Boston Scare Caused By Marketing Mistake

WNBC Television ^ | 02/01/07 | Puppage

[ladyjane]

Ah - you've explained it: class envy.

[from occupied ga]

Ah - you've explained it: class envy.

Absolutely. The rest of the country is just itching to move to where they have no rights and have to cower in fear because they've lost the ability to think like free men. Why just the other day several of my colleagues were wondering how they could get transferred to NYC so that they could be represented by Hitlery and upChuckie. Of course no one wanted to move to Boston, because the rest of us think it's part of Quebec, but without the jolly party spirit nad friendly attitude that marks the rest of French Canada

[flashbunny]

Nah, it's just laughing at the stupidity of those who think they're superior to everyone else.

These "enlightened" people got into a panic over a lite brite.

[wizecrakker]

I'm surprised at the hostility of the remarks on this thread aimed at Bostonians.

Originally, I'm from western Massachusetts, and you haven't seen hostility aimed at Bostonians until you've lived west of 128.

F Menino, screw Boston.

[Joan Kerrey]

a couple of Duracell batteries. does this sound like the work of undercover terrorist operatives?
------
How many of us know what to look for in a bomb. We do know that tiny cellphone batteries power bombs that have killed thousands of people. We do know that bombs can take many forms. We do know that there is a will of the terrorists to kill us and we do know that camps dedicated to the teaching of bomb making exist and produce hundreds if not thousands of bomb makers and most of do know that it was a very stupid, if not criminal, thing to do.

The next time we see something suspicious with blinking lights under your home or your car we'll just write it off a probably nothing.

[Ramius]

This was gross overreaction and nearing pure stupidity both on the part of those who reported it, and even more-so, the authorities and media who made it out to be something huge.

Looking at these gizmos, I don't know that I'd have thought they were all that suspicious. But what policy message to we send about this?

Should we publicly humiliate everybody that reports something out of place if it turns out to be a false alarm? Should we not expect bomb squads to respond unless the caller says it "really, really" looks like a bomb, and ignore the ones that say it just looks "sorta" like a bomb?

We don't get to have it both ways. If *you* are walking along the mall and you see something *you* think is suspicious... and you call 911... what do you want them to do? Take you seriously or just blow it off? Should they take your name and say "if it turns out to be nothing serious we'll be able to publicly blame you for it". or maybe: "Walk up and kick it and tell us if anything happens. We don't respond to false alarms".

I don't think we'd like it if the motto of the bomb squad was "we only go out for real bombs". :-)

[wizecrakker]

Should we publicly humiliate everybody that reports something out of place if it turns out to be a false alarm? Should we not expect bomb squads to respond unless the caller says it "really, really" looks like a bomb, and ignore the ones that say it just looks "sorta" like a bomb?

Here's a question:
Do we arrest these marketers because someone got the willies over some LEDs?

And how much commonsense does it take to realize that 'IEDs' would be less conspicuous, not blinkie cartoon characters making obscene gestures.

[Constitution Day]

One of these signs has already made it to eBay:

aqua teen hunger force mooninites neon sign

Bidding is up to $265.00.

[ctdonath2]

"It's about keeping a city on edge. It's about public safety," he said.

It's about people not taking a joke, wanting to scream "Terrorism!" at the slightest oddity, and watching way too much "24".

Dealing with terrorism is one thing.
Looking for boogeymen is something else.

[Ramius]

Do we arrest these marketers because someone got the willies over some LEDs?

No, not if that's what really happened. But if after a few weeks of nobody getting particularly alarmed over these things in cities all over the country... they *themselves* called in the "suspicious device" reports all at once yesterday in order to raise a ruckus and get the free publicity?

Yes, then I'd think they should be arrested.

Think about it... for weeks these gizmos are sitting around in plain sight and apparently not getting much attention. Certainly not raising an alarm. But then one morning all of a sudden in the space of minutes there's six or more calls reporting a "suspicous device". All in different places in the city. What's the 911 operations center supposed to think? They've got to respond, and that response is just always going to be disruptive. You don't send out the bomb squad to an address without cordoning things off and closing streets.

The bomb squad doesn't have the luxury of hindsight until they've done their thing and found out what the gizmos are. I don't think officials did anything wrong here.

I do suspect that the calls were intended to create this reaction. It was a publicity stunt that wasn't getting any publicity. Now it is. Worked like a charm.

[ctdonath2]

Quite.

Driving to work the last few days, there have been mentions of "fatality crash" in the morning traffic updates - said with no more feeling or comment than "stalled car". Actual fatalaties, nobody cares.

One silly blinking figurine and out come the lynch mobs.

[DBrow]

How many of us know what to look for in a bomb.

http://www.siri-us.com/IEDBrief.ppt#1

here's a start, and also see my #97.

[ctdonath2]

At a glance it's obvious they're a bunch of lights connected to a few batteries and a blinker.

This "but we don't KNOW" stuff has got to lighten up. If someone doesn't recognize something that obvious, further education is warranted.

[diogenes ghost]

"..so do not panic when you see a soda can.." Ding, Ding - We have a winner. I'm just astounded by the reactions on a supposedly 'conservative' site. Your comment hits the paranoia nail on the head, but you are surely going to get flamed. We gotta watch out for the children, don'tcha know.

[ctdonath2]

Government can stand criticism, it can stand wrong conduct, it can even stand outright criminality- the one thing it can't stand is laughter.

Worth repeating.

If the public reaction was "whew, just a mistake, carry on" there wouldn't be an issue. Instead, people laughed - and so someone had to go to jail.

[DBrow]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776926/posts?q=1&&page=602

I did it better on the post linked above.

I dunno, yours is the first comment and the two posts have been up for hours.

Soda can IEDs are real; they even had them in 'nam, and there have been casualties in Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and who knows where else.

Then there are VBIEDs- Vehicle Based Improvised Explosive Devices. They look just like cars parked by the side of the road, and in Boston, you may see a car parked here and there. They are deadly because the bad guys pack explosive into the doors and behind body panels, turning the car into a shrapnel device.

[RedStateRocker]

It makes me think that the terrorists *HAVE* won.
The Brits during the blitz went about their business, day after day, I intend to do so,too. I may or may not kick a package lying in the street, but the day I change my actions, raise my level of fear or behave differently because some terrorist somewhere may have planted a bomb, have a gun or commandeered a plane is the day I DESERVE to die like a dog, cowering.

[DBrow]

http://www.devilducky.com/media/56891/

Here is a great car bomb vid- you can see the air shock moving away.

If you freeze the vid at the beginning, you can see that there is nothing to give the nature of the thing away.

[Smokin' Joe]

Sure, if I wanted to plant bombs over a wide area I am going to make them stand out with blue lights and put them in plain sight so that they are easily identified.

It would have been a great place to put a bomb, were one so inclined. Why? Because no one in their right mind would do that.

It still is, especially now, because no one in authority wants to look like an idiot, right?

At any rate, it looks like the ad campaign has been wildly effective. Now if the perp can just get out of jail and stay out of the red...

[jackieaxe]

It was not a hoax, it was a marketing campaign. The 9 other cities where the campaign took place did not shut down their towns. I would attribute this to blatant incompetence. Now the dumb dumb pols of Mass will scapegoat the two who put these ads up.