It's not just rhetoric. There are apparently two people in jail over this.

I think Doug hasn't learned the lessons of 9/11 properly. Arbitrarily imprisoning a few people here and there, without their having committed a crime -- heck, maybe even Ted Turner -- this, this is a small price to pay for our liberties.

Silly Boston...haven't you learned anything from the repeated terror-related freakouts over whatever? That thing flipping you the middle finger clearly isn't of Middle Eastern descent.

Jason, in Doug's defense, I didn't read that as him endorsing the arrests. I read that as him saying that Boston wasn't just being silly, they were harshly impacting people's lives (more than mere rhetoric). I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted his comment.

Bingo.

I'm perplexed about what exactly is "reckless, irresponsible and illegal" about putting up magnetic, Lite-Brite signs near highways and bridges around Boston.

I'm even more perplexed about what these two guys could have possibly been arrested and charged with?

Josh, you read me right. I think Jason got that as well and was sarcastically indicating that fear is making us do bad things to people's liberties.

But, just 'cuz I love the Mooninites, a random quote:

err: shoot him the bird
ingnigokt: yes, give him the finger
meatwad: the finger like this?
(morphs)
inignokt: no not at all like that
meatwad: what about this?
(morphs)
ignignokt: here let me show you err hand out the free cigarettes
err: we smoke as we shoot the bird

Oops, looks like I was the slow one. My bad.

Stupidity on both sides here... How exactly were these signs supposed to promote the cartoon? If I'd seen one of those things I wouldn't have had the faintest clue what it was, or even how to find out. Only in causing a stupid panic were they successful, and if that was the goal from the start, then the authorities *are* correct to condemn the people behind it.

Incidentally, I presume the people who put up these signs are guilty of something like vandalism and/or trespass because at least in some cases they didn't ask for permission to put them up.

I should add, however, that I don't actually think the signs were intended to cause alarm.

Make 'em pay a fine for littering and send 'em on their way.

Yeah, it seems like the petulence of the city officials has extended to trumped up (even bogus) charges against these two guys. Hopefully it will come out in court that they aren't terrorists.

That said, I don't think these guys are helping their case in the court of public opinion. Their press conference made them look like grade-A jackasses. The whole affair might be ridiculous, but by upping the ante, they will redirect irritation at them.

How would you like to be those guys' lawyer?

Eric,

"How exactly were these signs supposed to promote the cartoon?"

The two guys who got arrested were hired to do viral marketing. Viral marketing operates below the radar, using stealth campaigns aimed at promoting brand awareness to the tuned in. The intention was to create a buzz, to get certain people (trendsetters types) talking about the show, not to advertise to a large audience.

"Their press conference made them look like grade-A jackasses."

Oh God! These clowns did a press conference? They must not have a PR team yet. No good flak would allow them to talk to the press. Everybody knows that young advertising creatives are the most insufferable creepy hipster wannabes on the planet.

I do understand the idea behind viral marketing, but other examples I'm aware of have not required the target to already be a consumer of the product in order to understand the marketing material. Perhaps the idea of this was to get ATHF fans tickled enough to start talking about it to their non-ATHF friends?

Yep, next time some packages are dropped off at some bridges, tunnels, etc. we should just ignore them, and pretend they dont exist. Yep, just ignore everything and nine times out of ten you will be right. And hell, on that tenth time it might not even be you who dies.

Actually I believe the point here is that Boston overreacted to some LiteBrites. These things look nothing like an convential explosive.

Another valid question is how seriously should things of this nature be investigated? Should every box on the street be checked by the squad? Are you going to pay for that or ask that the public pay for it or are you going to accept that absolute safety is a myth and apply reasonable measures for reasonably likely situations?

I dont know that I want to be in Iraq where suicide bombings are a daily posibility, but I dont want to live in a Fisher Price world either.