wilwheaton.typepad.com— Wil Wheaton gets awesomely angry at stupid overreactions to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force viral marketing campaign.
Feb 1, 2007View in Crawl 4
The government tells us things in a way to maintain a state of fear. These people in Boston did overreact, but the acted exactly the way they were programmed to. The state of fear allows the government to step in and appear as the only solution to the problem; the only savior. And so many people will sign away rights and freedoms so their government can keep them safe from things like paper mache.
You know, for those Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans out there, there was an episode that did star the mooninites, which involved them coming down to Earth to push a Moon Master campaign through the Moon Master video game like The Last Starfigher. It was a pyramid scheme of sorts and it just seems really funny with what happened in Boston. I wonder when Boston's city officials will get their wacky wall walkers, pulsating moon amulet, and Moon Master gear so they too can fight the Gorgitron.
I'm on the side of security on this one (God help me). Take a look at the picture: <a class="user" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42520000/jpg/_42520427_device_ap203b.jpg">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42520000/jpg/_42520427_device_ap203b.jpg</a>The top half is just pure awesomeness, but that brick on the bottom could be C4 or god knows what else. I think if that brick was smaller (enough only to contain batteries, for example), and if their placement was in more highly-visible places for marketing effectiveness instead of underneath bridges etc., this whole incident would not have been an issue. I don't think criminal charges should be pursued, but I do think it should be a deterrent to future security-challenging campaigns, instead of a role model.
Posted this on the article site as a comment. You may be interested in this too: "Now, post 9-11, we can't afford to take those kinds of chances. Why wouldn't Turner want to tell the city government before hand?"Number of Americans dead in terrorist attacks in the last five years: 0Number of suspicious terrorist devices that turned out to be suspicious terrorist devices in the last five years: 0Number of the above devices that turned out to be boxes of sprinkler parts in 2006 alone: 4Despite our President's claims to the contrary in the State of the Union our own intelligence organizations have stated that there has not been a single credible terrorist threat discovered, let alone stopped, since 911. Boston may be incredibly susceptible to terrorist attacks as one poster claimed. I do not have the knowledge or experience to agree or refute that statement. Boston may also be incredibly susceptible to complete annihilation if a 100 Bengal tigers were released in the Commons too. Should we invest billions in tiger traps and anti tiger personnel at ever corner in the Back Bay to protect shoppers from this possibility? People are afraid of the unknown even if far more common objects and event are far more devastating: pools, cigarettes, car accidents, regular violent crimes. This is getting out of hand. I live in Boston and I have seen these light brites for weeks both in the day (first time) and at night. I do not know about Adult Swim but I certainly didn't feel threatened any more than I feel threatened by spam posters, Make Money Now, and Lost Dog fliers that are around the city. Yes I am embarrassed to be a Bostonian when nine other major American cities dealt with the advertising campaign by merely cleaning up the magnetic mounted displays.Our over reaction is troubling for so many reasons. I find it troubling that we are so paranoid that we are reporting everything to the police as suspicious. We are so willing to trade our freedom for the pretense of security. I find it troubling that we think the right behavior in this situation for the future is to OK all our actions with the government before we do something. They work for us. They are not our parents. The most ridiculous thing is, especially for all those so willing to give over all our independence and freedom to our government for the pretense of security, which we are not in any way safer. These devices have been here for two weeks! If this was a real threat none of our useless flailing paranoia availed us of anything. The devices would have done their business provided their timer was less than 14 days.So let us quickly review:There have been no American deaths to terrorist activity since 911. I am not including casualities related to our occupation of Iraq. That is a war in a foreign land, not some sort of on going terrorist action.Our government has stopped not terrorist plots of any kind in the past five years according to the CIA and FBI.In fact there has been no evidence according the FBI or CIA of any credible terrorist plots in the USA since 911. We are spending billions on a department of homeland security that has not plots to act on and is apparently incapable of dealing with the complete removal of a major American city struck by a hurricane.We are subject to more scrutiny, search and wiretapping in the past five years despite the fact that all this scrutiny has not stopped a single terrorist plot yet has inconvenienced millions and wasted countless hours of our time and money (just think of all the toiletries you have had to toss while traveling on our airlines).I think it is pretty obvious to see what we lost in terms of time money and personnel liberty. Have we gained anything at all? Yes, I am embarrassed to be a Bostonian. Lately I am starting to feel embarrassed to be an American, too.
"You know, if the goal of terrorists and the whole point of terrorism is to scare the s**t out of us so badly that we leap ten feet in the air whenever someone says "boo," then the terrorists are clearly kicking our national asses."SPOT ON!
kevin108Feb 2, 2007
The government tells us things in a way to maintain a state of fear. These people in Boston did overreact, but the acted exactly the way they were programmed to. The state of fear allows the government to step in and appear as the only solution to the problem; the only savior. And so many people will sign away rights and freedoms so their government can keep them safe from things like paper mache.
jercraigsFeb 2, 2007
How about a million mooninite march? That should really scare the bejeesus out of them!
ljrod82Feb 2, 2007
You know, for those Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans out there, there was an episode that did star the mooninites, which involved them coming down to Earth to push a Moon Master campaign through the Moon Master video game like The Last Starfigher. It was a pyramid scheme of sorts and it just seems really funny with what happened in Boston. I wonder when Boston's city officials will get their wacky wall walkers, pulsating moon amulet, and Moon Master gear so they too can fight the Gorgitron.
bizchrisFeb 2, 2007
I'm on the side of security on this one (God help me). Take a look at the picture: <a class="user" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42520000/jpg/_42520427_device_ap203b.jpg">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42520000/jpg/_42520427_device_ap203b.jpg</a>The top half is just pure awesomeness, but that brick on the bottom could be C4 or god knows what else. I think if that brick was smaller (enough only to contain batteries, for example), and if their placement was in more highly-visible places for marketing effectiveness instead of underneath bridges etc., this whole incident would not have been an issue. I don't think criminal charges should be pursued, but I do think it should be a deterrent to future security-challenging campaigns, instead of a role model.
pieceofshoeFeb 2, 2007
Posted this on the article site as a comment. You may be interested in this too: "Now, post 9-11, we can't afford to take those kinds of chances. Why wouldn't Turner want to tell the city government before hand?"Number of Americans dead in terrorist attacks in the last five years: 0Number of suspicious terrorist devices that turned out to be suspicious terrorist devices in the last five years: 0Number of the above devices that turned out to be boxes of sprinkler parts in 2006 alone: 4Despite our President's claims to the contrary in the State of the Union our own intelligence organizations have stated that there has not been a single credible terrorist threat discovered, let alone stopped, since 911. Boston may be incredibly susceptible to terrorist attacks as one poster claimed. I do not have the knowledge or experience to agree or refute that statement. Boston may also be incredibly susceptible to complete annihilation if a 100 Bengal tigers were released in the Commons too. Should we invest billions in tiger traps and anti tiger personnel at ever corner in the Back Bay to protect shoppers from this possibility? People are afraid of the unknown even if far more common objects and event are far more devastating: pools, cigarettes, car accidents, regular violent crimes. This is getting out of hand. I live in Boston and I have seen these light brites for weeks both in the day (first time) and at night. I do not know about Adult Swim but I certainly didn't feel threatened any more than I feel threatened by spam posters, Make Money Now, and Lost Dog fliers that are around the city. Yes I am embarrassed to be a Bostonian when nine other major American cities dealt with the advertising campaign by merely cleaning up the magnetic mounted displays.Our over reaction is troubling for so many reasons. I find it troubling that we are so paranoid that we are reporting everything to the police as suspicious. We are so willing to trade our freedom for the pretense of security. I find it troubling that we think the right behavior in this situation for the future is to OK all our actions with the government before we do something. They work for us. They are not our parents. The most ridiculous thing is, especially for all those so willing to give over all our independence and freedom to our government for the pretense of security, which we are not in any way safer. These devices have been here for two weeks! If this was a real threat none of our useless flailing paranoia availed us of anything. The devices would have done their business provided their timer was less than 14 days.So let us quickly review:There have been no American deaths to terrorist activity since 911. I am not including casualities related to our occupation of Iraq. That is a war in a foreign land, not some sort of on going terrorist action.Our government has stopped not terrorist plots of any kind in the past five years according to the CIA and FBI.In fact there has been no evidence according the FBI or CIA of any credible terrorist plots in the USA since 911. We are spending billions on a department of homeland security that has not plots to act on and is apparently incapable of dealing with the complete removal of a major American city struck by a hurricane.We are subject to more scrutiny, search and wiretapping in the past five years despite the fact that all this scrutiny has not stopped a single terrorist plot yet has inconvenienced millions and wasted countless hours of our time and money (just think of all the toiletries you have had to toss while traveling on our airlines).I think it is pretty obvious to see what we lost in terms of time money and personnel liberty. Have we gained anything at all? Yes, I am embarrassed to be a Bostonian. Lately I am starting to feel embarrassed to be an American, too.
bigturnsFeb 5, 2007
"You know, if the goal of terrorists and the whole point of terrorism is to scare the s**t out of us so badly that we leap ten feet in the air whenever someone says "boo," then the terrorists are clearly kicking our national asses."SPOT ON!