The Mooninites are the newest threat to America. Yes, you heard me.

Wednedsday, Boston was thrown into an alleged panic when Bomb Disposal units were sent all over boston to remove objects with blinking lights that looked "bomblike".

It turns out these objects were promotional tools used to promote Cartoon Network's late night show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (for the sake of transparency, I will admit I am a fan of).

And apparently, similar objects have been in place all over the country for weeks according to Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, Including "New York City; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."




I managed to catch a snippet of this morning's rather interesting news conference where the two men held in custody that are allegedly responsible acted quirky, and obviously nottaking any of this matter seriously. That attitude was met by many reporters chastising them for not taking this seriously.



Even Contessa Brewer on MSNBC seemed to be taken aback by the attitude saying, "I don't know if we could call this a press conference."

Yet, many Bostonians seemed to not be in any panic at all.



If you manage to see the objects in question, they're obviously not anything that even resembles a bomb. The large cylindrical base supports four large batteries, possibly D's. If you can't already tell, I'm a tad bit frustrated that the a small number of people and the powers that be in Boston are ready to put these guys away for at least a year (the hoax charge is a felony) because they weren't familiar with a [edit] cartoon.

So here are my questions:

Are we becoming a nation of Chicken Littles, where anything that looks unfamiliar or strange becomes a terrorist threat?

If not, how is this reaction explained and how are the charges justified?

To an extent, although to be honest, there wasn't any panic in Boston from what I saw, and certainly very little at Northeastern itself [a few girls were freaking out, that's the extent of the panic]. I think the REST of the country freaked out a bit, there were litterally 8...EIGHT news helicopters circling a few blocks from where I sit, all of them were focused on a piece of metal under the Longfellow Bridge, oy. I understand this is a post 9/11 world, but are we so terrified that anything that has lights on it [Aqua Teen Hunger Force ROCKS, just as a sidenote] becomes a national story?

The charges aren't justified. If I yell at something, walk to my window and some guy outside perceives it as a suicide attempt, then am I at fault?

CP

Watched the video--we're scared of Lite Brites now?
Thats just sad.

Apparently we are scared of everything these days--which is pretty weak. I wouldn't take it very seriously either, How damn stupid can we get.
Congrats Guys we are a nation of Sally's.

It is a LiteBrite with a cartoon on it.


They should be worried though, because the Chicken Littles won't like being exposed as cowards and will try to make an example of them. Afterall "the Islamofascists are waging a thousand year old war on the west to make us live under dar al islam" or whatever. They are under every rock and hiding in the ladies section of the local quickiemart.

Not really. Between 9/11, Bushco and 24 we're a country on edge. Let's not forget some of these were placed under bridges and such. The Boston deployment was different than the other cities. Some might say stupider.

You can explain the reaction as embarrassment. The BPD is clearly feeling silly and as such is charging these "pranksters"... I suspect it will all go away and Turner will do some penance and then make fun of the situation for a while.

Are we becoming a nation of Chicken Littles, where anything that looks unfamiliar or strange becomes a terrorist threat?

Clearly, yes. Although the fact that these devices have been displayed in 10 metropolitan areas for 2-3 weeks without incident, kinda leads me to believe that the Boston reaction might have been due to someone "in the know" calling the authorities and leading up to what we have now. See, this "viral marketing" works. I had never heard of Aqua Teen Hunger Force until yesterday.

Who knows.

If not, how is this reaction explained and how are the charges justified?

Of course not. One couldn't even be cited for vandalism seeing how the devices were magnetic and could be removed without defacing any property. The BPD needs to blame someone (other than themselves) for partially shutting the city down.


Although this little gem is a keeper:
"Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device"

I suppose that my iPod, my cell phone, and traffic lights would also fit the criteria for having some components that are consistent with IEDs, minus any explosive element of course.

This just in, the hits just keep on coming:

"“It’s clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location,” Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their arraignment.

Who, exactly, is afraid of Lite Brites?

Are we becoming a nation of Chicken Littles, where anything that looks unfamiliar or strange becomes a terrorist threat?

No I think the fact that theses devices were only questioned in Boston tell us just how unprepared and complacent we are. They may not “resemble a bomb” but could have been a bomb trigger. In ant case It was a stupid idea and I am happy the Boston police were on the ball and picked up on it.

Are we becoming a nation of Chicken Littles, where anything that looks unfamiliar or strange becomes a terrorist threat?

It sure looks that way. I agree with Christopher. It’s just sad that now a Lite Brite with a cartoon character on it is something to be afraid of. “Creating panic” – gadzooks. What are we headed for here? Of course the two young men weren’t taking this “seriously”. How could anyone??? Granted, they are only making themselves look bad in front of the uptight, uncreative, paranoid idiots that will decide their fate.

And here I thought Boston was a pretty hip city...

If not, how is this reaction explained and how are the charges justified?

It’s a classic overreaction, and I don’t believe the charges are in any way justified. If they were, then maybe the Times Square display is also secretly hiding a terrorist device.

This is embarrassing. Stuff like this happens all the time. In my hometown of St. Louis, there was a "Suspicious Package" found near the School Board building in downtown. Turns out this "suspicious package" had a homeless man's clothes. I knew it was nonsense when I saw it on the news. Stuff like this makes it possible for our politicians to "fear" us into another war.

As a ATHF fan that has every season on dvd and soon will be viewing the movie I have to say that this is retarded. Its not retarded in the sense of people getting scared but the idea that some people would even consider attempting to punish them for the marketing ploy. I mean if they do I guess that sends people a single to call the bomb squad in on anything overall. I mean if you cant see inside a garbage can, who to say a dirty bomb or 200 pounds of TNT in it.

Besides that I don’t know what to say.

Are any of you aware that the "lite brite" in question featured the words "1/31/07 - Never Forget." What, pray tell, does that remind YOU of? Come on, think about it. Anything come to mind? Anything at all? You think that maybe someone noticed this, and said "gee a couple of years ago a plane took off from Logan and ..." I mean, really. A lite brite with a message clearly related to the 9/11 attacks, posted under bridges and at notable landmarks. A cop or someone observant (who doesn't watch cartoons) sees this, alerts the authorities, and now we are all "chicken littles?" Do any of you live in cities? Do you remember what you thought after 9/11, thinking that your local skyscraper was next?

Thank God the Boston police or somebody at least noticed this. I hope those two obnoxious punks go to jail for at least a few days. I respectfully disagree with and am completely offended by just about everything posted here so far.

Its hard to be pc on this one. Listen, a bomb can take just about any form and about any size really. If you want the reality on it, if you don’t know for sure, like absolutely that its not a bomb, the reality then if you are worried about being bombed is the item is question could be a bomb then, and it truly goes for anything really. If this is how people think about today, then the reality to survive this fear would to be never go outside, at all. Matter of fact you should build your house 100 feet underground with 20 feet of nasa grade titanium as your direct roof, so actually 120 feet under the ground. Its not just bombs either, what about biological or chemical weapons. In fact to be really safe, you should just simply leave the earth, move to mars or something and start a farm... Or maybe, you could join the military and confront this fear in Iraq, because that is what the wars about.

It was a marketing ploy. If they want to punish the company for running a marketing ploy, and someone coming under the influence of fear because of such, well they better just about ban everything at that point.

Just to be clear here...

Are you suggesting that the LED adverticements that were placed around cities, including Boston, weeks before the BPD way overeacted on 01/31/07 actually had the words "1/31/07 - Never Forget" on them before hand? Like two weeks ago when they were put up?

I must be misreading you

Really Carlito, the LiteBrites in question just had the Cartoon figure on them, not the words. The photo you linked to was from supporters of the 2, not the actual LiteBrites.
Thses LiteBrites were posted in many other cities -- including the one that was hit on 9/11--and only Boston scurried around afraid of shadows.
Boston panicked and overreacted and look silly. Their own laws won't convict the 2 of any --according to Fox's Napalitano, and turner will pay Boston the money they wasted.

Boston's reaction shows that the real danger is not so much the attack but the possible reaction by our citizens. If LITEBRITES can generate that much fear and panic--we're screwed.
But again none of the other cities screamed and tried to hide under the bed--just Boston.

No Carlito, I wasn't scared the day it happened or any day afterward. I have not at any time in my life been afraid of terrorists. I am more worried about the overreaction of terrified Americans at threats that apparently can arise from cartoons.

9/11 was horrific yes, but it is not like we live under the threat of constant attack -- or ever have. It took Alqaeda 8 years to pull off another attack on American soil after the first attempt at the Towers--and we weren't looking at the time either. The only other terrorist attacks on american soil were done by an American and before that by agents of the Kaiser [The Black Tom explosion of July 30, 1916 in Jersey City].

People like to talk about the sacrifice soldiers make for freedom with their lives. Its the same price for us but much less effort. Just live your life. If you spend it constantly afraid--they already won. and if you die doing that--well thats the price for living it. I will not sacrifice or limit a single bloody thing because of the possibility of an attack.

Now if you will excuse me I am bidding on EBay for one of those signs and hoping there is a T Shirt.

Skeptic that I am, the first thing that came to my mind when I read this was that it was some sort of (insider) publicity stunt. I'd imagine those signs are going to go for some money now. In the back of my mind I still think it's likely....

Per the questions, no, I don't think we have become a nation of scaredy cats, necessarily. Well, if we are it's human nature. A couple of days ago some party balloons from a celebration floated over Lebanon and the crowds went wild with rumors that they were carrying poison gas.

All it likely takes (in a place like Boston) is one old lady calling in about a bomb scare. I still remember those poor medical students in Florida who were stopped by policemen and blocked the highway for hours because some old people overheard ten percent of their conversation in a restaurant. It isn't entirely new either, just depends on current events. Orson Wells practically single-handedly sparked the FCC with the mass hysteria his 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast caused. There were a lot of movies about space aliens during that time...

Edited to add: Just checked about the FCC. I thought I'd read this somewhere but couldn't find it so it likely isn't true. I'd delete but BA just quoted it below.

Let me, in more than one line, re-iterate that the deployment in those other cities was different than in Boston. they were not putting the LiteBrites UNDER BRIDGES. Many in the Guerrilla Marketing world are calling this stunt "stupid" and "irresponsible".

recognizing the irrational nature of many Americans these days they would be smart to say exactly that BA. Having seen the signs designs, I would seriously question how anyone could have been scared of a LITEBRITE or even thought it really looked dangerous.


But as Mrs P reminds us


Oh and Mrs P just go to Ebay and queery mooninite, you'll see the signs up for bid. Haven't found a good t shirt for the event yet.

I'd like to take this time to correct a common misconception about the city and citizens of Boston, Massachusetts. Our GOVERNMENT panicked, we, the people laughed and went on with our lives. The past 36 hours to me highlights the lack of honesty from the mainstream media in an attempt to cover its own overreaction. The city of Boston's police and emergency responders, and our fearless leader, Mayor Menino panicked; but Bostonians are not easily rattled and went about their day as normal without any fear; just with aggravation concerning all of the trafic, etc. caused by the incident. Again, let's distinguish the city from the people here. Bostonians aren't the terrified, on edge twits that Fox News and MSNBC have made us out to be. The way I see it, the reason why the press is making it appear that way is to justify continued coverage of the incident, which is a really, really easy way to take pop shots at Turner and by proxy hurt CNN.

Thank you.

CP

I formally apologize to the residents of Boston--especially Southies--who may have misinterpreted my words.
What I meant to say is that they are a Fresh example,not clean......

Ooops mixing my apologies

Its not your fault your government......Hey wait YOU elected them

The worst result of this story is that I have the LiteBrite commercial music stuck in my head.

Shaking my fist in the air, "Khaaaaan!"

Im going to ask a blunt question on this one:

Do you think that lots of people, regardless of what they say, in some small but irrefusable part of them, desire another 9/11? That when they see a suitcase under a bridge, they quickly jump to the conlcusion that they have stumbled upon the next big attack because they want to be a part of something that large?

Certainly the media has its quandry: a possible terror attack is a heckuva more exciting morning news broadcast than commentary on this week's oscar nods. "I'm sorry I have to interrupt you, Jim, but we are recieving word that New York police authorities are investigating what may be a bomb under the Tri-boro bridge..." That's news, ain't it? And how many times have you heard that since 9/11 and come to find out, no its just a homeless man's suitcase.

May I remind you that, prior to 9/11 the cover of newsweek was a story on the recent spate of shark attacks along the eastern coast. Shark attacks? Amidst all the global developments occuring, that was the best news they had that summer?

In a very real way coverage of plausible terror attacks replaced sharks as the most exciting news story producers can run with.

Or think about 9/11 itself; I was in Atlanta at the time, people were evacuating the Coke museum. The COKE Museum!!! Really. I can understand if people just didn't want to learn about coca-cola anymore, I'm with them on that, but I'm talking about evacuation. I think people unified under the idea that we are under attack, we were raised on movies fantasizing about a world under attack a la "Independence Day," and when something like this rolls around we respond in a very well-rehearsed socialogical 'fire drill' about how to behave in the event of a plausible emergency.

The most thorny part of the question is that, in a very real way we need this instict. it lends itself to heroism, and it could save hundred, thousands of lives one day. But in the meantime, it makes us look, yes, like Chicken Littles. Is that a bad thing? I dunno. But the British behaved quite admirably and with great calm and resolution during the tube attacks two summers ago. Maybe, god forbid, should more attacks occur, then our national response to such attacks will evolve into a more discerning instinct.

In the meantime, if you see something, say something.