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May 15, 2007

Boston: A Crimeless Victim

When the City of Boston wet themselves over brightly-lit cartoons four months ago, Wired Magazine's John Brownlee dug up the statutory law under which Cartoon Network's thugs would be prosecuted. Besides finding the charming phrase infernal machine among the legalese, he concluded that the prosecution hinged on one question:

Could a bunch of light-up boxes advertising a cartoon really be reasonably mistaken for an infernal device? I guess it depends what you mean by reasonably. In my book, someone being reasonable presumes they aren't [an] hysterical moron, but I'm not really sure the [Commonwealth] of Massachusetts shares my definition.

Well, now it's official: the City of Boston was acting unreasonably when they flipped out. Massachusetts prosecutors have dropped charges in return for community service already rendered and a cleverly-worded apology, "I deeply regret that this incident caused such anguish and disruption to so many people... I had no intention of upsetting or alarming anyone." Or, as Brownlee paraphrases, "In other words, 'I'm sorry Boston's city officials are such idiots.' Aren't we all?"

via David Weigel

Previously by the author:

"Dear Boston, Everyone is Laugh at You"
"Beantown Meltdown"
"Bombast"

Posted by Zach Wendling at May 15, 2007 08:38 AM

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