Bostonians Going Overboard?

By now most of us have heard about the strange lighted devices in Boston making people think they were the victims of a terrorist attack. Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

It turned out that these devices were a publicity stunt by an advertising company doing an ad campaign for a Cartoon Network show called: "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". This is part of the Adult Swim block of programing. Apparently the figures were characters from this cartoon, and it was an advertising ploy.

Cartoon Network, which is owned by Turner Broadcasting issued an apology, and had done the same thing in other cities, but Boston was the only city in which these devices were reported.

Did the people of Boston overreact to a publicity stunt? My first knee-jerk reaction was, yes. The went way overboard. However Sue pointed out that in this post 9/11 world we can ill afford to not treat these unknown incidents with seriousness. Suppose these lighted figures had been hiding a dirty bomb? What if they had been designed to draw the attention of people to these devices while the perpetrators were busily attacking another target?

The folks of Boston should be applauded for their vigilance. Instead they are being derided as a city of Chicken Littles. Wake up people. The next suspicious light or package might just be the real thing.