Where were you when you heard Boston was under attack?
By adamg - 1/31/12 - 10:37 am
Yes, it was five years ago today, and the governor was on TV telling us "there is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons for us to be vigilant."
Comments
Hehehehehe...
Ah, I remember it well. The day the rest of the country found out what it usually takes someone a frustrating year or two in the Hub to discover: That Boston's pearl-clutching tightasses won't tolerate fun of any kind.
Amazing what it takes to wake up the City That Always Sleeps.
Or
Just how useless the security theater ramp up after 9/11 really is. The apparent, and belittling CYA of our politicians, and the horrible, inflammatory state of our local and national media.
Honestly, it was a day that makes you embarrassed at the institutions that we used to hold as the best in the world.
Yes...
that's exactly how the rest of the country saw it.
Boston...
It absolutely amazes me how incredibly blockheaded and truly stupid some of you people are. Did the city overreact to this absolutely asinine publicity stunt? Perhaps. But do I blame them? Not at all. I would expect that same reaction in the future...IF a similar situation occurs.
What I would hope has happened is the idiots behind this ridiculous campaign were fined and made to repay the City of Boston for all the manpower used that day. All it would have taken was a couple of phone calls and a few letters. But "playing by the rules" is SO against some peoples tender sensibilities.
Most of the posters here totally disgust me.
Disgust is kind of a harsh word
In any case, yes, the people behind the campaign paid $2 million to Boston and a couple of other nearby jurisdictions for their trouble.
It always amazes me how brave and fearless...
...anonymous posters are when it comes to trashing other people.
Anonymous posters of this sort disgust me.
Case meet Control
Several cities encountered mooninites.
Only one of those cities reacted so extremely.
Guess which city that was?
Not to revive a dead thread
but I never heard of the mooninites before this event, and would not have been able to quickly determine that a little improvised-looking device with some wires and a battery, under a bridge, giving me the finger, was harmless. But of course I'm not in the public safety field. Is every cop and fireman in the city trained to immediately be able to assess whether something fishy is in fact nothing to be afraid of, like that dude in The Hurt Locker? I don't know. But as exaggerated as the city's reaction was, or seemed to be, (what did it take, like three hours before the truth was out?), I still find the disgust and outrage of the mostly-Monday-morning commenterati to be similarly hyperbolic. After all, nobody got tazed or anything that day.
Mooninite Roll Call
Cities that didn't panic and shut down:
Philadelphia
Baltimore
San Francisco
Seattle
New York City
Cities that freaked out:
Boston
Something about this says that the way Boston officials responded was out of the ordinary and inconsistent with their peers in other locations, who should have been similarly trained.
Some of these cities even considered the lite brites to be suspicious devices - they simply dispatched them without so much fanfare, grandstanding, and angst.
Recall, as well, that Boston blew up a traffic counting device a few weeks later - one that had been placed with the knowledge of several different government entities. That level of failure to coordinate between organizations was worrysome.
Adam: "Where were you when you heard Boston was under attack?"
I'm sorry, but that's not a hair question.
Never forget..
I didn't know I was pregnant yet :)
But I bought the T-Shirts (and I'm wearing one right now in commemoration).
Cowering under my desk, of course!
I was horrified that that THING that had been there for weeks HAD WIRES AND BATTERIES!
Sinister. So very sinister! BE VERY AFRAID!
Then I realized that this was something I could grandstand on - build my reputation as an ANTI TERRORIST for a Senate run! Then, all I would need was for my prayers for Teddy to kick the bucket to be answered ...
Still waiting
I had my say five years ago, but I'm still waiting for the cops and mayor to say what bozos they were.
The Globe trembles in fear
Only Globe reference to the incident, courtesy of "This Day In History:" In 2007, nine blinking electronic devices planted around Boston threw a scare into the city in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon.
Oh, what late-night cable cartoon would that be? And wasn't it for that late-night cable cartoon's upcoming film? Never mind those trivial details, we know you have more important matters to deal with, like Megadeth and Motorhead rocking Lowell, your countdown of the top sexy movies of all time and Bill Brett's photos of pasty, stuffy debutantes.
Only Globe reference to the
Couldn't be better said!
Did sOmeOne sAy BiLl bReTT?
PaRRRtYyyyyy TiMMMMMMMeeeeee!
WoOoOOOO!
BB is mY fAvE boStOn.CoM ParrRRRTyY BooOi~!
TiMe to go WrItteee a neW PoSt for TnGG!
<3
Absurd incident
That was one of the single most absurd incidents in this city's recent history. Those devices had been up for over a week before anyone decided they were a terrorist threat. I walked past one every day myself on my way to work in the Fort Point area. Not to mention, terrorists notoriously lack a sense of humor and seldom adorn their destructive devices with little cartoon characters. This is what we have come to. A city (and a nation) continuously jumping at shadows that simply aren't there. Umbrellas that are taken for guns. A shopping bag inadvertently left by a harried commuter at a T stop that magically becomes a bomb and shuts down everything for hours. A babbling homeless man dressed in black stumbles into a building on Huntington Avenue and the bomb squad is called instead of someone telling him to get lost. When did all common sense abandon us? I know I have posted similar to this before, but it bears repeating.
you never know...
trapped in an orange line car for over an hour
...standing, squeezed on every side by several hundred of my closest friends who at each station we'd stopped at previously, decided to push themselves into the train. We spent about 10 minutes at each station, and then finally stopped, for almost an hour, between stations.
I had trouble reaching my phone to call my boss, we were so tightly packed in.
I'm glad you all think it was super cute and funny and harmless.
Are you sure it was that day?
That sounds like an average slightly rainy day in May to me
You're Welcome
Don't blame the Mooniniters, though.
Other cities found these and managed to dispose of them without massive city disruption fail.
Boston went on to blow up a traffic counter and have a conniption over play dough.
Remember this?
Also
A revealing interview about our local keystone cops security theater:
http://boingboing.net/2008/09/22/star-simpson-one-yea.html
Star Simpson
Judging by her blog a rather charming and inquisitive (albeit quirky) young woman:
http://starburst.hackerfriendly.com/
Star is a star!
She's an amazing young woman. Many people would have become cynical after a travesty like that, but Star persevered and continues to lead a life of profound optimism, engagement and creativity.
And luckily for us, she didn't let it sour her on Boston either. Although she's in Taiwan for a few months, she still counts Boston as one of her homes, and has a large community of friends here.
You judge correctly
She is a lovely and brilliant young woman in person as well.