Perfectly Stated...

I did not write the following. It is re-posted here with permission from the author.
The author's blog can be visited here: http://archer823.livejournal.com/406318.html

All laughs aside, I'm a little annoyed and angry about yesterday's events in Boston. But I'm not angry with Adult Swim or Turner Broadcasting. Maybe they were irresponsible, maybe on the back of those signs they should have put up a "Call this number if you have any concerns about this thing", maybe a little foresight should have been used to see where some freaked out post 9/11 "I'm going to be a citizen hero by being vigilant" type could see what someone was doing as a threat to public infrastructure.

Who I am really angry at are the news media, who blew this story way out of proportion by using words like suspicious package, bomb, and really blowing it out of the park when they said that multiple devices found all around town at key infrastructure points. I blame them for scaring the piss out of the general public for something that the entire Internet community already knew to be harmless, as well as probably most of the college students and geeks in the city. I blame them for not sending one intern, possibly an adult swim fan to begin with, somewhere after getting a photo of the device and doing some background research into what the markings meant. It really shouldn't have gotten to the point that it did.

I'm also angry at the city of Boston, and our government in general. They're patting themselves on the back for saying how they acted so timely and efficiently during this potential crisis, when the reality is those things have been hanging up around Boston for 3 week! And there's video proof that it happened 3 weeks ago! And there's 9 other cities that for weeks didn't freak out, but us, the intellectual capital of the United States, goes a bit nutso over a few moonitite light brights? Why is that by 2:00 PM, the media was still reporting a bomb threat like the city was going to explode any moment, while the blogging community knew what in the world they were, put two and two together, and it took 3 extra hours for our mayor (who by the way had a press conference at 4:20, no I really can't make that up) to fess up to saying that yes they now know it's harmless. And to arrest the guy who was just hired to put up the signs? Make an artistic statement? Exercise his free speech rights? Come on now. Now your just trying to find a scapegoat and a patsy, and you've just put someone innocent and turned his life upside down.

I hate that they're still using the word hoax. It's not a hoax if there was never a bomb threat in the first place. No one called it in. No one had any intent to harm or to cause hysteria. This is not the same as yelling fire in a crowded movie theater.

What I love? Aqua Teen Hunger Force has never had so much attention in the mass media news. The first 5 minutes of last night’s news wasn't even so much about the day’s events, as it was explaining what the hell Adult Swim is (with inaccuracies of course because the group of people we charge with telling us the truth can't ever get their facts straight in the first place). The problem at it's heart is that something like Adult Swim talks to a underground counterculture, it talks to the people who aren't really a part of mainstream society, people who are reporting on it don't understand why it exists, and what's the point. I'm sure if Mayor Menino watched a mooninite episode he'd go "OMGWTFBBQ?!", or actually that's the exact opposite of what he wouldn't do. What else I think is hysterical? Boston wants $500,000 for yesterday’s events. Ted Turner is probably laughing his ass off, that's a fraction of what the coverage would have cost him if he went via traditional channels. Think about it. 30 seconds on Super Bowl this year? 2.6 Million. All day coverage and hype about ATHF on every local channel and nationally over the wires including a full breakdown of the show? Half a million? Really? Really?

But what really makes me angry is the people who agree with the city. The ones who are going, "Oh yeah before 9/11 this would have been funny but now that we're living post 9/11, it's not cool". Shut the Hell Up. Things that were funny before 9/11 are still funny post 9/11. Because if what the idiot was saying is true, taking another cliché line, the terrorists have already won. What is wrong with people that we're living in this constant trigger finger state of fear instead of living our lives the way we want to live them, free to do what we want, and not have any sort of fear that we're going to be blown up tomorrow? The more and more I see it, the more and more depressed I get that we're just going to become pawns of our society, that we're going to be controlled by fear instead of freedom. And of everything yesterday, that's really what boils my blood. That people just don't get it. Terrorists are going to keep trying to bomb us, and we're going to keep trying to stop it, but we shouldn't change our daily routine and mindset because of it. Because is life really that important if your not allowed to do what you really want to do?