"We tend to be a bit jumpy"

From out on the front porch early morning we caught the Full Snow Moon plus one day. Close enough. The Farmers' Almanac explains: "Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult." So far this season, we haven't had much more than a dusting from time to time. That's what comes of investing in a snow blower.

A cataclysmic disagreement with a blogger we hold in the highest esteem, lawyer, professor and visual artist Ann Althouse, who -- from her snowbound perch in Minnesota -- asks Bostonians to "move on":

Apologies have been made and reimbursement proffered. Isn't that enough? I mean, look at those things. It was some delightful performance art that should have puzzled and then amused people. I'm not saying people who got alarmed were ridiculous, but they need to move on. Free Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky. Or do they irritate you?

It's a lot stronger than irritation for a lot of folks in our neck of the woods. Here's what we wrote in Ann's comments by way of trying to explain the depth of our disappointment at her dismissal of our gut reaction, not to mention our need not to "move on":

"Some delightful performance art" is surely in the eye of the beholder. I'm pretty sure more than one person died because they weren't able to get to the hospital in time due to the artists' "delightful performance." In my view, it was all about them, and the rest of us are mere props in what I called in my own post about it all -- The artist as a young thug -- "their monomaniacal marshmallow-fluff fantasies." To support my case, here's an eye-witness report from the front [from our Boston-area blogfriend be in our comments]:

"I work and live in this neighborhood. Over the past few months we've seen two bomb threats, a fatal laboratory explosion, as well as a number of false and real fire alarms. (Won't even get into the threats we get from certain groups to ourselves/building due to what our line of work is.) As a result, we tend to be a bit jumpy.

"The day this particular incident went down, my boss was trying to make it back to Charlestown (a 15 minute drive on a good day) to get to a(n albeit minor, outpatient) surgery appointment. She ended up stuck in traffic for 1 1/2 hours. The next available date she could get was mid-March. Neither she nor any of us around here is looking at this with amusement."

As I said in my post:

Maybe a little time in the slammer will knock some sense into the two aging adolescents.

Maybe you had to be there. Or maybe you had to be more alarmed than some re the consequences of Herbert Marcuse's power of negative thinking.

Update: "Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!" she chortled in her joy. Pajamas Media links.

Comments

[goomp]

I agree. Those two adolecents sneering and laughing at what was a million dollar upset deserve a kick.

[refugee]

Security officials, from Boston PD on up to Homeland Security, TSA, and INS, have shown repeatedly that they do not take actual threats from actual terrorists seriously. I

If those signs had displayed crescents and stars, authorities would have pissed all over themselves declaring that their investigation in no way meant any disrespect to the long-suffering but nevertheless tolerant and peaceful followers of Mohammad.

In contrast, the ATHF guys will get hammered, not only because they're unlikely to respond with death threats or real bombs, but for demonstrating those officials are useless. If nobody in numerous cities catches dozens of illuminated signs placed for maximum visibility, how can we possibly find a real bomb hidden behind, say, a Ted Kennedy campaign poster?

This proved unequivocally that the only real security is killing jihadists on their home ground, wherever that may be, and whoever it might offend. That message is intolerable to those who want us to go back to sleep.

Sissy, all due respect, but this is just a hair above the United 93 crescent memorial scuffle. You want to roast Ted Turner over diddly crap like this, when he runs CNN?

[Shane]

Blaming those who placed the devices for the overreaction of city officials is pretty unreasonable. These guys were quite literally just doing their job. Their reaction has been unprofessional, but it's obvious that they never intended for these devices to cause any panic.

Last year at basketball game my cousin's backpack caused a bomb scare - he had foolishly left it unattended while he went to the bathroom. While it is true that he caused it, nobody ever mentioned anything about criminal charges for his absentmindedness. The same standard should be applied to these guerrilla marketeers - the disorder required a gross overreaction by city officials.

Those devices were in place for a few weeks in many cities before this even went down. These guys will beat the charges (the law requires intent to cause disruption with devices designed to look dangerous, which is clearly not the case), causing even more embarrassment to the City of Boston.

[Kat]

I agree with the above two comments. The fault here lies not with the two gentlemen who placed the ads, nor with Turner Broadcasting or Cartoon Network, but with the police and government officials who didn't stop to say "gee, this looks kind of like that cartoon that my kids watch."

Did no one in the entire city know that the characters were mooninites? Does no one in Boston watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force? Granted, it's not one of my favorite shows, but I at least recognized the ad as being a character I've seen before somewhere.

There were several placed around NYC in places that I saw on a daily basis, and the general reaction seemed to be confusion or disregard.

[brett]

Right. The only mistake those idiots made (and yes, they are idiots) is overestimating the intelligence of Boston authorities. When they overreact so absurdly to devices that were obviously not dangerous, how can they be trusted to react appropriately to devices that are actually dangerous? Besides, now that they have demonstrated their idiocy, who is going to believe them when they actually do find a bomb?

[Teresa]

Ah, I guess I am just stupid... I am now informed that

-- a stupid electronic sign could never hide a bomb or an electronic bomb detonator.

-- just knowing that this is an ad for a television show should have made me aware that it couldn't possibly have been any type of threat.

-- the police need to learn that they should conduct their investigations on television so that everyone in the Boston area can call in and tell them how stupid they are for not knowing that this is a television ad

Right - we'll get right on that.

Next up - I'll have to start watching every stupid television show out there so I know about each and every character that might possibly be put up on an advertising board. Thanks to Kat for making me aware of my lack of knowledge in this area.