Boston thinks it's big time

It's so terribly embarrasing.

Last night when I returned home from my night out with the girls, the babysitter and her father were sitting on my couch with big grins on their faces watching the Fox 25 news.

Big doings in Boston today. There was a big bomb scare. We're very important you know. The whole world would like to bomb Boston. Just think of the damage they could do in this major metropolitan city. All the history would be ruined you know.

It turns out, Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, intiated a guerrilla marketing scheme 2 weeks ago posting a number of magnetic light boards on various popular Boston sites. Each light board sported the outline of a character from the Cartoon Network show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A Mooninite.

OK. So someone called in and said they saw a suspicious device on a city bridge. Yes, red lights go off. So they arrived at the scene, gingerly picked the device off the bridge, and then (while still on the bridge) shot it with a water cannon. So much for keeping the bridge safe. One would think that a bomb squad looking at the remains of this poor mooninite light board would be able to discern that it probably wasn't a bomb. But no! Instead, the terrorism force in Boston starts running around like madmen looking for others. Destroying some until one was moved to a location out of the direct sunlight and a younger officer recognized that the lights formed this cartoon character. That was about noon. Meanwhile, the subway was closed, hiways were closed , and some hysteria had descended on Boston. But even after police discovered and reported to the mayor that this might be a hoax, the mayor still held on to his belief that ever-important Boston was possibly under attack.

By 5 PM, they had finally gotten word from Turner that this was a marketing scheme and they admitted to the public that they could all relax. But they still arrested the two young men responsible for sticking these magnetic light boards onto metal surfaces around town.

They want to sue Turner.

They are bragging about their ability to handle a terrorist situation.

OK. So let's take a look at this objectively.

1) It took you 2 weeks to discover these signs. Very observant.
2) These signs are up in some 10 other cities in the US. No one in these cities is running around crying "the sky is falling."
3) If someone wanted to use inocuous magnetic light boards as bomb devices, wouldn't they want to bomb where they could do more damage? Say NYC? DC? LA?

Boston, you are not a big city. Stop trying to look like one.

And let these guys out of prison. They were just trying to get a paycheck. If you want to embarras yourself by sueing Turner. Go ahead. Luckily I don't pay taxes in Boston, so it won't be my problem. But I'm warning you. You will come off looking silly.