Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: February 1, 2007 3:52:01 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare



            Stupidity Meets Overreaction in Beantown Bomb Scare

             ( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000210.html )


Dave,

Sometimes a media situation unfolds where everyone involved ends up
looking somewhat silly, naive, stupid, or some combination of these
attributes.

Such is the case in Boston, where authorities called out the troops
and shut down parts of the city to collect small flashing animated
character signs that had been planted around town as part of an
insipid Cartoon Network PR campaign.

The signs had apparently been in place in Boston for weeks and were
documented on a Web site.  Other cities around the country also
hosted similar signs from the campaign, but only in Boston did
authorities trigger the heavy artillery.

There seems to be blame to go around on this one.  Clearly the PR
campaign itself was seriously misguided to say the very least, given
the hair-trigger sensibilities of law enforcement these days, and
their now standard proclivity to calling anything with wires and a
battery a "bomb-like device" of one sort or another.

Stupid, stupid move, Cartoon Network.  You got your publicity, and
the show will get its bump to be sure, but "irresponsible" doesn't
begin to explore the underpinnings of your actions.

Still, one must ask why it took weeks for the alarmed reaction in
Boston to take hold in this case, and why other cities didn't
respond the same way? Did Boston authorities perhaps overreact a
bit, and now -- perhaps feeling somewhat sheepish -- consider it
necessary to justify their singular response among all affected
cities by inflating the situation somewhat out of proportion?

Their reaction is unfortunately understandable, but to a significant
extent it's not always for our benefit.  Government officials at all
levels have fostered an environment of panic throughout the country
for years -- validating the goals of real terrorists to create an
environment where we'd willingly destroy our own freedoms and way of
life.

Abandoned suitcases or spilled soap powder trigger major
evacuations, and while genuine concern for public safety is
admirable, one can't help but suspect that a certain amount of
self-promoting grandstanding is also playing a role in some of these
reactions.

A little more common sense all around would serve everyone well in
these kinds of situations.  There's absolutely no excuse for the
Cartoon Network campaign's actions, but authorities in Boston could
have (and still can) use a bit more logic and dash less testosterone
when evaluating such circumstances.

There are genuine threats out there.  Public safety is a paramount
concern.  But let's not turn our country into a bastion of fear,
either.  To do so would be to hand victory not only to real
terrorists but to evil in general.  We can do better.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
   - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com



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