Someone set us up the bomb!

[xela]

Or so the Boston Police claim. In reality they set themselves up to look like idiots. But rather than take a deep breath, square their shoulders like adults and admit to overreacting to something perfectly innocuous, they're going to continue to strut around blame the people behind the ad campaign for it. Indeed, WBZ is already reporting they've arrested someone.

Security theater, meet theater of the absurd.

Yes, there is a real risk of terrorist attacks in the United States. Quick, which is more likely to be a terrorist bomb: some conspicuously strange object, or some everyday object?

The administration has spent the last five years telling us to be frightened, and convincing us that taking our shoes off at the airport and generally behaving like sheep is going to make us safe. So now we are a nation of paranoids. I am increasingly embarrassed to be an American.

Oh say does that star spangled banner yet cringe
o'er the land of the cowed and the home of the scared?

Comments

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

The Beeb have the story too, and a link to a video of the Boston Police blowing up one of the devices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6319211.stm

It's funny and absurd, but I think the reaction would have been the same in the UK. Small electronic devices can be used to trigger bombs. When I was on holiday on New Years Eve we heard of Terrorist bombs in Bangkok and I was glad I'd sent an itinerary to my parents, so they'd know I was in a sleepy village in Laos for New Year and not Bangkok - they'd have been worried sick! (As it turns out, they'd not heard of the incident, probably just as well or they'd have fretted.)

Maybe in the UK it would have been more "run of the mill". When I worked in Central London it was fairly common for tube stations to be closed for reasons never specified but including the removal of suspect packages. It was one of the reasons I thought it wouldn't be so bad to leave the capitol, the regular disruption and strikes on the tubes was very tedious, but even Oxford and Liverpool would and do shut down whole streets for bomb scares fairly regularly. This has been normal for decades thanks to the IRA. (Humph.) Most Brits grump about the inconvenience but otherwise continue as normal.

Which makes it sound as if the UK is constantly in some kind of bomb scare frenzy! This is so untrue, but I don't think we have a terror alert level setting - people would take the piss out of it.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Good grief! I take it all back... I've just seen the footage on the evening news.
The sight of a po-faced and serious government official holding up an illuminated cartoon character, "we think it might be terrorists."

My housemate and I were both helpless with laughter. S'not often you see something so hilarious on the international news.

Snork!

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I had this whole elaborate no, really, this is totally absurd; British police are just not this dumb reply going when you sent this... So now Boston is officially an international laughingstock.