Idiotic Oppression in Boston

Boston Officials Can't Tell a Lite-Brite from a Bomb

In what is without a doubt the most ridiculous national security-related story in quite some time, the mayor of Boston has "vowed to throw the book at" two marketing workers whose advertisements were somehow mistaken by authorities for bombs, sparking a massive city-wide crisis. After a million dollars worth of police overtime, the closing of several major thoroughfares, and a city-wide panic sparked by police warnings, it became clear that the electric signs were in fact advertisements and posed no threat.

In the aftermath of the crisis, it became increasingly clear that the signs should not have been mistaken for anything threatening by any reasonable person. The advertisements, which resembled Lite-Brite signs and depicted a cartoon character from the Cartoon Network show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, were revealed to be utterly nonthreatening, and questions began to emerge as to why authorities had sparked a major panic by warning of a probable city-wide bomb threat.

The "furious" mayor of the city, faced with the bill from a hugely wasteful display of incompetence, quickly decided to make the advertisers into scapegoats. Instead of admitting that a major mistake had been made in wrongly identifying the signs as bomb threats (and subsequently feeding a media frenzy of baseless fear), the incensed mayor and police officials sought to cover their own failures by leveling felony charges of perpetrating a "terrorist hoax" against the advertisers. While city officials have somehow likened the signs to yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, August Pollak captures the truth in saying that the situation is, at worst, more akin to a security guard screaming "fire!" in response to someone taping a picture of a fire to the wall of a theater. That the advertisers obviously did not intend any harm, and that there was no reason they should have expected the advertisements to spark such a response, has apparently been insufficient to keep the powers-that-be in Boston from making far-fetched claims targeting the advertisers.

To their credit, the advertisers have met these laughable charges with a large degree of levity, as have many residents of Boston. At the initial hearing for the charges brought against the advertisers, there was snickering from both the defendants and numerous attendants. At a comedic "press conference" (video) following the hearing, the advertisers failed to answer any questions regarding the charges against them and repeatedly diverted the topic to a discussion of the defendant's hair and hairstyles in general.

That the mayor and police department have thus far gotten away with such an abuse of power -- attempting to cover for their own incompetence by ruining the lives of innocent people -- is very tragic, and tinges this absurd event with a strong sense of injustice. One can only hope that the courts will show more common sense than the power-drunk fools in charge of Boston, and the advertisers will have their names cleared. While it is probably too much to ask in the current climate of fear and growing police-state acceptance, justice truly will not be done unless the incompetent government officials responsible for this crisis are held responsible.

Hat tip to The Agitator