Mass Hysteria

The city of Boston just went through one of it's occasional Chicken Little spasms when everyone over-reacted to the discovery of “suspicious devices” at a variety of locations in the city. Apparently it is too much to ask that elected leaders, police, and fire departments apply a little common sense or analysis to a situation before going public and needlessly whipping up fears throughout the community. So what was the crisis situation that caused this?

Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.....

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

After being exposed as quivering bowls of Jello, the “authorities” are lashing out, trying to blame the marketing promotion effort for making themselves and the city look like fools.

An angry Mayor Thomas Menino said a stiff penalty will be pursued against whoever was responsible for the devices. "It's about keeping a city on edge. It's about public safety," he said.

"It's a hoax — and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick.

Taking their vengeance idiocy to a new height, Menino also added:

............he'll seek to punish those responsible, and indicated that the penalty could be two to five years in prison per count and ........ that he is "prepared to take any and all legal action" against the company and its affiliated "for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today's incidents."

This is embarassing.
Posted on The Human Stain