It was bad enough when cartoons caused rioting in Muslim countries. As a native Bostonian, I am embarrassed at the level of hysteria caused by cartoons in my home city.

In an effort to promote a late night Cartoon Network show called “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, Turner Broadcasting hired some “guerrilla” marketers to attach magnetic devices with the lighted image of one of the characters on several locations around the city of Boston.

Now I don’t know much about making terror bombs, but city officials were notified and later considered the boxes (I’m told were open circuit cards with all components visible and light-up LEDs) dangerous. Have any of us ever heard of a bomb with the lighted image of a “mooninite” on it? Was there any reason that cable news stations spent the whole afternoon on a non-story?

Is Boston that dumb?

Why am I dumping on Boston? Because similar promotions were in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Did New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia freak out? Boston must be on the cutting edge of anti-terrorism investigation in the United States

According to published reports, “Governor Deval Patrick praised the response of law enforcement and said that he was “dismayed to learn that many of the devices are a part of a marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting.”

Fancy words to justify stupidity: “devices” and now “hoax”.

“It’s a hoax, and it’s not funny,” Patrick said. “I think we fell at this point, that there is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons to be diligent.”

Governor Patrick and the Boston Press are calling this whole thing a “hoax”. Pardon me for attempting to inject a little common sense here, but in this case wouldn’t it correctly be called a “hoax” if Turner Broadcasting said that the “devices” were bombs and it turned out they weren’t? That would be a “hoax”. Bomb scares at high schools are hoaxes. False fire alarms are hoaxes. This is not the case here.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said that residents should not be afraid to enter or leave the city and that additional police resources have been deployed to help ensure people that they are safe.

Safe from what? Cartoons?

Boston Mayor Tom Menino said, “Public safety officials are all working together. There is no time for anyone to panic. We believe we have the situation in hand. Go about your business. The individuals who placed these packages should be warned that there is a heavy penalty — two to five years imprisonment for each one of them. We are not playing around.”

The tab for the overreaction was a half million bucks but rose with every television interview Mumbles Menino was granted. Now Turner will “donate” $2 million to Boston for all the overtime. Who was working the bomb squad that day, Bruce Willis and Jet Li?

The only ones who caused the panic were the idiots in the City of Boston, the Governor, the Police Commissioner, and the Attorney General because Boston politicians are liberal bloodsuckers who can’t take a joke.

Boston. One of the dumbest cities in America. So much for Homeland Security….

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | 304 views | Trackback | Print this page |

Bob Parks is a member/writer for the National Advisory Council of Project 21, and VP of Marketing and Media Relations/Staff Writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. | More from Bob Parks

It was bad enough when cartoons caused rioting in Muslim countries. As a native Bostonian, I am embarrassed at the level of hysteria caused by cartoons in my home city.

In an effort to promote a late night Cartoon Network show called “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, Turner Broadcasting hired some “guerrilla” marketers to attach magnetic devices with the lighted image of one of the characters on several locations around the city of Boston.

Now I don’t know much about making terror bombs, but city officials were notified and later considered the boxes (I’m told were open circuit cards with all components visible and light-up LEDs) dangerous. Have any of us ever heard of a bomb with the lighted image of a “mooninite” on it? Was there any reason that cable news stations spent the whole afternoon on a non-story?

Is Boston that dumb?

(more…)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | 124 views | Trackback | Print this page |

Bob Parks is a member/writer for the National Advisory Council of Project 21, and VP of Marketing and Media Relations/Staff Writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. | More from Bob Parks