Re: Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kent Quirk <kent_quirk () cognitoy com>
Date: February 1, 2007 8:51:23 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare

Dave:

(for IP, if you wish)

I usually agree -- often enthusiastically -- with Lauren's commentary.

And in the case of the Beantown "Bombs", I definitely agree that the  
Boston authorities overreacted, in a big way.

But I'd really like to disagree with his characterization of the  
Cartoon Network folks as "misguided at the very least", and  
"irresponsible" with "absolutely no excuse". This was creative and  
harmless street theater, designed to get a little attention in an  
increasingly crowded media space.

If the police have a proclivity toward identifying every device with  
LEDs and a battery as a bomb, the solution is not to avoid all such  
devices. The limit of that curve takes out everything from cell  
phones to calculators, and it also implies that no one should be  
permitted to build their own electronics, or experiment with robots,  
or indulge in any form of street theater or art.

To anyone under the age of 30 (and many of the rest of us), the  
object in question was clearly a bunch of colored LEDs arranged in a  
pattern designed to mildly offend those who are humor-impaired, and  
even if you couldn't identify the character you might be intrigued  
enough to go read Boing Boing and see if there was something up there  
about them.

This was a huge example of the generation gap and culture gap -- but  
just because some fraction of our population has spent the last six  
years shivering in fear doesn't mean that they should be permitted to  
control art, theater, tinkering, and all forms of public speech and  
thought.

The "authorities" were wrong on this one, and the right answer is not  
to excuse their behavior. I'd like to laugh loudly and point until  
they slink away in embarrassment, except that they're in the process  
of ruining the lives of some individuals while trying to justify  
their response.

   Kent

--
------------------------------------------------------------
Kent Quirk           I'm making a game about global warming.
Game Architect                        Track the progress at:
CogniToy                http://www.cognitoy.com/meltingpoint



-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://archives.listbox.com/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com