# Aqua Teen "hoax" in Boston **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326 "2007-01-31T21:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/261 "2007-02-01T22:22:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] If their prudence causes a highway and subway line to be closed, it’s a massive inconvenience to thousands, and the mayor is right to be mad. And you can better believe they’ll get money out of the Cartoon Network on this account – which is better proof than I can offer of their wrong-doing. [/QUOTE] My position is the same as the one I have when the Imams were taken out of a US Airways plane. Tough luck Imams, vigilance means false positives will appear. After investigators spend time with them they realized it was indeed a false positive and they were released. **BUT** then the airline refused to take them back after the authorities found their explanations were valid. Not so fast US Airways, it is time then to say that the Airline was idiotic for not reacting to new info. Likewise I see no problem that some dolts confused this device with a bomb and I can say now that Boston mostly acted properly. **HOWEVER** , their zeal looking for heads to roll is the idiotic part now, AFAIK the only thing they can get these guys will be for littering or graffiti, **it was not their intention to make a bomb hoax** , so I don’t believe they will pay a single red cent for pumped up charges. More likely I expect a good faith action by the network (with no declaration of fault regarding the hoax bomb charges) to the city of Boston will come. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/262 "2007-02-01T22:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] Investigated - yes. Then said, “False alarm. [advertising agency], clean up your mess, here’s a ticket for [something], don’t do it again.” [/QUOTE] Ding! We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/263 "2007-02-01T22:23:43Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Exactly. The bomb squad has to deal with it the same way regardless. And given the location (over a bus terminal), even a modest bomb could have killed or maimed a certain number of people with shrapnel. [/QUOTE] Let me try one more time. I think I haven’t been completely clear. I have no problems with Boston’s authorities handling this as a bomb threat to start. Provided they were following their procedures, I have no problems with how things were handled right up to the point that we started hearing about arrests of people “planting devices” and “bomb hoaxes”. Your procedures are written to keep people safe when they might not be thinking clearly. You can’t fault people for following them. I find fault with what happened afterwards and possibly how long it took to realize that whatever these things were, they weren’t bombs. That said, let me be crystal clear on something else. I think just about everyone I worked with would have seen this and thought “no bomb”. Possibly a majority would have taken extra steps just to be on the safe side, because we all want to go home that night and don’t want to take extra risk. That doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t have been 99% sure that there was no danger after about 30 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/264 "2007-02-01T22:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] So – should the authorities have investigated or not? It seems to me that in that last quote you say they should have. And if so, then why argue whether batteries and wires look like a bomb? [/QUOTE] Because it goes to the argument that the people who put the ads up should have known that they’d be mistaken for bombs. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/265 "2007-02-01T22:25:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] If I can make a synposis of the argument of the people who believe the Boston police overreacted, it goes like this: The device in Sullivan Square (the first one found) should not have been seen as a bomb, because: 1. Some people in Seattle and South Boston had seen something else, and those things weren’t bombs. 2. We all have D-cells and wires at home, and they’re not bombs. 3. The device was decorated with a character that should have been discerned, if only the device were functioning and/or ten feet closer and in better light. 4. People should have noticed the device beforehand, and noticed that it was not a bomb. 5. It was a Lite-Brite. 6. Notwithstanding the above, it could have been a weather station. And people wonder why I’m tearing my hair out! [/QUOTE] 1. A bridge, subway or tunnel has never ever ever been attacked by a terrorist bomb in this country, ever. The likelyhood of it being a bomb is miniscule to the point of paranioa. 2. If it were a real bomb it would be unlikely for it to be in plain sight and so conspicuous. 3. Don’t question it. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/266 "2007-02-01T22:25:59Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Even mounted thus, it should not have inspired the panic that it did. This is a very thin device. Not something that could have held much of a charge, even if somebody wanted to use it as a bomb. A glance should have told the police as much. [/QUOTE] Even a small bomb is a serious matter at a bus terminal where people congregate. Ordinary caution says you close the area, if only to make sure there’s nothing else around. And unfortunately, when you’re dealing with a significant transportation hub, you get ripple effects felt throughout the system – which is exactly what happened, and which is why, as I’ll say for the umpteenth time, people are pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/267 "2007-02-01T22:25:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] If I can make a synposis of the argument of the people who believe the Boston police overreacted, it goes like this: The device in Sullivan Square (the first one found) should not have been seen as a bomb, because: 1. Some people in Seattle and South Boston had seen something else, and those things weren’t bombs. 2. We all have D-cells and wires at home, and they’re not bombs. 3. The device was decorated with a character that should have been discerned, if only the device were functioning and/or ten feet closer and in better light. 4. People should have noticed the device beforehand, and noticed that it was not a bomb. 5. It was a Lite-Brite. 6. Notwithstanding the above, it could have been a weather station. [/QUOTE] You left off the part about the city being virtually shut down because someone reported an object that is 14"×15"×¼(or so)". ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/268 "2007-02-01T22:27:09Z")
[QUOTE=lokij] 7. A bridge, subway or tunnel has never ever ever been attacked by a terrorist bomb in this country, ever. The likelyhood of it being a bomb is miniscule to the point of paranioa. 1. If it were a real bomb it would be unlikely for it to be in plain sight and so conspicuous. 2. Don’t question it. [/QUOTE] Must… not… tear… rest… of… hair… ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/269 "2007-02-01T22:28:23Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] > [@](#): > > You know, it’s not so much that the Boston authorities did something - my first thought upon hearing the story was, “better to be overly cautious than not cautious enough”. Their mistake was to immediately start spewing idle threats and arresting people on bogus charges rather than just admitting they made a mountain out of a molehill. So – should the authorities have investigated or not? It seems to me that in that last quote you say they should have. And if so, then why argue whether batteries and wires look like a bomb?So – should the authorities have investigated or not? It seems to me that in that last quote you say they should have. And if so, then why argue whether batteries and wires look like a bomb? [/QUOTE] So are you retarded, or are you just fucking with me? Should they have investigated? Yes. Should they have, upon investigation, concluded that the devices were not bombs? Yes. Does that fact that wires and batteries do not, in and of themselves, with no explosive present, constitute a bomb, affect such a conclusion? Yes. Should they, upon concluding that the devices were not bombs, and were obviously not _intended_ to look like bombs, have continued to blather on to the media about a supposed bomb hoax, and started arresting people? No. If you think anyone has conceded any point to you, you are obviously stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/270 "2007-02-01T22:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] unfortunately, when you’re dealing with a significant transportation hub, you get ripple effects felt throughout the system – which is exactly what happened, and which is why, as I’ll say for the umpteenth time, people are pissed. [/QUOTE] Well, two people, anyway: the mayor and the governor. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/271 "2007-02-01T22:31:09Z")
[QUOTE=RogueRacer] I have no problems with Boston’s authorities handling this as a bomb threat to start. Provided they were following their procedures, I have no problems with how things were handled right up to the point that we started hearing about arrests of people “planting devices” and “bomb hoaxes”. Your procedures are written to keep people safe when they might not be thinking clearly. You can’t fault people for following them. I find fault with what happened afterwards and possibly how long it took to realize that whatever these things were, they weren’t bombs. [/QUOTE] If you’re okay with the police and their procedures, I don’t see how you can fault what happened afterwards. If the proper procedures caused a subway line to be shut down, disrupting the entire system, then the city has a right to feel it’s been harmed, and has a vested interest in discouraging the kind of behavior that caused the problem in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/272 "2007-02-01T22:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Must… not… tear… rest… of… hair… [/QUOTE] Well, you could go ahead and pull your head out of your ass while you’re finishing that up there, look at it that way. ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/273 "2007-02-01T22:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=RogueRacer] Let me try one more time. I think I haven’t been completely clear. [/QUOTE] You’ve been extremely clear. They just aren’t hearing you. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/274 "2007-02-01T22:35:04Z")
Whatever one’s position on whether officials overreacted, I think it’s safe to say we all should agree on [one person being a total idiot](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/02/01/froth_fear_and_fury/?page=2)\*: > [@](#): > > April James , 32, said she saw one of the devices in a sandy area under the Longfellow Bridge about three weeks ago. “I kicked it first, then I picked it up,” said James, a hairdresser who says she walks and jogs over the bridge nearly everyday. “ **It looked like a bomb. I picked it up** , pulled the tape off it, and there were batteries, two on the top and three on the bottom.” \*Crap, now the Globe, like its parent, the New York Times, insists you sign up before you can read links like these. Death to the corporate overdogs! ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/275 "2007-02-01T22:35:18Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica] **Trion** , thank you for defending my position earlier in the thread. Please note that I am male. It is a distressingly common mistake. [/QUOTE] Yikes. Sorry about that. I actually gave some thought to that, but I was _sure_ I had seen you refered to as female before. I was probably just remembering someone elses mistake. My bad. I shall try to remember this in the future. (See. It’s easy to admit when you’re wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/276 "2007-02-01T22:37:05Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Exactly. The bomb squad has to deal with it the same way regardless. And given the location (over a bus terminal), even a modest bomb could have killed or maimed a certain number of people with shrapnel. [/QUOTE] So if I call and report a sneaker near a bridge, do they have to treat it with the same slavish, err-on-the-side-of-caution procedure? Is there no room for common sense? ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/277 "2007-02-01T22:37:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] If I can make a synposis of the argument of the people who believe the Boston police overreacted, it goes like this: The device in Sullivan Square (the first one found) should not have been seen as a bomb, because: 1. Some people in Seattle and South Boston had seen something else, and those things weren’t bombs. 2. We all have D-cells and wires at home, and they’re not bombs. 3. The device was decorated with a character that should have been discerned, if only the device were functioning and/or ten feet closer and in better light. 4. People should have noticed the device beforehand, and noticed that it was not a bomb. 5. It was a Lite-Brite. 6. Notwithstanding the above, it could have been a weather station. And people wonder why I’m tearing my hair out! [/QUOTE] No. It goes like this: 1. Some people is Seattle and other cities saw the exact same thing and figured out with little fanfare that they were not bombs. 2. Things with wires and batteries are not necessarily bombs and one should not go around assuming they are. 3. The device was decorated with a character that as soon as you could see it close up (like the cops or bomb guys could) it was obvious that it was not a bomb. 4. People did notice the device before hand and did not think it was a bomb…the people who freaked out and thought it was a bomb have over-reacted. 5. It was a LED display of a cartoon character that was not large enough to do the damage that the PTBs are now saying it could–even if it had been a bomb it would not have blown up a bridge. 6. It could have been lots of things and reasonable people check it out and do not close down huge portions of a city to deal with what amounts to trash stuck to the wall. You’re being an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/278 "2007-02-01T22:45:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] If you’re okay with the police and their procedures, I don’t see how you can fault what happened afterwards. If the proper procedures caused a subway line to be shut down, disrupting the entire system, then the city has a right to feel it’s been harmed, and has a vested interest in discouraging the kind of behavior that caused the problem in the first place. [/QUOTE] Well of course the city has a right, duh! But the reason now is idiotic, we also have a right to tell the city their charges of hoax bombs will not fly and they are now on the even more idiotic path to waste more city money now in legal fees when the best option was indeed to say “here is a ticket and bill for littering, don’t do this again” ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/279 "2007-02-01T22:59:01Z")
The level of post-hysteria hysteria is maddening as seen in this [quote] ([http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=nation\_world&id=4992206](http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=nation_world&id=4992206)): > [@](#): > > “It’s clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location,” Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their arraignment. _BOGGLE_ ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/280 "2007-02-01T23:05:53Z")
Here’s a video of [Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2ytr2Oyv4), the two guys arrested for putting up the lite-brites, responding to press questions with the level of respect and seriousness that this situation deserves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=15)