01 February 2007

BOOOOOOO! (vile, vile, vile)

Tonight, Boston is giving up a collective middle finger to Turner Broadcasting System after learning today’s “suspicious device” scare and its ensuing clusterfuck were all the result of a boneheaded publicity stunt for some late-night cartoon.

My initial reaction: “How far does one’s head have to be up one’s ass to not get how horrible a stunt this is.” But then I realized: “Of course they get it.” Up until now, the only people who’d ever heard of this particular cartoon were 40-year-old men who live with their parents. Now, everyone has heard of this cartoon whose name I won’t deign to mention. For TBS, it’s clear that any publicity is good publicity even when it’s despicable. I’ve gotten in trouble for posting flyers on telephone poles in the city without a permit. For TBS, the fines involved in doing something like this without a permit were a non-issue. They have buckets of cash and zero conscience. They knew exactly what they were doing.

The worst part is their “official apology” accepts zero responsibility but instead seems to place blame on Boston for overreacting.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.

What? How could any rational person living in the world as it is today NOT be wary of blinking electronic devices with wires and battery packs jutting out every which way? These things were planted between an Orange Line station and I-93, embedded in the underpinnings of the Longfellow and BU bridges, inside N.E. Medical Center and within six other densely-populated areas around the city that would qualify as “soft targets.” This city is not comprised of 40-year-old men who live with their parents. It’s the city where two of the 9/11 planes originated.

Unfortunately, our city was the real loser today. Because of TBS’s greed, we wasted millions of dollars, diverted the police away from real crimes and emergency responders away from real emergencies. Traffic was snarled for hours, commuters lost time, and businesses lost cash. I’m sure more personal horror stories will surface in a few days. But all told, this waste-of-a-day put the city on edge and in a collective bad mood. And we all know that bad moods are contagious. Even worse, the next time someone spots a suspicious device near the Zakim Bridge, they will be less apt to report it.

7 comments:

BAGS said...

So Annie, how was your Wednesday?

Anonymous said...

Well said Kate, as usual.

Anonymous said...

The real victim here is me... I don't know what's worse, finding out I'm a 40 year old man that lives with my parents or finding out that I'm married to a 40 year man old who lives with her parents.

I'm not sure as I haven't been keeping score lately, does this mean the terrorists have won or is it 30-love?

Anonymous said...

'cuz we are the Aquateens make the homies say HO and the girlies wanna scream!

KJ said...

WMD, my apologies to you and Peete. I had nooo idea you were avid viewers of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Had I known that, my perspective would've been different. The intention of this post was to vent about the yesterday's insanity, not inadvertently lump my friends into crappy stereotypes. But you know that..right?

Anonymous said...

Of course KJ. No worries or offense taken. A very bad play by TBS indeed.

Out of fairness to LPD, I was a fan and she's watched it several times and chuckled at a Jersey character named Carl . The novelty soon wore off for her.

Meeatwad make the money see, Meatwad get the honeys, G!

KJ said...

Heh heh. Now tell me more about this Meatwad feller.