Boing-Boing has a great compilation of links and images related to what I mentioned in the post I made yesterday.
Two things stuck out to me - the first was a quote from commenter “stretch” on another blog:
If the last six years needed a punchline, it was delivered in Boston yesterday.
and Boston’s paper, The Weekly Dig, said this:
Next, let’s all get out our dictionary and look up “hoax”, shall we? Because while “War of the Worlds” was a hoax, this was not. There was no subterfuge involved, and no effort made to convince people that these devices were bombs. If I see a scary looking tree out my bedroom window, think it’s a monster, and then discover upon closer inspection that it isn’t, it doesn’t mean the tree has perpetrated a hoax against me. What it means is that for a moment I took leave of my senses. And just because I’m embarrassed about it doesn’t give me the right to go cut down the tree.
As it stands, both performance artists are pleading not guilty. (CNN.com) Here’s a quote from that article about the (sensible) judge presiding over the case:
Judge Paul K. Leary told Grossman that, according to law, the suspects must intend to create a panic to be charged with placing hoax devices.
It appears the suspects had no such intent, the judge said, but the question should be discussed in a later hearing.
There’s also this vitriol that got spewed by Howie Carr: Joke’s on terror-scare slacker ‘Borat’ now … I don’t even feel like I have to say a thing about this guy - he manages to condemn himself as racist and ignorant in the same cyber breath.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What I hate about all this is that while it was an ad campaign, it was also like underground art, and god forbid people express themselves a little bit without it becoming a terrorist attack.
Although in all fairness they shouldn’t have put one on a bridge…
What’s funny to me about the WHOLE situation is how the Boston PD, and only the Boston PD, reacted to this ad campaign in this fashion.
No other city shutdown, thusly overreacting, not even in the POTUS’ backyard of Austin, Texas.
So, because the BPD overreacted, thusly the media shooting it’s wad in a hype-gasm, we’re not treated to way to much inaccurate information about Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
*grins*
Poor schmucks, the BPD just did it’s job, was probably forced into overaction by a eager/fame wanting leadership who wanted to look good and now they’re covering their butts by pressing charges on two, in my view, funny guys.
Misunderstanding + Overreaction x Media Hypegasm = Idiotic hilarity ensuing.
OMG….so much ignorance & stupidity in the world.
The saddest thing about this? It’s undeniable proof that the terrorists *have* won, if they can cause an entire city to go completely apes**t over a *glorified Lite Brite* (as if the silliness on the airlines over things like baby food wasn’t bad enough. :-/)
Yeah this is pretty sad but I think a lot of it comes from Officials not wanted to be wrong. They fear making a mistake they can’t cover up and then having to actually take responsibilty for it. What a great message to send to the kids, “It’s only your fault if you can’t find someone or something else to blame.”
Interestingly enough, the judge hearing the artists’ case has repeatly asked boston proscecutors whether they REALLY want to persue the case. That should be a hint that you case is in trouble but I don’t think they hear him.
ROFL. This whole thing is pretty fricking hilarious if you ask me. It’s certainly not the first or the last time the media will make a mountain out of a molehill. Jack Thompson anyone?
But seriously. Terrorist light brights? Whats next, insurgent pound puppies? I think things like this really shine a light on the absurdity of the mainstream media.
Jack Thompson, rofl, I think he’s hilarious in his pathetic little ways.
And yes, this is overly drawn out. I love the way the artists act like the Government in their statement. Basically they’re saying “We don’t really give two fucks, so we’ll act like that and say otherwise.” Power to those two, I say >:0
i heard about that on ATOS on G4 last night. it’s the dumbest thing ive ever heard. And it sucks more because adult swim could suffer greatly for this. Cant people take a joke anymore?
Really? I think they might be more popular than ever …
Excellent advertising for them. Everyone and their dog will hear about this stunt.
Certainly this generated a lot of publicity, but I’m all too certain that some people will take out their anger on the cartoon. Seeing as how easily Turner bowed to the city’s unreasonable demands, I’m not sure if they’d stand by the show.
Yeah, but the show’s fanbase likely won’t back down either…could get interesting, to be sure.
i agree. i didn’t even know ATHF was doing a movie until Boston went nuts.
That column by Howie Carr was probably the most ignorant thing I have ever read. And I feel so much safer now that I know that police have been trained to look for wires and batteries.
That guy’s column was an interesting read.
It’s the only time I’ve ever read something that made me want to actually go and punch somebody in the kidneys.
And people wonder why I hate Boston so much? It almost boggles the mind now…
Y’know, I actually should thank the guy. It’s guys like him that make the stereotype about New Englanders true!
and they even did a sort of “video documentary”…
http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=217837
So Bostonians have allowed people on their police force that can’t tell the difference between a litebrite and a bomb. Everyone point and laugh now. It’s for their own good.
The worst part is that Turner broadcasting contacted the city of Boston and told them they were doing this, along with the other cities that they advertised in. why did only boston flip out?
even worse, now turner is going to PAY BOSTON for being stupid. I think they got bullied into it.
Wow. The saddest part about that article is that Howie Carr was harping on with things like ‘oh well I have a job and such so I’m so much better and more grown up than him’ while as the same time proving he is ten times as ignorant and immature.
Turner isn’t hurting by paying Boston… just think how much money they saved by letting the media advertise for them. None of the news agencies would have had to mention ATHF, they could have just said “a Turner television show”.
Maybe someone should leave large brown paper packets with groceries in them all over the place, with (B)arry’s (O)rganic (M)arket, (B)oston on them, just to see how long it would take for people to start calling those in, “cause OMG the acronym says BOMB, panic!!!!”
It was some seriously bad marketing skills, they should have made it more evident that it was an advertisement.
And the police should have at least taken into consideration that it could have been something other than a bomb.
they don’t deserve a million dollar fine, or 5-7 years in prison, maybe a big fine for screwing up, and a month maybe.
But seriously, they overreacted because they screwed up themselves(police/officials).
REally whats the world coming to? It doesn’t look like a bomb. So what of ot has wires and what not showing? That just means they didn’t feel like hiding them or they couldn’t figure a way to do it.
Really what needs to happen is they need to show some of them from the other cities so we can see if they were all like that or not.
The thing about Carr’s article that got me the most pissed off is his total condemning of the Massachusetts College of Art as a whole. Saying it was a breeding ground for anti-american slackers and pot-heads.
As a MassArt student this blows my mind at how ignorant someone can be.
Carr has never been to a traditional art school and shouldn’t say shit like all artists are slackers and just waste time smoking pot til inspiration hits. I myself spend hours upon hours working to perfect my art, and I’m sure not just Hawk but Ananth as well can appreciate where I am coming from. Since story writing is a creative art in my book as well. I also hate how people that major in accounting and business think being an artist is the easiest thing in the world, but I don’t want to harp on that here.
The charge of being a racist is overused these days. (And the charge of being an asshole is underused.)
That said, this Carr character is a racist asshole.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we once again of undeniable evidence that humanity is chock-full of underdeveloped brainless fools. I mean, come on! You know something is wrong if an advertisement causes that much alarm.
On a side note, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is going to have a sudden rise in popularity.