This from the Associated Press:
BOSTON - Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.
How freaking stupid do you have to be?? Seriously, folks, let's look at this logically. In this day and age, in the UNITED STATES, how could this publicity ploy have possibly gone through as many hands as it did without someone saying, "Er, excuse me....isn't this illegal?"
Again from the Associated Press:
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.
And this didn't raise any red flags? TEN cities? There are apparently 24 more of these devices that have NOT been found in Boston alone. Let's do the math, just to figure up criminal penalties. (What a FUN pastime when tallying up moron points) Each device is worth 20 years in the pen for planting the device PLUS 5 more for inciting panic. Okay---240 devices times 25.....wow. That's 6000 years' worth of criminal penalties. SIX THOUSAND years in prison. Jeffrey Dahmer didn't get that much. On top of that, let's add in the punitive damages for the taxpayers' money utilized to mobilize hundreds of first responders for a HOAX. Hmmm.....Boston says half a million.
At this moment, one guy has been arrested--the guy who planted the devices. Whoa--hold on a second: the PEON gets arrested? Granted, he should have known better too, but what about the REAL perpetrators? What about Interference, Inc. -- the marketing firm who developed this bone-headed publicity campaign? What about Turner Broadcasting, the corporate megasaur who okayed this really freaking STUPID publicity campaign? Somewhere along the line the "executives" who put their Ivy League educations to good use and thought this would be funny and effective should pay the price. What about the animators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force who quite evidently collaborated with this idiocy? What portion of the responsibility is theirs?
Think of it this way: how much turmoil was caused in Boston today by these events? What if the closing of I-93 caused someone to die en route to the hosiptal as a result of an unforeseen detour? How many fires, assaults, robberies, health emergencies were put on hold so that the departments involved in the "bomb" scare could work to insure the safety of the citizens of Boston? What is the toll in human life, or property, or even in personal comfort?
It's impossible to gauge it.
Here's the way I look at it. As of today, I don't EVER need to watch anything on a Turner owned channel. EVER. It's a pity, because I LIKE Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. However, if Turner Broadcasting is so ignorant, so misguided, so secure in its smug self-worth as to endanger the lives of American citizens in order to promote a movie then they do NOT require my support in any way, shape or form. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was never a show that I cared much for, but now I will never have to watch it again. It's on the Cartoon Network and, well, I won't be watching that channel any more. Interference, Inc. should immediately shut its doors. Period. The Boston city government, the state of Massachussetts, and the federal government should prosecute EVERY SINGLE PERSON INVOLVED WITH THIS PUBLICITY STUNT to the fullest extent of the law...all the way up to Ted Turner. Period. After all, again from the Associated Press,
Turner did not notify officials of the publicity campaign until around 5 p.m., nearly four hours after the first calls came in about the devices, she and others said.
Send them all to prison for a long, long, time.
On a scarier note--let me get this straight. These devices were in TEN cities? For 2-3 weeks? And we're only NOW learning about them?
Scary, man, scary.
That's the best we could do? Well, thank the gods for small favors. At least these "Packages" were a stupid-ass publicity ploy set by corporate dorks as opposed to real terrorist activity. Every terrorist in the world's ears perked up today.
I hope they're not the only ones who learned a painful lesson today.
