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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.
Sorry, but your post mentioned the buck at the top of the list and September 11th, and I can't help but draw any subtle lines between the head of the corp and the head of the state...
Anyways, I'm glad he took the fall for it, as he most likely has savings as opposed to the young guys who actually put up signs. Another sacrifice is made to the new State of paranoia.
Error 407 - No creative sig found
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
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...
They don't -have- to assume anything. It's not like 9/11 was the kick-off party, and now all the terrorism is going to stream in.
We're spewing hippopotamus repellent and then claiming victory because there are no hippos. All 9/11 opened the door for was paranoia and jingoism.
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.
As the t-shirt says...
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the Bomb
You make the assumption that a full-scale response is needed in this kind of situation. Anyone with half a brain (which apparently does not include the Boston PD) would have immediately known that those objects were not bombs. The problem with it all is that if the government keeps responding in this manner, the common citizen will ignore warnings when the real thing happens.
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?
To me, the fact that he took the fall for it is an ironic sign of good leadership. Not many at the top would allow themselves to be taken out over an incident like this. It probably means that he is a good leader, and understands responsiblity, and stepped up to take the heat.
The irony is that this is just the sort of person you actually want at the top, and now he is gone.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
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 terrorists have won".
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
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.
On the plus side, terrorists now have an easy way to shut down a city, just for the price of a few batteries and wires.
Praise Allah, the batteries were not even connected and the infidels shrieked as if they were set afire with fuel.
... then I would have just blamed the whole thing on Meatwad. Shake gets away with that kind of crap all the time.
If we took that attitude, next thing you know, you'd be getting shredded by a Hello Kitty full of C4 and nails.
I was never suspicious of a Hello Kitty doll, but now that I've chosen to be suspicious of it, I'm doing my part! In fact, cars explode on the streets of Iraq every day, so now I call 911 everytime I see a parked car. Yet, for some reason, I'm being blamed with clogging the system full of rhetoric and empty false alarms. I just don't get it. Cars explode way more often than Hello Kitty dolls, but my vigilent attitude is not being appreciated!
I love Americans, truely, but this is one particular case wher I am absolutely thrilled that I live in a country in which you can't score political points for making a mountain out of a mole hill. Its getting to the point where you can make yourself look good by selling creative, tangential, and obtuse terrorist threats rather than workmanlike every day global occurances that kill and maim dozens to hundreds of people at a time.
You really have to give the 9/11 atrocity commiters some credit. Crash a few planes, and inspire scenarios of exploding C4-laden Hello Kitty dolls. I mean what the fuck, even domestic bombers know that letters, pipes, and cars is really all you need to be successful. If you want to kill lots of people, creativity is the domain of comic books, not reality.
"Old man yells at systemd"
In this post-9/11 world...
In a post-Hitler world, should we allow just any idiot with a radical idea to speak freely?
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
I think this says it best... http://bostonbombsquadtraining.ytmnd.com/
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.
Uh, no.
c e#Boston_advertising_bomb_scare
This exact same public advertising campaign took place in nine other cities with enough brain cells to force a fart out of their asses, and not rampantly overreact to OMG!!!! PINK PONIES FLIPPIN' ME THE BOMB PACK BIRD!!1111 In fact, they had enough brains not to react at all.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Teen_Hunger_For
The Boston PD and its authorities are Proof #1 of Einstein's theory that "two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
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
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.
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.
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.
From the Seattle PI article:
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
> 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.
I have to agree wholeheartedly that if he was not forced to resign that he indeed took responsibility. My problem is that he took responsibility for the morons who thought that an LED cartoon character giving the finger could be a bomb. This ad campaign took place in other cities and Boston was the only one react...overreact in this way.
Having previously worked in DC at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue I've seen firsthand how the "authorities" love to play with their toys. "Look, there's a small duffel bag sitting on that newspaper box...it might be a bomb. Let's blow it up because we have the means and it's fun. Crap, it was just someone's work out clothes. Well, at least we got to close down the street, run our lights and sirens, blow something up, and get on TV".
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
That's a rather benign interpretation. Add a dash of cynicism, a sprinkling of conspiracy theroism and a few tinfoil hats as a garnish and you could easily conclude that the excessive terrorism threats are a way to scare populations into submitting to government control. I think High Chancellor Suttler said it best in the movie V for Vendetta:
"What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the entire Interlink. I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want every man woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos! I want everyone to remember why they need us!"
Everyone should see that movie, and then take a good, hard look around them.
I hate printers.
Why does anyone have to take a fall for it? It was idiocy by government officials that was the problem.
ResidntGeek
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 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.
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 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!
That's the part about this that pisses me off the most. Okay, sure, the Lite-Brights are out of the ordinary (at least for being hung up about the city). I can even see how such a device could be seen as a threat to some self important official with a stick up his ass, and would not entirely blame them for doing something about it. The fact that they went completely over the top with this and started trying to prosecute people is not understandable. Why is it so hard for them to admit they were wrong? If they had just said "Oops, yeah, these things are pretty harmless. We apologize for the scare." there would be no problems and no media circus.
I don't quite remember where they were all placed but even if they were placed around an airport, I still personally think it's an overreaction simply on technical grounds. Given the size of the devices, they would have to be attached to a plane or be within several dozen feet to cause any noteworthy damage, even if they were pure C4. Since none of them were placed on airport grounds, they posed absolutely no threat to aircraft.
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.
The biggest idiocy perpetrated in this incident was by the people who didn't think far enough ahead to anticipate that this was going to happen
i think the fact that numerous signs posted in other cities caused no disruption or panic is a sure sign that boston's reaction was NOT the correct ex-ante expectation of what would happen.
Q. Is it forseeable that pouring boiling water on a person will cause burns.
A. Yes
Q. Is it forseeable that pouring boiling water on a person will cause an earthquake in Uganda.
A. No.
Q. Is it forseeable that a lite-brite advertisement placed w/o permission will get taken down and a fine sent to the party who put it up w/o permission?
A. Yes
Q. Is it forseeable that a lite-brite advertisement placed w/o permission will cause an entire city to "duck and cover".
A. No
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
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...
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...)
"...the morons who thought that an LED cartoon character giving the finger could be a bomb."
It only looks like an LED cartoon character if you're actually familiar with the character. Otherwise it just looks like a panel of randomly placed LEDs. I believe the people who mistakenly thought it could be a bomb did so with the most earnest of intentions. It would be like throwing round red capsules that explode in a puff of smoke into subway tunnels, then being surprised that no one understands it's a pokemon marketing ploy.
They should be procescuted to the fullest extent of the law.
For graffiti.
New York also had these devices, and and managed not to flip out like a pack of morons. And you might see why they're even more touchy about 9/11 since, you know...
/me pusts on an asbestos suit and grabs a flamethrower
/me puts away the flamethrower and takes a deep breath
Time to burn some Karma......
I am sorry, but if you dumbfucks in the USA think that giving up all of the freedoms you held dear because 2,000 people died when thousands die yearly from more foolish causes in your country, then your brilliant marketers and others that actually show intelligence, will be jailed as enemies of the state or have their lives ruined in some other way. Any individual that ever thinks independently is going to end up jailed in your 'post 9/11' world. The only thing that truly died on 9/11 was your freedom.
Post 9/11.... What's different? More state control? Less Freedom for Amercians in their own countries? The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were what Ronald Reagan dreamed of, yet Georgie let it happen. The great country of 'America' is dead and lost to the fascists. (yes, I'll say it). Autocratic Conservatives controlled by Corporations. Short Form.. Fascists. I used to look up to you in the US, now I pity you.
I'm sorry for the swearing and all this, but damn this is absolutely ridiculous. An incredible marketing campaign gets several million dollars worth of fines and the guy at the top fired??? Hello!!!
Post 9/11 world. If I hear that phrase again I'm gonna puke. Post 9/11 world .
If any American on this forum actually thinks that a situation like this should just be chalked up to a 'Post 9/11 world', read your fucking constitution, feel half of the outrage that I'm feeling right now, and do something other than put new programs in your Tivos. Your 'Post 9/11 world' is as much a fiction as the Simpsons.
Peace out to those that are outraged about this. Not from an ATHF point of view, but a what is wrong with the US point of view. This is not a slag to the parent, which is actually a thoughtful post, but a absolutely gut-wrenching reaction to 'Post 9-11 world'. The World did not change on 9-11, you did.
Obvious counter-argument: Bombs can be disguised as all manner of things. Should the bomb squad be detonating that car that's parked at an expired meter? How about the lunch bag someone threw away in the public trashcan? Is that an empty twelve-pack box someone threw out their window or... a bomb! Think of the shitstorms!
/dev/null would suffice).
Obvious counter-counter-argument: The examples you describe are all rather ordinary events. The lightboards were anything but, being crude electrically-powered devices of no apparent use or reason for being there. Barring other logical explanation, the authorities were right to treat the devices with suspicion.
My Conclusion: Everyone involved should be ashamed of their lack of forethought and moderation. The bomb squad really needs to learn to chill out and better analyze the situation before saturating it with a bomb-proof material apparently consisting partially of shredded reprocessed post-consumer cash. The marketing company really needs to learn to think through the possible consequences of their actions, take reactionary idiots into account, and to provide reassuring factors in advance... say, a label saying who placed the device (hell, even a front-company name and an 800 number leading to a concerned-sounding recorded message and a voice-mailbox routed to
My bonus, director's cut, generalized offtopic rant: Personally, as both a marketer and a citizen, I'm annoyed by all these "guerrilla advertising" tactics of marketers who knowingly and willingly paste, post, and plaster their advertisements all over public property-- it's like the corporate version of uninspired felt-marker taggers, adding nothing worthwhile, just pissing on hydrants for their own pleasure.
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
Please, don't provide any encouragement or validation to this flawed line of reasoning. As a free and open society with limited resources, we have to be prepared to accept a certain amount of risk. "Erring on the side of caution," (i.e. maximum panic-mode) for such an obviously low-risk situation is irresponsible, expensive, and counterproductive.
Rather than live in a fantasy world where Bostonians are applauded as heroes because they disarm lite brites filled with imaginary explosives, we need to rationally think about this. Otherwise, there's no end to this madness.
Anything could be a bomb. Can you ever rule out the possibility of "the terrorists" surgically implanting bombs within their abdominal cavities? Or what if evil terrorist surgeons implanted bombs into unknowing patients? In which case... maybe YOU could be a bomb! Maybe I'm a bomb! What if they've been at work since we were all born. Maybe... we're all bombs! So, in light of this, what should we do now? Surgically operate on everyone--just to be sure? My God! We'd be heroes, the saviors of a very thankful nation if we were right!
So, the question is then: why should we discard my obviously silly possibility but still consider the similarly ridiculous killer lite-brite scenario?
-Grym
Comedy Central should have taken it to court. Aside from small fines from littering laws, is it really even illegal to leave random stuff around a city? Just because it has a little LED guy on it shouldn't make it illegal. And seriously, why in the world would a terrorist mark their bombs with light-up cartoon characters? What sense does that even make? Not everything is a potential terrorist action. Just because the police over-reacted instead of having a bomb squad guy take a look at it and say, "no, this is more like a Lite Bright than a bomb", doesn't make it Comedy Central's responsibility to pay for everything.
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
agreed this terrorist bullshit has got to stop right now. this isn't iraq with IED's randomly around the place. this is an excuse to take our freedoms.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
It was Cartoon Network, not Comedy Central.
splunge (n) -- A good idea.. but it could be lousy... and I'm not being indecisive!
It only looks like an LED cartoon character if you're actually familiar with the character.
;)
I'd say it would be pretty familiar to anyone who'd ever played "space invaders" too. (ie pretty much anyone under 40.)
Otherwise it just looks like a panel of randomly placed LEDs.
If by "random" you mean "a clear image of something giving you the finger" I suppose so.
I believe the people who mistakenly thought it could be a bomb did so with the most earnest of intentions.
True but we don't really have much use for people who report things that aren't bombs. How many innocent cardboard boxes, guitar cases, gymbags, abandoned Dells, old speakers, and other nondescript "potentially suspicious looking" debris is lying around Boston? They could shut the city down for an entire decade with earnest intentions.
People should know better. When I see a plane flying low I still assume its landing, not attacking the city...
I can understand how this got out of hand but it'll happen again. Around here Telus is putting up pink flamingos all around the city as part of its latest campaign... they're hollow and in public places and they weren't there yesterday... could be a bomb in there.
Seriously if the 'terrorists' were planting bombs everyone they'd make them look like run of the mill every day items like transformer boxes... hmm... wait... i saw a transformer box on one of the support columns in my parkade... i don't remember that being there before... excuse me...
Even better, as posted in the other reply: the sign in broad daylight in context of where it was hung
Please, for the love of all that is sane and logical, admit that this looks nothing like a random collection of LEDs, no matter who you are.
The problem with that reasoning is that you conclude that the police should detonate everything, because anything could be a bomb. There is a the potential risk that this piece of mail I just received has anthrax. It's possible my ThinkGeek order has a bomb in it. By your reasoning, I should call the police and have them detonate it just to be sure. Life is about risks - and blowing up every random LED sign is playing it too safe.
The evil genius of Osama bin Laden was to realize that there is a "critical switch" in American psychology that he could flip. He doesn't have to take us down himself, just set the process in motion and watch as the government and society slowly destroy themselves.