I, For One, Welcome Our Mooninite Overlords

[liz_marcs]

VERY IMPORTANT ETA: The BPDNews, which is kind of an electronic feed that anyone can check into, makes note of the 1:02 p.m. simulated pipe bomb that was found in a desk draw at the New England Medical Center that occurred at the height of yesterday's chaos.

The simulated pipe bomb, while not a real pipe bomb, was a legitimate emergency situation, given that public safety people were spread out all over the city.

Once you read and absorb that piece of information, read the next few parts after that. It turns out there was a flurry of bomb threat calls into the Boston Police Department all right around that time. Some pointing to Lite Brites, but one pointing to the simulated pipe bomb found on the Longfellow Bridge.

More information in this post.

*****




The Lite Brite That Menaced Boston. Photo from Boston.com



The Head-Slapping: Turner Broadcasting
It appears that both Turner Broadcasting and Interference Inc., the New York City marketing firm they hired, failed to get permits or permission to place magnetized Lite Brites around the city. This is in sharp contrast to two other cities — Seattle and Philadelphia — where apparently they (or someone else) did go through the permitting process.

In my mind, if C&C Convenience Store on the corner needs a permit to put out a stationary sign in front of their store advertising a 2-for1 beer sale, then Turner and its subcontractors sure as hell have to do it, too.

Turner and the Cartoon Network have owned up, apologized, and (reading between the lines) there may be restitution for yesterday's massive fuck-up. Good for them.


The Annoying: Local Officials
In the middle of yesterday's War of the Worlds-style Wellesian freak-out, a lowly police analyst was the first to call shenanigans. Nice to know that someone in the city government watches Adult Swim. In any case, the police analyst, upon seeing the Lite Brites that had menaced the city, spoke up.

This was about 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Even before that, the police figured out they were Lite Brites when they noticed the things they removed lit up when they were taken out of the sun and into a darkened space.

Somewhere this time, the artist who placed the Lite Brites around the city came forward, copped to what he did, and told the cops where to find them all.

Now, considering that the local officials appear to have known hours before Turner Broadcasting called to let the police department know the Lite Brites were not bombs and released a public apology — Why the hell were they feeding hysteria?

No. Seriously. Between (let's be generous here) 2:30 p.m. and when the city of Boston officially called off the hunt for dangerous Lite Brites, city officials were issuing vaguely ominous statements, complete with dog-whistle phrases, instead of saying, "Whoa! Let's step back a little bit here."

The chest-thumping you heard last night? That was the dance of, "You made us look stupid. You gotta pay!"


The Infuriating and the Hopeful: Charging the Artist

The folks at b0st0n staged a rally for Arlington artist Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens of Charlestown, pointing out that the guys were hired to do a job, and that they aren't responsible for the chaos that erupted in Boston (that was due to Turner Broadcasting and the local pols). If Turner or its marketing company failed to get the permits or win permission from the city, put the blame where it belongs. Don't put it on the artist, Ktnxbi.

Also something that I think should be taken into consideration, Berdovsky stepped forward and copped to it without any prompting from police. He has cooperated and done everything the police asked him to do. Dude! So much for being honest. If the state or city has any balls whatsoever, they'll drop all charges against Berdovski and Stevens because, of everyone in this mess, they're the only ones who are truly innocent here.

Good on b0st0n for staging the protest this morning at the arraignment. Hope people are smart enough to listen.

For anyone who's interested in the whole sordid tale, check out the Boston Globe's online collection of the 2007 Boston Lite Brite Scare.




Sean Stevens (left), 28, and Peter Berdovsky, 27, today pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device that caused panic. Photo from Boston.com


ETA: It appears that Berdovsky and Stevens are being held on $2,500 bail each, and both expect to post bail later today. The good news? The judge thinks the state's case sucks, especially since the artists were only doing the job they were hired to do.

Don't forget to download Alice's Restaurant (link up above in this post). If you feel like it, pass the link on to others on your FList. I only ask that you explain that it's to show virtual support for Berdovsky and Stevens if you do. Okay. Yeah. Not much of a protest on my part. I just think it would interesting to see how far this goes.


ETA2: As it turns out, city and state officials may have had legitimate reasons for their over-reaction.

Comments

[vichan.livejournal.com]

Okay, so if it happened in Cleveland, I would probably not be reacting the same way, but this is too frigging funny.

I have no words.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Call Jack Bauer, stat!

Also...

[(Anonymous)]

Capitalism at it's finest...

Also...

[(Anonymous)]

Don't know if you saw this, but apparently the police didn't get all of them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mooninites-Ignignokt-LED-Advertising-Bomb_W0QQitemZ130075321405QQihZ003QQcategoryZ363QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

$5,000! Crazy! Now I bet there's a treasure hunt going on in all the other cities.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

I saw that both of the installers had been arrested yesterday. Are they still in custody?

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I posted an update (plus a Download to Alice's Restaurant to show my support for the artists).

The artists are being held on $2,500 bail each, they both expect to get out later today. It's also looking like the courts don't think the state has a case, since both men were simply doing a job they were hired to do. Turner was the one that fucked up, not the artists who installed the signs.

[jakeexperience.livejournal.com]

>C&C Convenience Store

Off topic, but they have a Music Factory that's pretty decent.
Everybody totally freak out over lite brites dance now!

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Speaking of music!

I have added a download for Alice's Restaurant, the Live 1997 version to the post. A little show of support for the artist who seems to be stuck holding the bag.

[learnedhand-dj.livejournal.com]

Nice summary of the situation, Liz. One thing that threw me off at first: I'm pretty sure you meant to say that either TB or II failed to get permits, not neither. 'Cause if neither failed to get them, then they both would have gotten them, right? After thinking the sentence through, I think "both/and" would work better than "either/or," anyway.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Fixed it. Have also added a download link for Alice's Restaurant, the 1997 Live version.

After all, this truly does need to be celebrated in song.

But they *could* have been bombs...

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of what you've said in yesterday's post (I winced when I heard the inflammatory rhetoric from the city officials; you're right on to mock the political posturing) and this one (especially about the two artists who were arrested), but there's something that bothers me about this whole incident.

I'm dismayed at the people who are mocking/criticizing city officials for treating the devices as suspicious just because they were decorated with a picture of a cartoon character. (City officials made a lot of mistakes yesterday, but IMHO that wasn't one of them.) These mockers/critics imply that anyone should be able to tell the difference between a real bomb and a fake one. I strongly disagree with that assumption. This incident shows that most people are likely to assume that such devices are not dangerous -- which is a dangerous assumption in itself.

The "Lite Brites" weren't bombs, but they could have been -- or they could have been disguises for containers of poison gas or airborne bacteria (I know, it's unlikely, but it's not impossible). The outside decoration is irrelevant -- what's relevant in this case is that devices with batteries and wires were placed on the underside of bridges leading in and out of the city.

I agree with kaydee23's comment to your post yesterday -- I wonder whether real terrorists are now thinking "hey, let's disguise bombs as advertising -- after the Lite Brite incident in Boston, everyone will ignore them!" And I wonder whether real terrorists are taking note of the lack of action in the other cities, such as Seattle, and marking them as possible future targets.

In my opinion, it was completely appropriate to consider them suspicious and possibly bombs. I'm glad they were treated as suspicious! I'm sorry that so many people were inconvenienced, but the blame lies mostly on the shoulders of the suits at Turner Broadcasting who had the incredibly poor judgment to authorize such a wrongheaded marketing stunt.

I also question the judgment of any official in any city who would allow anyone to attach things that could be mistaken for bombs/terrorist weapons to public structures like bridges, regardless of their intent. (Side thought: And why is commercial advertising being allowed on public/government structures, anyway? I thought there was a law against that. There must be, otherwise every bridge would be covered with ads!)

Re: But they *could* have been bombs...

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Actually, as it turns out, Turner and its marketing firm didn't get permission in Boston, hence the freak-out when someone two weeks after they were put up, finally called the police to report their presence.

I don't have a problem with the early response. I don't even have a problem with the state and city police remaining cautions after they blew up the first Lite Brite. Yes, the one at Sullivan Square was a Lite Brite, but the one on the BU Bridge might not be.

Where I have a problem is that after city officials knew what was going on, they continued to use inflammatory language. They're still using inflammatory language. Now, maybe they're doing it for legal reasons to make sure Turner pays the hell up for the inconvenience (and let me make it clear: Turner should pay restitution and civil fines for the stunt — and given the very early and public apologies issued by the company I suspect they will), but it's the day after.

Honestly? What I'm actually upset about is that the two artists are being charged at all. They were hired to do a job, which they did. They are not responsible for Turner's or the marketing firm's fuck-up and they shouldn't be blamed for it. I think most people rallying to support the artists agree that Turner does need to suck it up and pay the penalties, so I think a lot of the tittering is part relief, part feeling stupid that we were dealing with Lite Brites.

Re: But they *could* have been bombs...

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of that. Now I want to know:
- What, if anything, is going to be done about the fact that the devices were undetected for a couple of weeks. (Whose job would that be? Police? Dept. of Public Works?)
- Will there be accountability at Turner Broadcasting? Who will get fired?

[ad-kay.livejournal.com]

Lite Brites?! Y'all were menaced by Lite Brites? I was picturing menacing little boxes with wires and plastic explosives and stuff.

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

The menace comes from the fact that devices with batteries and wires coming out the back were placed on the underside of bridges leading in and out of the city. I think it's appropriate that they were treated as suspicious. Unfortunately, the whole thing spiraled out of control in a big way.

I wonder whether real terrorists are now thinking "hey, let's disguise bombs as advertising -- after the Lite Brite incident in Boston, everyone will ignore them!"

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, if I were a real terrorist, I'd be wondering why I should spend thousands or hundreds of thousands on bombs and training and such when I could cause this much fear and disruption with a box of lite-brites.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

Creating terror seems far more cheep than I thought it was.

Though I think bombs, at least homemade ones, are fairly cheep to make. It's when you make the leap from gunpowder and pipeing to C4 and it's ilk that things get expensive.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

For God's sake nobody better pop a sanwich bag around the Mayor of Boston for fear of being arrested for attempted assassination.

Julia, not to mention whoopy cushions

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

Someone off topic, but I have to give you props for the comparison of the War of the Worlds hysteria to the hysteria over the blinky signs.

But as to the contents of your post, I find it rather horrifying that it seems like everyone seems to be fear mongering the populace and when it's shown to be a misjudgment, the blame is scapegoated onto those that actually did preform their job competently like the artists or the woman who noticed the signs.

You said in last night's post, there should be a Democrat asking if you really feel more safe than you did four years ago. I don't know if we're more safe than we were four years ago because When everyone and their mother trying to make people afraid of everything, the subjective answer of "Yes, I feel less safe." would take presence over whether or not in reality of you're more likely to be blown up by a bomb on your way to work tomorrow. We could in reality be far more safe now than we were before just for the fact that those who would like to kill "the infidels" are too busy taking advantage of the chaos in the Middle East at the moment to really bother making workable plans that could be carried out elsewhere.

eh...

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know about how far Turner should be taken to task, if it was a band poster the cops wouldn't be waiting outside McDooly's to apprehend the dastardly fiends. to me it warrants a slap on the wrist.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

This morning I was watching the Today show, beause I wanted more information about this situation. They told me nothing. Then they spent twice as much time debating the comment that Sen. Biden said about Obama. I wanted to know if Turner had permits, because I wanted to know who was mostly to 'blame' for the panic, but the stupid Today show said nothing about it.

Totally agree that it isn't the artists fault. I do have to wonder why Turner thought this would be a good advertising gimick in this day and age.

And it is interesting that no one noticed for two weeks. That's kind of scary too.

[angstpuppy.livejournal.com]

Just heard on NPR that the artists were released, supposedly on bail. I think they should have just been released, period, but what do I know.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Arrgh! I hate that the media has essentially no interest in informing the public. The more panic/hysteria they can cause, the higher their ratings go. If they can make someone look stupid, people tune in. I'm not sure whether to blame the media or the audience.

I apologize for my uninformed twitters. Pipe bombs (even fake ones) are far more menacing than Lite Brites.