The Sporadic Curmudgeon

Fearless Leader really outdid himself this week. According to him, being abandoned on the battlefield by our staunchest ally in the War On Terra™ is actually a sign that things are going well.

I suppose that the British pullout happening just as BushCo is trying to toss even more soldiers’ lives on the Iraqi barbie makes it very, very good.

Doubleplusgood, really.

rain tapping on glass
ugly morse code instructions
oh no, not again

CNN is reporting that the two poor saps who were hired to put up the Aqua Teen Hunger Force promotions in Boston have plead not guilty to hoax charges.

I have a novel idea! Let’s look at this logically!

Point the First: It was not a “bomb hoax.” The people involved were planting electronic signs promoting a movie. Had they intended to trick people into believing that the signs were actually terrorist devices, the signs would have looked more like real bombs, with fake plastic explosive and red LED countdown timers. These things looked like Lite-Brites. There was no intent to mislead, therefore there was no hoax.

Point the Second: The Aqua Teen Hunger Force signs were put up in a total of ten cities, and had been in place for two or three weeks. In no other city did anyone believe that these devices were bombs, and apparently no one that saw them in Boston for the time period before the municipal freak-out did either. Thousands of people saw the signs for an extended time, and did not perceive them as a threat, therefore a reasonable person would dismiss them as exactly what they were, an illuminated advertisement.

Point the Third: Boston’s attempt to force the advertisers to pay for the city’s overreaction to the advertisements is absurd. If no one in other cities believed they were bombs, then the person or persons who jumped to the conclusion that the ads were bombs (or pretended to for political gain) was an aberration. The costs for the panic are the direct result of a deluded (or fraudulent) person phoning in a bomb report and the city crapping its proverbial pants, not the actions of the advertiser.

Is the creator of an artwork responsible for an isolated, aberrant interpretation of that artwork? Of course not, as the courts have consistently ruled since Charles Manson had acid dreams about a Beatles song. Therefore, the advertisers are not liable for the costs, Boston is. Municipal embarrassment and a desire to shift the blame do not entitle Boston to damages.

Point the Final: Boston politicians are apparently either clueless nitwits or amoral opportunists exploiting the public’s fear. Take your pick. However you slice it, they’re Prime Grade-A asshats.