Aqua Teen Hunger Force Bomb Scare.

[Rod Hagen]

Is the boston mayor and police force mentally deficient? WTFuck? How does this look like a bomb? Do they watch fucking late night tv ever? Are 17 year olds the only ones interseted in pop culture these days.

 

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070202/asp/foreign/story_7339436.asp

[Louis]

I watched the whole thing play out on TV Wednesday, and then around 4pm my time, CNN reported that their parent company Time Warner had been putting out these promotional gimmicks in several large cities in the US. There were no problems with the other cities that this was done in, so I really don't think one can blame the guys who put the things out. Its also amazing how they said that the elecronics were consistant with electronics used for exploisive devices.... well so are the electronics in a clock, or cell phone, etc.

Now these guys are being charged, because the Boston Police, State Police, FBI, and Homeland Security, can't tell the difference between a bomb and a promotional gimmick.

A people still that peronoid after 911 or is it just a few?

[AdamSmith]

Anyone under 40 who lives here feels like a laughingstock. A lot of us over 40 too.

 

Some news stories have noted the city's and state's bluster about pressing charges is just shooting blanks, as conviction of inciting panic, etc. requires proof of intent to do that.

[Louis]

Well it looks like the officials, were the ones who were inciting panic. So what colour was it that day.. yellow...orange...red? When I see all these colour codes and such, I have a hard time to grasp the relevence, except to keep reminding people about 911.

[Guest ReturnOfS]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is da' Bomb!!! :+

[+ purplekow]

I am quite a bit past 17, in fact I have lapped it, but I have seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force. While it is likely that the police in Boston overreacted to the devices, if you put a box with flashing lights on a bridge, under an overpass and in the lobby of a busy building, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that some people might find this a potential threat. I certainly wouldn't have opened the box, I have seen too many episodes of 24 to do that. There are plenty of advertising techniques and it seems that creating a public panic is one way to get your name out there. The program got what it wanted, a lot of free publicity. I think the people who are responsible should face a jury to decide just how innocent the placement of these items was. It seems a whole lot less likely that people would have thought these were terrorist devices if they had been placed on billboards, as they did in NYC or in shopping mall windows.

[Louis]

You do have a good point...when it comes to placement. If they were in appropriate places maybe the reaction would have been different.

[Rod Hagen]

>police in Boston overreacted to the devices, if you put a box

>with flashing lights on a bridge, under an overpass and in the

>lobby of a busy building, it isn't out of the realm of

>possibility that some people might find this a potential

>threat. I certainly wouldn't have opened the box, I have seen

 

This is where the City's spin pisses me off. They shouldn't use the word Package, but they do and now everyone thinks this thing, which when you see it (see link above) is obviously a cartoonish character throwing you the bird, was in a box. As far as I know it wasn't, it was simply attached to walls, like art, in predictable and unpredictable places. No Boxes.

 

I love this ad campaign. You don't know what the hell is being advertised, or even that it is an adertisement, unless you've already experienced the product. Genius! However, even if you don't know the product, you know it's not a fucking bomb just because it's blinking. Too many hours of Kiefer Sutherland and "24" makes people paranoid.

 

When our internal security forces mistake a cartoon for a bomb the terrorists have won.

[Luv2play]

I loved it! Watching "breaking news" on CNN and this big bomb scare in Boston. Then when the CNN anchor realized that the promoter of the hoax was linked to Turner Broadcasting, their parent company, well they backed off right away. Some terrorist threat! Just an illustration of how paranoid the US has become. The politicians have succeeded so well in frightening people that they are now being hoisted by their own petard.

[Lookin]

Easy mistake to make . . .

 

 

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/ied-iraq_soda-can-s.jpg http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/ied-iraq_improv-antitank-mine-s.jpg http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070202/images/02device.jpg http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/ied-iraq-shell-concrete-s.jpg http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/ied-iraq_antitank_mine-s.jpg

[+ purplekow]

>

>>

>I love this ad campaign. You don't know what the hell is

>being advertised, or even that it is an adertisement, unless

>you've already experienced the product. Genius! However,

>even if you don't know the product, you know it's not a

>fucking bomb just because it's blinking. Too many hours of

>Kiefer Sutherland and "24" makes people paranoid.

>

> When our internal security forces mistake a cartoon for a

>bomb the terrorists have won.

>

 

 

Hmmm "You don't know what the hell it is... or even that is in an advertisement...." So you admit that it is reasonable not to know what it is or that it is an advertisement. In fact you call that part of the genius.

 

I think the real genius might be calling suchs ads into the police as an unknown electronic device and getting the police up in arms and then having all the free publicity of the uproar that the devices caused. But an advertising company or its employees would not be that sinister because advertising is good.

 

Bomb squads get all sorts of calls regarding threats and did so before and after 911. They are obligated to check them out and when multiple calls come in regarding devices, well it would be imprudent of them not to inform the public. God knows, french fry containers and soft drink cups might save us on Adult Swim but in real life due diligence is necessary. I think the terrorists have won when perceived threats are not investigated or when people who are called to do the investigation as part of their job are snickered at as idiots.

 

I wonder how tolerant you might have been had these devices been a real threat and the authorities ignored them because "they seemed harmless."

[Rod Hagen]

>Hmmm "You don't know what the hell it is... or even that is

>in an advertisement...." So you admit that it is reasonable

>not to know what it is or that it is an advertisement. In

>fact you call that part of the genius

 

 

I don't know who you are, but you've misquoted me; reread what you've failingly quoted.

[+ purplekow]

I did include your quote and admit there is a misquote in what I wrote so if I were to rewrite it I would take away the quote marks. I don't think the misquote in any way alters what you stated. To paraphrase: you don't know what it is advertising or even that it is an advertisement unless you are already familiar with it.

 

It also begs the question, how tolerant are we as a nation when something that needs investigating goes unexamined? If we want 100% of the threats stopped, I think we have to expect some non-threats to cause concern, even blinking ones.

[Rod Hagen]

paranoia helps no one and costs everyone. the city/mayor/police overreacted.

[Louis]

I would not be surprised if they use this for a story line for Boston Legal. We will see how James Spader gets his clients off....:-)

[AdamSmith]

>We will see how James Spader gets his

>clients off....

 

Haven't we already seen that once or twice?

:+

 

Not to mention getting Shatner off!

[+ purplekow]

>paranoia helps no one and costs everyone. the

>city/mayor/police overreacted.

 

 

Its not paranoia if they are really out to get ya.

 

I still contend let a jury decide, if enough people feel this was an innocent advertisement that didn't look like an advertisement but should have been known to be an advertisement, they will be found not guilty. Still and all, there were calls into the police regarding these things in at least eight different sites. There were people out there, calling 911. The police were obligated to investigate it. It is easy to second guess decisions once they are known to be wrong, acting on information available at the time, is a different matter.

 

What is it you feel is appropriate reaction to this?

 

By the way, it wasn't the police broadcasting the evolving events to the rest of the country, I believe that was the television stations vying for the best view, that were out there fanning the flames of panic from Boston to Honolulu.

[+ deej]

>paranoia helps no one and costs everyone. the

>city/mayor/police overreacted.

 

So you'd prefer they wait until it explodes to react to citizen complaints?

 

From the size of the devices, I'm not sure I could identify it for what it was from a distance even if I knew what it was. (And for the record, I'd never heard of this cartoon or whatever it is.) If I was driving under a bridge and saw a curiously placed item with blinking lights, I might get a little uneasy.

 

We have a habit in this country of second-guessing responses, but we also have a habit of howling about non-responses after a major catastrophe like 9-11 or Katrina. Face it, we just like to complain! ;-)

[Guest PWIT]

>Is the boston mayor and police force mentally deficient?

>WTFuck? How does this look like a bomb? Do they watch

>fucking late night tv ever? Are 17 year olds the only ones

>interseted in pop culture these days.

>

Well, I doubt the people responding to a suspicious object walked right up to it and got such an initial view. I imagine when responding to something that has been called in as a suspicious item, your adrenaline is pumping as you don't know what is about to happen next. I personally would cut those that put themselves in harms way a little more slack. As for the mayor or anyone not at the scene but in a position of authority, you are often driving blind and must choose to err on the side of caution.

[+ deej]

>Well, I doubt the people responding to a suspicious object

>walked right up to it and got such an initial view.

 

Even if they did, no first responder wants his last words to be "Oh, it's just a..."

 

They have no choice but to take every potential situation as a real threat. Their lives ARE on the line.

[Rod Hagen]

SUCK IT!

 

http://rodhagen.com/FlipIt.jpg

 

 

http://www.RodHagen.com

310.360.9890

Fun, Fit, Friendly Fucker in West Hollywood.

-Rod Hagen

[Louis]

RE: SUCK IT!

 

I would also think that if a person was going to place bombs or some sort of biological devices here and there, they would put them in places that weren't so easily seen, or attract attention.

Secondly... those are pretty small for bombs, and if they were biological devices of some sort, I think blowing them up would be the last thing a person would want to do with them. So I really have a hard time with them blowing things apart that they don't recognize.

Its the old shoot first ask questions later mentality.

[BigK]

RE: SUCK IT!

 

I think that the city of Boston should share some (note I'm saying some...) responsibility in this event. No other city seems to have had this reaction. I agree unknown devices should be taken seriously, but the length of time it took to "clear" this attack should be evaluated. I'm sure that the bomb disposal units didn't mind being the center of attention and possibly things could have been handled better. The question needs to be answered did they alert the public too soon and create a panic, and did they issue the all clear in a timely manner.

 

I am also suspect of the speed with which the Mayor's Office was able to put a dollar amount of $500,000 on this operation. TNT has agreed to reimburse the city but the city has to justify its excess expenditure and not pad that amount.

 

In this day in age of the possibility of real terror threats I think the public sector has an almost impossible job in handling these situations. Ultimately though...pointing fingers is a waste of time. Chalk this up to a very valuable training exercise that many cities can learn from in the manner of handling possible threats including procedures for notification of the public.

[Guest ReturnOfS]

I don't think that the two guys should go to jail, and I do find the whole thing hillarious.

 

However, I do think that Turner's people did the right thing in paying the city of Boston for the police work. I also do think that marketing people should inform SOMEONE in city government the next time just in case and save us all some money.

[Louis]

Well that's another thing that I was going to bring up... I would have thought that people would have contacted the city with their intentions to put those things up, and that the city would have given them guidlines as to where such things could be placed. So a lot of this problem has to do with lack of communication. I also recall watching the news and the two guys who put the things up were told by their company not to get involved, after these guys saw the reports on TV....so one would have expected the company to phone the police or what ever, and tell them that they had made a mistake.

So there are a few people who made mistakes here...but its very easy to point out mistakes after an event.