Cheney tells him to do.
9-11 was orchestrated by the enemy within, and that enemy's agenda is globalization, the new imperialism. The Economist magazine, based in London, just released a special, boasting of the revival of the British Empire through globalization! Where is the spirit of 1776? Where is the rigorous scientific method of Benjamin Franklin, not just in his electrical experiments, but in his political intelligence and political leadership. Never satisfied with judgements based on appearances, he always sought to uncover the principles governing all the action.
Apply Franklin's method to "terrorism". Look at the vote fraud in 2000, the bigger vote fraud in 2004, the pre-inaugural rush in late 2000- early 2001 to nominate John Ashcroft for Attorney General. What is the more probable motive for 9-11: to make the U.S. submit to the rule of Osama bin Laden, or to establish a police state under Bush and Cheney, or to allow Bush and Cheney to loot the U.S. until the U.S. Treasury is no longer able to sell bonds, putting our government totally in the hands of the financial circle behind Cheney & Bush?
"Gee.. those lite brites look like a character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (someone in the department must have known that) maby we should call up cartoon network to see if they know anything about this. *ring* *ring* Cartoon Network: Hello? Boston Police: Hi, this is the Boston Police did you put up lite brites around out city? Cartoon Network: Yes we did.. its a part of our advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Boston Police: Oh ok, we were just making sure they weren't bombs. Cartoon Network: No no.. nothing explosive about them. Boston Police: Thanks a lot, we didn't want to shutdown transportation all over the city over some stupid lite brites. Cartoon Network: Yeah, that would have made you look like dumb pieces of shit. Boston Police: Yes it would have."
The scenario you describe is perfect, EXCEPT for one thing. The marketing geniuses who put it up did not bother to include on the devices ANY kind of identifyng information. If they had, I would agree with you completely.
But, as it actually happened, what were the cops on the ground supposed to to with four 911 calls within an hour and finding 3 of these devices on the most strategically located bridges (and fiber-optic conduits) in Boston and the other near a hospital? Maybe the thing itself doesn't look like a bomb, but why couldn't it just be one component of a wireless trigger system?
Perhaps report back that "it might be suspicious, or it might look a bit like some character in some show my teenaager watched once, so you better send out the marketing analysis experts before we call the bomb squad.".
Remember this was a very low-res pixel graphic with no identifying info meant to be obscure for a targeted audience. It wasn't like it flashed letters for national brands like "Coke" or even a local one like "Joe's Pizza".
While I usually find myself very much on the anti-authority side of the argument, in this case, they were doing their jobs exactly right. Call the bemb experts, clear the area, let them figure out what it is, and call the "All Clear" when it is ok.
Yet you focus on the one example that was handled incorrectly, and generalize from that to "we're one step away from failing to have the ability to sort by color and shape".
The fashionable cynicism on Slashdot gets more repulsive to me every year, because this process isn't just the primary fuel for that cynicism, it's almost the sole fuel. Look, dumb things happen, but if all you look at is the dumb stuff, you'll get an almost unspeakably skewed view of things.
There are six billion people in this world. If even only
You're just allowing yourself to be manipulated by a sensationalistic media if you think this is representative of all humanity, along with all the other pointless bad news you see on the news. Ultimately, if you do this, you are no different than the PEAR group at Princeton featured today on Slashdot, combing through mounds and mounds of data for the small nuggets that confirm your negative worldview, the only difference being that somebody else is doing the combing for you.
Are you sure we have a problem? Because what I see is a number of cities handling this perfectly capably, and one group of people in Boston that may very well have contained no more than three or four people that overreacted just long enough for the media to become involved, at which point even if they recanted it would have been too late.
All it takes is one person calling the police saying "I see a bomb!" without giving a description, and the police being a little too credulous. It's easy to construct the Boston scenario with only a small number of idiots involved and everybody else correctly doing their jobs with the information they had; with just a bit of bad luck all you needed was that initial phone caller being stupid.
I hardly think that a mere handful of stupid people getting unlucky and making national news constitutes proof of government conspiracies to scare people. We don't need government conspiracies, we have a news media that gets paid by the number of people watching them. That's plenty of motivation to be as sensationalistic as possible, and if people get scared as a side effect, well, who cares?
How about both?
Let's not forget that in Boston, not only were there two pipe bomb scares, but to boot, the local authorities were never properly informed about the ATHF's ad campaign! It's a very important point, because it would explain a major part of the confusion which lead to the overreaction that so many here are griping about. To be clear, I'm not defending Boston's reaction, quite the contrary. For instance, a little improvement on Boston's communication with other major city authorities would have probably gave them a head's up on the devious ad-campaign and prevented much of the brouhaha. On the flip side, a simple call from Cartoon Network to Boston's authority (beforehand) would've saved CN CEO, Sample, his job and prevented millions of dollars in damages caused to the city of Boston.
And speaking of knee-jerk reactions, a lot of people were crying foul on the Boston authorities despite the obvious public misconduct of the two individuals involved. That was long before all the facts were known, so it's interesting to see that some people still aren't willing to concede to all the facts.
It was Cartoon Network, not Comedy Central.
He didn't resign due to a feeling of responsibility for his actions. He resigned from Cartoon Network because Comedy Central recognized his marketing brilliance and offered him more money. Coming soon to a city near you: blinkin' Cartman flipping you the bird terrorist signage. The new CEO of Comedy Central would appreciate it if you would all flip out completely... again. ;-)
Against the backdrop of a tradition of hacking over here at MIT, this reaction looks like a ton of bull. Boston totally overreacted, and the strength of the connection between the graffiti artists and Cartoon Network is tenuous at best. Why should a CEO resign because some renegade avant-guard artists messed up a slick hack?
If someone drops a fort on Will, he makes a reflex save.
The lower ratings might have something to do with the fact that the show is in its off-season right now. My guess is that these ads were in fact for the upcoming movie. I find it odd that Forbes didn't mention either fact.
Apparently for corralling many of the explosives-happy people in your community into a single, easily controlled group instead of letting them run wild and blow up cars, trash cans, beer cans and light brights.
Oh, wait. Those were all blown up by bomb squads. Never mind.
"You cannot have a General Will unless you have shared experiences. You cannot be fair to people you don't know."
Yes, the reaction by Boston authorities was absurdly overblown. But it was a retarded idea to start with.
Ideally, this resignation should by matched by one at a similar level in Boston, but I don't see that happening.
I can understand why they would have reacted that way to the first one. It was found during the day so not easy to tell that it was light-up. If you've never seen older 8 bit video games it wouldn't necessarily look like a cartoon character to you. Given that the police force that discovered the first one was the Somerville police force which has a generally older and frumpier force than Boston, I find this to be entirely plausible. So what you have is a circuit board with batteries duct taped to it (and you couldn't see that they were batteries, the tape covered them) attached to a girder that suspends up the very congested 8 lane interstate 93 above another elevated bridge carrying electric trains going underground into a major subway station and immediately outside of that subway station, directly under the highway is a major bus terminal.
The fact that this continued all afternoon is inexcusable... and the fact that they had cops who were no doubt getting paid $60/hr-$100/hr overtime to remove them after they found out that they were benign, and not some sanitation worker is also completely inexcusable. I saw hoards of police choppers hovering around until well after 6 that evening. It's almost like they were purposefully making it expensive to prove that it was a big deal so they could justify how expensive it was.
And as much those 2 kids that did it were compete condescending art-school douche bags on the news... the fact that they were vilified for some job they probably got off of craigslist (for which they each got paid $300) is absolutely absurd (I'm looking at you too Boston Herald)
However, to completely disregard even the initial concern is completely faulty.
Some people didnt like the signs -- didnt like them at all -- but they didnt want the expense, probable failure, negative PR, lack of bite, an straightforward-ness of some sort of an indecency or illegal advertising suit. (or no suit at all because of they, themselves, had no claim).
The government is a perfect front.
Turner didnt fight the suit. Terrorism wasnt one of the reasons -- too easy to show a lack of intent (of terrorism or a hoax terrorism). Similar advertising campains can probably be shown. With precedence, there would be a lack of uniqueness and unexpectedness for a professional organization such as the City of Boston. Companies are well known for fighing all manner of lawsuits with vigor. It is reasonable to assume that Turner had other reasons for not fighing the suit.
Note, Turner also dropped a dime on their CEO. Once Turner decided to roll-over, the bomb stare stunt now becomes the perfect reason for such an action. The club was passed to them and willingly used it.
Literally, physically, something that looks like those devices could not possibly be an explosive device of any serious power, nothing that poses any danger to any structure or even any human who wasn't essentially holding them in his hands.
I wouldn't go quite that far. It looks like a motivated lunatic might be able to pack on the rough order of a quart of C-4 into the one I saw on E-bay; that would get you something on the very vague ballpark of ten kilograms TNT yield -- or about ten millitons. Not enough to do more than cause a (slightly more justified) panic, evacuate the associated buildings, and probably force some pretty expensive repairs. And, yeah, with all of the moon-units they had scattered about the country, terrorists might have been lucky to kill half a dozen people with shrapnel, and maybe give minor injuries to five times that. But if you set one off in the middle of the road, I doubt anyone in Boston would notice the extra pothole.
Yes, Boston, your mayor has had his sense of humor surgically removed. I hope whoever buys the ones appearing on E-bay mail ship them to him.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Have some perspective. On September 11, one well funded terrorist organization succeeded in making an attack. 3,000 people died, about the number of people that die in traffic accidents every two weeks. I'm just not seeing the demonstrations over outlawing cars. At Columbine, about 20 people were killed on one day, but thats about how many kids hang themselves accidentally in mini blinds every day, did you take down your mini-blinds. Terrorism relies on the press to sensationalize an item. The politicians volley the fear back and forth, making more and more laws for the sake of making laws to look effective. The result is that a few good laws are enforced and obeyed. Many silly laws are ignored. This leads to anarchy. Welcome to Iraq.
- High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.
The people involved in the city of Boston are fucking retards. The only thing about this "incident" that I fail to understand is how these retards seem to lack a sense of shame...shame for being so immeasurably stupid in the first place, and shame for overreacting in an equally immeasurably stupid manner, and shame for then turning and pointing the blame at others.
WHY IS EVERYONE BUYING INTO THIS?!?!
The people in Boston are fucking morons...why is everyone capitulating in the face of their idiocy? Why is everyone tripping over themselves to appease the sense of outrage coming from these redfaced buffoons? Why are people being prosecuted, sued, and resigning? Why is money being paid to the city?
Has the world absolutely lost all sense of reason and perspective? This incident makes me *so* embarassed to share citizenship with such fucktards who seem so determined to legitimize this bullshit culture of alarmist overreaction to anything they haven't seen before.
> The marketing company really needs to learn to think through ... ... say, a label saying who placed the device ...
> the possible consequences of their actions
>
Perhaps mark it "Adv:"?
You identified the real problem here, and this makes this incident quite like spam: this marketing method indirectly abused public resources and caused indirect costs to 3rd parties. Another spammy attribute of this marketing campaign is an attempt to disguise itself as something else (not looking like an an ad but as something that requires attention to determine what it is). It relied on the public handling of the strange "devices" that suddenly appeared everywhere, thus creating cost for 3rd parties was planned by whoever ran this campaign.
A lot of words are wasted trying to "define spam" as opt-in vs. opt-out, commercial or not etc. I think the real characteristic that includes spam and lots of other nuisanses we have nowadays, including the one discussed here, is the transfering of costs to third parties.
Boston authorities might have over reacted, but they certainly had to react. Nobody that's posting here knows what kind of other inteligence they had about terrorist activity in Boston that were irrelevant in other cities.
This whole incident just goes to show what the President's spreading of FUD has done to American society.
:)
Terrorists and child pornographers behind every tree ready to spring out and attack the 'homeland'.
Maybe people should ask themselves a few simple questions?
1. What is the 'homeland' -- unless you are a Native American Indian, you and/or your familar originated elsewhere. There is a new joke going around in Russia -- "Look! The Americans have found ANOTHER country that built itself right on top of THEIR oil reserves!"
2. If terrorists were everywhere, why haven't they struck since 9/11? One would assume that if they WERE around, they would have been doing things like poisoning the water supply, sniping from buildings and thousands of other fun and interesting acts of terror by now -- so WHERE ARE THEY? THINK ABOUT IT -- If YOU wanted to create havoc and terror -- all you'd have to do is go to the local hardware store, buy a nice hunting rifle and a few thousand rounds of ammunition and park yourself on the top of some building and start shooting people. Why hasn't this happened yet??? Why hasn't anyone bombed a New York subway line? (Like they have in Russia.) It seems that NOTHING is happening. So WHERE are all these terrorists???
3. Instead of focusing on (and hassling endlessly) 'honest' travellers (like Canadians spending the weekend shopping in the USA who are subjected to fingerprints and retina scans) -- wouldn't terrorists find it much easier to enter the USA in the good old fashioned way -- like, say, the Mexicans? Instead of making life hell for honest travellers, if there WERE people entering the country illegally, why not stop them instead? Is it really so hard? And again, if it is so EASY to enter the US illegally -- go back to point 2 -- where the hell ARE all the terrorists?
Truth be known -- there ARE NO major terrorist cells in the USA -- the whole thing is bullshit that has been used as an excuse to subjugate the entire population of the USA to an ever increasing series of violations of rights, freedoms and personal privacy. Wait for it -- pretty soon there will be cameras monitoring every aspect of your life (just like in the UK, where the cameras also TALK BACK to you -- "pick up that trash!", "stop fighting or we will arrest you!"...)
And "we the people seem" to LOVE IT! We suck it right up and let the government do this and more!
SURE, Let's implant everyone's passport with RFID chips -- (ignore the fact that they have been hacked with $20 worth of equipment) Next, implant the people. Most Americans would have a problem accepting the requirement to carry a passport all the time (like other countries already do), but seem to have no problem with the concept of a Universal ID Card.
Link the implants to that Universal ID Card -- It will keep the terrorists off the airplanes and as an added benefit be able to track honest people from the moment they are born to the moment they die -- and don't forget to link that to the bank cards and credit cards -- need to be able to see every purchase people make. Maybe that hydrogen peroxide they use to bleach out a bit of hair could be used to make a bomb.
With the right computer system monitoring all your purchases, I'll be there are ten thousand seemingly innocent purchases that, when linked together, could show YOU as being a criminal mastermind terrorist.
Oh, and don't worry about evidence or anything like that -- by the time you have spent a few months in Cuba on the all-American permenant vacation plan -- you'll be confessing to everything you've ever done since you were born. Try standing on one leg for 24 hours or so -- or lie naked on the concrete floor of a 4x6 cell for a couple of weeks and you'll start to talk up a storm. (It is amazing how much talking someone can do when you deprive them of sleep for a couple of weeks.)
Of course, the Geneva convention doesn't protect you because you are not a 'prisoner of war' -- but instead, an "enemy comb
I, for one, welcome our new lite-brite bomb-wielding overlords.
Q: How many slashdot users does it take to change a lightbulb? A: 155. One to change the lightbulb and post that the li
Another reason the guy may have been canned was for agreeing to do such lame ad campaign in the first place. For starters, the show has been around for a long time. The reason very few people watch it probably has more to do with how bad it is (my TiVo recorded it by accident once) than any sort of awareness.
Also, the ads themselves were pretty bad.
1. I had seen the show once and I did not recognize the character (the LEDs were arranged in straight lines, not curved like the character, and LEDs aren't exactly a great artistic medium).
2. If the signs managed to attract attention, there was no way for the curious person to figure out what it was or where to find it (the show). In contrast, the underground marketeers that hand out free cigarette samples don't hand out samples with no brands on them!
An engineer who ran for Congress. http://herbrobinson.us
Thinking that these LiteBrite cartoon characters were bombs is the ultimate in conservative paranoid stupidity. Why would you see a glowing cartoon, under a bridge or otherwise, and think it was a bomb? Unless you are learning impaired or retarded, or Republican, you would just think it was an strange place to put a sign. I am so sick of these people. Can't we just ship them back to the 1950s that they think was such a paradise and be done with them? AAAAAAARGGGHH!!!!
I was surprised too, until I saw pictures of the Boston bomb squad.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
My chemistry teacher, not the military, taught me most of what I know about explosives. Most of the theory on how to kill with explosives is the simple, direct opposite of how you keep yourself safe from them, after all, but I admit to watching too much MacGyver as a kid.
Of course, there wasn't so much paranoia then. Back then I was having fun with my teacher and learning about chemistry. Nowadays, they'd probably freak out and think of it as some kind of suspicious, "terrorist" activity even though we never synthesized more than a small, safe amount of anything and followed all the safety guidelines to make sure no one could possibly get hurt. We were doing science, after all, not just trying to blow things up.
It's too bad I doubt they'll let cool teachers like him do fun things to get kids interested in chemistry any more, though, thanks to paranoia like this.