Next weeks news: Lugaru delivers severe beatdown to advertising executives.

[lugaru]

So I lost an hour of my deadline oriented work and of course an hour of pay (besides switching shuttles in this freezing cold twice) because some morons planted bomblike devices on the T and in other public places. More news here.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/suspicious_pack_1.html

Ugh... at least they might get into serious trouble over this. I hate that some people are too overpaid and sheltered to realize the consequences of their actions ahead of time.

-edit: towned down the anger a little before anyone quoted me-

[Qwazy]

i remember something like that happening before

I was with my college on a trip to new york and we were takign the subway somewhere... and all of a sudden a  bunch of polica ran down screaming "get out! get out there a bomb"

we found out it was students art project once we got back home a week later
[url
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/27/findlaw.analysis.hilden.art.terror/index.html] yes it was real im not making it up..[/url]

[captainspud]

Um, yeah. I don't feel much pity for people overreacting to non-threatening stimuli.

They had CARTOON CHARACTERS on them.

O NOES ITS A BOMB!!1!!1!1!11eleventyone1!1!111

[lugaru]

Um, yeah. I don't feel much pity for people overreacting to non-threatening stimuli.

They had CARTOON CHARACTERS on them.

O NOES ITS A BOMB!!1!!1!1!11eleventyone1!1!111

God Im glad I took out my line about people who consider this to be overreacting, I figured it would offend a few people who dont live in the city where the sept 11th planes took off from and who dont commute blindly to work with only loud raspy intercoms to tell you what is going on. For the rest of us we are at the bottom, its a vulnerable place. Personally I wasent afraid (I figured it was just another suicide or homicide) but it did evoke a lot of anger to find out it was something mundane and stupid that delayed so many people from doing their job. Is it the bomb squads fault for taking EVERY THREAT seriosly? Should we only hire people with the gift of jaded hindsight that consider anything with a cartoon character to be harmless?

(like that pokemon cartoon that hospitalized so many kids...)

[captainspud]

Not saying it's harmless, but people need to think before they flip out. That's the problem with the culture of fear your dictatorship has induced-- you see mortal threats everywhere you look. You see muslims praying on a plane, you shout "TERR'IST! GIT IM!". You see something new you don't recognize... "BOMB!"

"Better safe than sorry" isn't actually very good advice. Your keepers have you folks in such a panic, so intent on scanning your surroundings for danger, so that you'll never stop and look upward toward the real threats.

[lugaru]

Dude, dont lecture me about this country. When I came here as an immigrant Bush was already president and I was making $5.50 an hour serving french fries and getting called racial slurs, Im not part of this redneck racist dictatorship fantasy misinformed people love to indluge in after watching the daily show a few times.

I live in the projects, with the other people who take public transportation to work. People like you look down on them as dumb, as the people who voted for bush or some such nonesense. I dont have such-ubermensch aspirations, I see anything that picks at the scabs of my fellow commuters as horridly irresponsible, a cruelty perpetrated by people who dont understand where their parents go 10 hours of the day while they are on their playstations and myspaces.

And geez, no such thing as "my keepers", I've had 10 letters published on racism, immigration, law enforcement and other such things. I participated in 'mayday'. I agree that not being born on american soil does give you some insight though, which you can use either to be sensitive or to be rude more effectively.

[captainspud]

Rude's more my thing though. ;)

[lugaru]

Rude's more my thing though. ;)

Actually now that you mention it I did make a small crack about being shocked to see so many police officers in one place without an unarmed person being shot. But that wasent rude of me, it was... uhm.. ;)

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Well, the fact is, this same thing has been going on in 10 cities for several weeks, and this kind of reaction did not take place in any of the other cities.  How were they supposed to know this would happen?

This is one case where you really can't fairly blame anyone.  Sometimes what happens, happens.

[Glitch Girl]

You do realise this is going to fuel at least a week of bumpers on Adult Swim.

[BentonGrey]

Not saying it's harmless, but people need to think before they flip out. That's the problem with the culture of fear your dictatorship has induced-- you see mortal threats everywhere you look. You see muslims praying on a plane, you shout "TERR'IST! GIT IM!". You see something new you don't recognize... "BOMB!"

"Better safe than sorry" isn't actually very good advice. Your keepers have you folks in such a panic, so intent on scanning your surroundings for danger, so that you'll never stop and look upward toward the real threats.

Ughhh, and they say Americans are ignorant about other cultures.  I'm as big of a critic of the Bush administration as any thinking American, but statements like these are irksome.  I can't help thinking that a comic book forum isn't the best place to cast political aspersions.

[lugaru]

Well, the fact is, this same thing has been going on in 10 cities for several weeks, and this kind of reaction did not take place in any of the other cities.  How were they supposed to know this would happen?

This is one case where you really can't fairly blame anyone.  Sometimes what happens, happens.

I tell you, Boston is BIG on guilt. They (we?) feel that if one more terror incident happens here Massachussetts will be fired and given back to its native populace or forced to merge with Rhode Island or something.

[El Condor]

I live in a town that borders Boston, and my wife is the head nurse in an elementary school in the heart of  Boston's center.  I don't know how this gag was presented in the other cities, but noone I've heard speak publicly or privately, regardless of their political and social leanings (and Boston is PLENTY diverse on that spectrum), believes that the city's response was anything but appropriate given the specific circumstances.  The prank was nothing more than a fiasco that diverted precious resources from where they were most sorely needed, among which were the neighborhoods where wife's vulnerable inner-city students live in daily. 

Most telling is that Turner Broadcasting and the ad agency which designed the prank have not released a cohesive response other than "Whoops - sorry!" A lawsuit is planned to recoup the cost of the public safety efforts, and I hope these buffoonish corporations get soaked but good!

EC

PS: Oh, and Spud? Shaddap! *smack's Spud's pasty potato-ish butt*  :cool:

[Verfall]

I don't know about most people, but I'd be more paranoid of a U Haul truck or a guy in a heavy parka than a mysterious box. I'm fairly sure anyone planning a bombing is going to make damn sure it's well hidden or disguised enough that noone is going to see it till it does its thing.

Screw things like passports to get into Canada, you should be required to provide a half dozen pieces of ID, have numerous background checks, and be fingerprinted just to buy fertilizer and diesel fuel.

[Sword]

Saw it on the news. About 1 PM they were already declaring it to be a hoax. At the time, I thought it might be a MIT hack prank.

[Dweomer Knight]

I don't know about most people, but I'd be more paranoid of a U Haul truck or a guy in a heavy parka than a mysterious box. I'm fairly sure anyone planning a bombing is going to make damn sure it's well hidden or disguised enough that noone is going to see it till it does its thing.

Screw things like passports to get into Canada, you should be required to provide a half dozen pieces of ID, have numerous background checks, and be fingerprinted just to buy fertilizer and diesel fuel.

Unfortunately, criminals run the same gamut as regular people: really smart to incredibly stupid. 

And yeah, didn't people see V for Vendetta?  ;)

DK

[captainspud]

noone I've heard speak publicly or privately, regardless of their political and social leanings (and Boston is PLENTY diverse on that spectrum), believes that the city's response was anything but appropriate given the specific circumstances.

I don't think anybody in Salem thought hanging witches was all that excessive or uncalled-for, either. It's only through hindsight that we realize how insane those people were.

[size=0pt]Hi There, Quoter! You've successfully been goaded by Captain Spud![/size]

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Considering that the bomb squad couldn't even tell that they were harmless, I think the police reaction was fine.

[Glitch Girl]

For those who want a good look at one of the items that caused this whole panic, there's one for sale on Ebay

[captainspud]

My God, the ressemblance to an explosive device is uncanny.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

And just how many explosive devices have you seen?

Just because it has blinky lights in the shape of a cartoon character does not mean that it isn't a bomb.  As a matter of fact, that is exactly the kind of shape on would expect terrorists to use in order to make bombs seem more harmless.  Anything with wires and space for explosives could easily be a bomb.  In fact, a device this size, could feasibly cause destruction in a block or two.

You may mean well, but your ignorance in these matters is appalling.

[Panther_Gunn]

My instinct tells me to hold my tongue on this one, but....

The people at Turner Broadcasting responsible for this are *vastly* irresponsible, and severely lacking in forethought & common sense.  Just like you don't shout "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, you don't "secretly" plant ambiguous electronic devices in a large metropolitan area, and then be surprised when at least *one* person thinks it might be suspiscious enough to call the authorities.  That's like mailing a package to your "friend" that works in a government building, wrapped in brown shipping paper with oil stains on it, addressed in block, capital letters (and misspelled), with a piece or two of wire taped to the box underneath the paper, just because it'd be funny to see the look on his face when he gets it.  Back in the day when the good explosives like TNT were bulky and a little more obvious, something this small might not have been as much of an issue.  If something like this would have been planted in Paddington or King's Cross train stations, or Heathrow, 10-20 years ago when the IRA was still in full swing, I'm sure it would have gotten the same reaction, and possibly been dealt with harshly.  

The first time some insane piece of scum made a seemingly safe, innocuous device explode with the express intent to hurt people, we as a people (i.e. humans) lost our innocence over such a thing, and there has been a need for a certain level of caution ever since.  It's also coded into us to be suspiscious of something we don't recognize, since we don't know if it presents a threat yet or not, and a certain amount of fear towards the unfamiliar is how we've survived long enough to come down out of the trees & walk upright.

In addition to seeking to recover losses incurred by this "advertising brainstorm", I think the cities need to level a rather stiff fine, as well.  If you call in a fake bomb threat to some place (whether it be a grocery store or a military base), whatever your reasons, you face criminal charges.  This is close enough to the same thing that there should be some sort of punishment laid out.

Lug, when you're ready to march on the Turner offices, give me a call.  I'll grab my Louisville Slugger and my mace (the heavy, smash-y kind, not the little spray-can kind) and be right behind you!

[captainspud]

Dude makes a cartoon about Mohammed. Muslims flip the hell out. Westerners go, "Dude, seriously, calm down. It's just a joke."

Dude makes an unconventional piece of advertising. Americans flip the hell out. My response is of course, "Dude, seriously, calm down. It's just a joke."

Your response to that comparison: "That's not the same thing. The first one was a cultural misunderstanding, the second is a threat to our lives!"

Well, it is the same thing. You put the #1 priority on your life, they put it on what comes after. You (and this is the 2nd person plural, referring to everybody) can't have the first perspective and disagree with the second. If you're justified in making a ruckus just because you (again, plural) didn't like someone's joke, then they're justified in every single violent action they take because of affronts to their sensibilities.

"That's still not the same thing!"

Is too. They killed a guy, and then already two people in this thread have implied or directly stated that they intend to inflict bodily harm on the people responsible for this. Just think about the hypcrisy of that. They made a joke that wasn't intended to be threatening, but which you didn't like, so you make (what I hope is) a joke about actually harming them.

Seriously, just think about that.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Americans weren't rioting all over the world killing and injuring hundreds of people.

The cartoon didn't force an entire city to shut down (not counting the rioting)

The cartoon couldn't have easily been a bomb.

Not a valid comparison.

[Flying_Infant]

Yeah, I'm going to have to side with cat on this.  The whole world is on edge as of late, because why?? Bombings going on all over. This didn't have to be something that happened in the U.S.  If it would have happened in the U.K. there probably would have been the same response.

Psychos are all over the world blowing themselves up, killing many others in the process. It's not really "overreacting" when you see a suspicious looking things set up all over town blinking.  I'm actually kind of suprised they weren't bombs with the way the news has been on bombings. 

And for Turner to pull an advertising stunt like this when bombings are going on is just stupid. I think they knew it would cause an uproar, and they wanted the extra advertising it gave.

[captainspud]

Americans weren't rioting all over the world killing and injuring hundreds of people.

Three people. Not hundreds. But really, it's irrelevant-- it's just a matter of order of magnitude. People still might go to jail for this. Over a misunderstood joke.

The cartoon didn't force an entire city to shut down (not counting the rioting)

The sign didn't cause a city to shut down-- people overreacting did. Which is exactly the same thing that happened when the riots shut cities down. The cartoon and the signs were not responsible for the inconvenience, it was the people's response that did it in both cases.

The cartoon couldn't have easily been a bomb.

Again, back to what I said before-- for our culture, life and limb is the main priority. For theirs, it's more important to have a clean spirit, as they consider it more important to get into heaven, or whatever the motivation is. You can't say life > spirituality, because that's your perspective, and they might argue the other way around. Priorities are subjective.

Not a valid comparison.

It's the same bloody situation. You just don't like looking at it that way because it means you either have to admit you're wrong or admit they're right, and neither outcome is something you're comfortable with.

[lugaru]

For now Im giving spud the benefit of the doubt... with all the hacking going on it is possible that some 13 y/o hacked his account. Still going to reply to one point: in order for me to be hypocritical when it comes to joking about them I would need to take this joke to a very far off and unpleasant place, where it stops being funny and tramples over the liberties of thousands. And honestly the moment I found out about what happened I felt like the parents in "sympathy for lady vengance" (great movie, watch it guys!), and ready to whup somebodies butt for real. Now that I have calmed down Im just writting another letter, it might get published in the Globe but we shall see... nothing special but if it does I'll post it.

Now word on the street here is that the person who called in the threat was one of the publicity guys, which would explain why it became an issue after going unnoticed for weeks. Probably false but if it turns out to be true... oh man. Especially with the mayor and our newly minted Governor as angry as they are.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Quote
The cartoon couldn't have easily been a bomb.
Again, back to what I said before-- for our culture, life and limb is the main priority. For theirs, it's more important to have a clean spirit, as they consider it more important to get into heaven, or whatever the motivation is. You can't say life > spirituality, because that's your perspective, and they might argue the other way around. Priorities are subjective.

Okay, let me switch hats here.

I am what you would call a HIGHLY religious person.  As in church services at least 3 times a week, my church donations last year were about a fifth of my income, the whole works.

I too consider it more important to get into heaven than to live.  Yet, my religious beliefs as a Christian are mocked CONSTANTLY, far more than just a few cartoons.

I have yet to take part in any riots.  In fact, I would attempt to stop any that I did know of.

The fact is, that kind of mockery is, in my mind, one of the greatest forms of evil possible.  But its there sin, not mine.

Even to a Muslim, it's not there sin.  There reaction is not one to danger, spiritual or physical, it was simple rage and hate.

And I'd like to point out that it was only a small fraction of the total numbers of Muslims who rioted.

[captainspud]

For now Im giving spud the benefit of the doubt... with all the hacking going on it is possible that some 13 y/o hacked his account.

Believing in personal freedom is immature?

in order for me to be hypocritical when it comes to joking about them I would need to take this joke to a very far off and unpleasant place, where it stops being funny and tramples over the liberties of thousands.

I don't even know what that means.

Now word on the street here is that the person who called in the threat was one of the publicity guys, which would explain why it became an issue after going unnoticed for weeks. Probably false but if it turns out to be true... oh man. Especially with the mayor and our newly minted Governor as angry as they are.

If that's true, then I'll happily flip sides. Putting up a joke and having it be misunderstood is one thing. Intentionally provoking the public is going a bit too far.

[captainspud]

There reaction is not one to danger, spiritual or physical, it was simple rage and hate.

Not necessarily, though. The two faiths might demand different action in response to a slight-- yours says to forgive, maybe theirs says to right the wrong. (I honestly don't know, I'm not a theologist).

You're still looking at this in terms of details. Of course there are differences in the details. All I'm saying is that the situations are fundamentally the same thing-- an overreaction to a joke, albeit one that was probably in poor taste. You overreact through outrage, they overreacted through violence. Different culture, different mindset. Same stupid, panicky instinctual response.