Observations In Life

Do you like scary movies? How about scary TV and newspapers?

Yesterday there was a terror scare in Boston, but the guilty parties aren’t whom you might think. It turns out that a guerrilla marketing firm contracted by Time Warner posted LED characters from the show Aquateen Hunger Force all over the city of Boston and other cities across the nation.

Turner said the devices have been in place for two or three weeks in Boston; New York City; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - CNN Article on The Terror Scare

Concerned motorists and passerbys noticed the devices (which in many cases had been up for weeks) and called the police setting of a chain of events that would cause panic to spread across the city and the country.

The interesting thing is, this event not only generated a lot of free publicity for Time Warner but were a godsend for political officials who were thirsty for something to bring them out into the limelight again. The worse offenders are Mayor Thomas Menino and Former Governor and Presidential Bid Candidate Mitt Romney. Both swear they will bring the “guilty” parties to justice and will find any means possible to punish Time Warner for its malfeasance. They are actually LOOKING for ways to punish the marketers responsible for these devices instead of looking at the larger issues.

Consider this. The devices were up for weeks. Nobody noticed them. After the first devices were found, it took a whole day to find all of them and then find out who was responsible. Had this been a real threat what would have become of the city of Boston, the other affected cities and their residents? The inability to quickly get the facts and identify the responsible parties show that we are no safer than we were before, and yet we are actually more scared as a society than we were before.

While the world has changed post-911, this event just illustrates the fear that we live in and how we perpetuate the ideals of those who wish to harm us and make us week as a result of our fear. The “innocent” media as well as the brave heroes, Romney and Menino were quick to admonish the big corporate bad guys responsible who “should have known better” instead of thinking about what could have been. What kind of world are we living in?

The truth is that the media and the spotlight hungry politicians are responsible for causing the scare. Our homegrown terrorists are the sensationalist journalists and politicians who cause the widespread panic and paranoia. Had they done their research first, gotten all the facts and waited to act responsibly to the public, this would not have been the huge story it was. And that’s what it is. It’s a story. A story for the media to report on. A story to cast the limelight on the political figures who have the public’s best interest at heart.

I for one am not scared. We live in a great country and I am proud to say I am an American. I’m just not proud of how we as a whole are becoming our own worst enemies. We spend our time pointing fingers and casting blame instead of coming up with solutions…after all it’s easier right? Perhaps we watch the news on tv or read the news paper to be scared and to be depressed. It’s not like there is anything good to report on is there? If it wasn’t bad we probably wouldn’t watch anyway.

CNN Article on The Terror Scare