In the aftermath of Wednesday’s emergency-response fiasco, Boston’s citizens need to ask some very hard questions of the authorities behind the overreaction. Most important of these is the clichéd “What did they know and when did they know it?” Clearly, there was a point at which the authorities knew that it was either a prank or a hoax that they were dealing with. At that point, the responsible action would have been to reassure the public that the incident was harmless and quietly remove the remaining offending devices.
Instead, Boston authorities shut down bridges, subway stations, an interstate highway and a stretch of the Charles River, making a relatively benign incident a major farce for the city. Traffic was snarled throughout the city as bomb squads raced around the city taking down the light boards.
After unnecessarily creating chaos in the city, the politicians attempted to justify their actions. The “
bomb-like” devices could have damaged transportation infrastructure around the city
if they had been explosive according to Assistant Attorney General John Grossman. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley echoed the supposed menace stating to reporters that, “It had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it,
and wires.” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino played the war-on terror card with, “It is outrageous, in a post- 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of a marketing scheme.” Merino also feels that the two guys that hung the boards on behalf of a marketing company “should get 2 to 5,” presumably for coercing the city’s overreaction. So far, the guerrilla marketers have been charged with placing a
hoax device and
disorderly conduct.
The electronic devices, resembling Hasbro’s
Lite-Brite product, were placed on buildings, bridges and near Fenway Park. The electronic light boards, which had been in place for
two to three weeks, showed a cartoon square-shaped man with an
upraised middle finger. In addition to Boston, similar sinister devices had been placed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, Philadelphia and San Francisco. However, only Boston reacted with the
hysteria usually associated with the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast.
Mayor Merino now wants Turner Broadcasting, whose "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" television show was being advertised, to pay “any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents.” He should include the cost of having his head examined as well. However, given the amount of publicity the show has now received, Turner may decide to reward the buffoons.
