trancejeremy said:
I don't understand how this could happen - surely someone on the Boston police force had seen the show? Or simply just looked at the device (basically a Lite Brite) and say "Duh, this isn't a bomb". If people would use some common sense instead of getting hysterical...
First of all, nobody got hysterical. There was no panic. Police and other officials used established proceedures. They can never assume something is NOT a bomb.
Looking at the device is EXACTLY what the bomb squad was called in to do. It's their job to determine and dispose of the suspicious materials. I'm not sure why some people think everyone should know what this cartoon is about.
"It's just a lite bright!" Sure, that can be determined from a static photo from the safety of your own home. But... standing under a bridge with a device that is not supposed to be there hooked up with wires and batteries is something different. Hence, the bomb squad. And even if they recognize the character, it doesn't matter. They HAVE to treat it like a live bomb.
"It's too flat to contain explosives". Not so. Plastic explosives can be shaped. Not to mention the circut board itself might be just the trigger device for something set nearby.
"It's got Mooninite!" I can promise the Official Bomb Squad Manual does not say "If it has a cartoon image on it, it's not a bomb. Go ahead and kick it." Indeed, the image was a rude gesture. What would you expect a bomb to have? How many movies have you seen where they'd put an image or message on the bomb? The image means nothing. The wires, switches, and batteries. Three of the things on the List of Things That Could Be Bombs.
"Boston over reacted! The other cities this happened in didn't panic" Again, no panic and indeed, rather than laughing at Boston, the officials at other cities are questioning why THEIR city didn't react at all. Over in Chicago, police were suddenly concerned that someone there could mistake if for a bomb during the super bowl. THAT is when you would have seen a panic.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070201cline,1,1094465.story?coll=chi-news-hed
And don't get me started on blaming the media. The public wants to know why they're stuck in traffic, and why access roads and bridges are shut down. Did the media "over react" during the 9/11 attacks? No complaints about the media then, were there?
In addition, there are facts that were not released to the public at the time, there were other things going on in other cities and in Boston. At the New England medical center, someone found what looked like a pipe bomb. (Not related to the signs.) In D.C., a station was shut down over another suspicious package. In NY, there was another incident involving some fumes at a post office where four people were taken to the hospital. So, there's no way to just assume it's nothing. They never do, and never should.
I lived in an apartment that had the fire alarm go off at all hours. Sometimes it was punk kids, other times, overcooked food. I made it a house rule to get out of the house every time the alarm went off. It did not matter that we knew it was a false alarm. While I was never happy with some of our response times to get out- mostly due to having to drag the cat from under the bed, I was pleased that we always reacted right off the bat. No thinking about it, no assuming it's not a real fire.
We'd be outside in the winter, and we'd look back at the building to see other people there in their windows looking out at us as if we were crazy. And they wonder why people die in fires.
seconded!
