A heartfelt apology and detailed explanation for my Boston faux-bomb wig-out yesterday.

[WilliamPitt]

This is a long-ass post. Back out now if you aren't up for a pile of words.

The important part first:

I flipped over the "bomb threats" in my city yesterday, posted a half-dozen deranged and ill-constructed threads, and proceeded to be rude and obnoxious to a lot of people who posted replies. I'm truly sorry I did that; when I was writing that stuff, I was whacked on adrenaline, 100% in emotional-reaction mode, didn't make any kind of coherent explanations for my feelings, and lashed out like an ass.

When I finally got wise and fled the keyboard, I blazed out to my bar intending to get galactically shithoused...ah yes, the self-destructive reaction. I wound up, however, nursing a single pint in the corner of the bar for hours (mmmm, warm IPA), listening to the sound of the tension-knots in my back unfurl themselves, coping with the jitters that come after an eruption of adrenaline, and wondering just exactly what in God's name caused this whole absurdity to get so deeply under my skin.

I owe an explanation for my rudeness...and if I write it, I can lock it down in my mind. This is long, and I apologize for that as well. In (hopefully) some semblance of order:

===

1. What on this good Earth was I afraid of? Those silly Lite-Brite things? Hah!

But...

Most of you watched the TV footage and read the stories in the press, and saw those silly-assed Lite-Brite things with the middle finger up. That was enough to freak me out? I might as well stay in bed, right? Am I that easy to bulldoze? Maybe, but that wasn't the whole deal.

First of all, the media here in Boston didn't show any images of those goddam things for HOURS. All I heard was that three, then four, then six, then nine "packages" with wires and electronics had been found strapped to bridges, overpasses, hospitals and other spots (read: critical infrastructure, the stuff you take out when you really want to do damage) all across the city. One of them was a few blocks from my place, so I had the bomb-squad/fire trucks/cops party right under my nose.

If they had shown one picure in the media around here, just one, of these damned Lite-Brite things, I'd have felt immensely better. I see them now, hours later, and shake my head. They didn't show us, because the need-to-know school of public info disbursement is the rule with this stuff, which rots because a little info in this case would have eased a lot of tension. I offer this to explain the racheting-up of worry around my town, and within me. We didn't see a picture of the Lite-Brite thing for hours...

...and in that stretch of time (which felt for the world like those hours after the planes hit the buildings but everyone was waiting for the next shoe to drop), I entertained a whole galaxy of bad thoughts.

2. First impressions, as the newsfolk read off the locations where these things were being found (without showing pictures of them): if I really wanted to hit a city hard, I'd go for the infrastructure. Had those things been bombs, a main rail line across the river, two bridges, two main highways and a major hospital would have been cashiered. That means civilians can't get out, and aid can't get in. It's an old, effective tactic of war; the French Resistance guaranteed the success of the Normandy landing by blowing up roads and rail spurs the night before the landings, thus denying Nazi forces access for a counter-attack.

Hitting the WTC was an attack on our economic infrastructure. Hitting the Pentagon was an attack on our military infrastructure. Both symbolic, true, but also effective. Destroying the (actual or symbolic) infrastructure of a society paralyzes that society, and these things were attached to several important points of Boston's infrastructure...and yeah, I think about this stuff. It's as old as war itself.

So I saw that, sans Lite-Brite pic, and got very tense.

3. There's a weird dissonance in the thinking here on DU, and in the progressive/liberal arena in general, I ran headlong into it today, and that was part of why I flipped. Please bear with me, and I hope I do not offend in the process.

On the one hand...

One of the arguments I put forth in the anti-Iraq-invasion book I wrote in the summer of 2002, an argument that anyone with a functioning brain was making at the time, and is making now, is that our occupation of Iraq is manufacturing terrorists. "The greatest recruiting poster in history for al Qaeda" is a line I've written a thousand times, a line I have read times beyond count. So have you, I'm quite sure, because it is accurate and sensible.

A ten year old girl in Baghdad gets blown sideways out of her kitchen by a bomb, a mother gets blasted in an air-raid in Falluja, a father has menstrual blood smeared on his face in a cement cage in Abu Ghraib by leering US troops looking to humiliate his faith, a son gets dropped by a US sniper in Baquaba...and the families of those slain people are going to pick up a gun and volunteer so they can die to kill. That's the Iraq civil war in brief, augmented by thirty years of US-sponsored sectarian oppression. The "foreign fighters" and "Iranian agents" we hear about are a dot compared to the simple power of revenge, despair and woe we have unleashed.

This idea that we are creating terrorists by killing civilians in Iraq is pretty much axiomatic by now, proven in blood by the bombings in London, perpetrated by people seeking their pound of flesh from a member of the "Coalition of the Willing" that perpetrated the invasion and occupation. We're creating that which this "War on Terra" ostensibly seeks to destroy, and London was the first instance where our creations left the nest.

But on the other hand...

We all have great sport on DU dogging the astonishingly ham-fisted fear-tactics deployed by the keepers of the color chart in DC. Deservedly so. You know the litany by heart:

The Brooklyn Bridge is going to be bombed, the Statue of Liberty is going to be bombed, dirty bombs and exploding shoes, your hair gel is a threat to this airplane, line up, shut up, watch what you say, break out the plastic sheeting and duct tape, the proof might be a mushroom cloud, uranium from Niger, mobile bioweapons labs, Powell is an honorable man, fight them there so we don't have to fight them here, but oh yeah, please go shopping...

When DU started, it was meant pretty much to be an organizing spot to counteract the outrageous Bush v. Gore decision that started this whole mess. After 9/11, however, it became so much more (for me, anyway). It became a sanity-preserver, and a gold-plated bullshit detector. We watched the country fall into a years-long swoon, a protective crouch, we watched the manipulations and the lies and the terror-warnings blasted out to change the political subject.

We held each other together, day after day, and at least in this small space, we made sure that everyone on DU knew that Oceania has not always been at war with Eurasia. Seeing through lies is power, and though we were surrounded by lying media and crooked leaders, though we felt powerless, we were strengthened by our ability to cut through the fog.

Thus, the dissonance...

We argue, on the one hand, that the Iraq occupation is manufacturing terrorists, and that this process is a dire threat to our national security.

But at the same time, the cynicism that has been ground into us makes us slap aside and catcall pretty much any and all "terror warnings" that come down the pike.

We are absolutely right about the former, and absolutely right about the latter. But these two things cannot exist together.

The terrorists we're manufacturing aren't going to the beach, or going camping at the local KOA. If we believe that Iraq is creating terrorists, that means they are out there somewhere. That means, in the long view, that sooner or later those terrorists we have manufactured will get themselves here. That means, wretchedly, one of these days, a terror warning isn't going to be fear-mongering crap. It's nice to win debates against pro-war nitwits with the former argument, and it is empowering to strive past the fear-shround with the latter argument...but the two won't stay in separate corners forever.

In 2002, a reporter asked the governor of New Jersey what "Red Alert," a new thing for us, would actually look like on the streets and in the towns of America. The governor replied succinctly: it means you stay in your home, you don't go outside, and if you do, you'll be considered an enemy combatant. The simple phrase for what the governor described is "martial law."

On top of all the other reasons I was against the invasion, this was the most important. If we invade, I argued, we will plant ice and harvest wind. The fact that it hasn't happened yet is remarkable (and is a testament to the tactical minds involved, who are patient enough to let us wreck our standing in the world all by ourselves, who haven't attacked again because they want no sympathy to rise again for us), but it won't last.

So.

Is thinking like this fear-mongering? Is it being a sucker? Or is it playing the tape to the end?

If we believe in that terrorism-manufacturing argument, then the ultimate conclusion is clear. You can't argue that we are put in danger by the Bushies because they are creating terrorists, and then comprehensively disdain the idea that those terrorists we create might actually attack.

My greatest fear for years has been that one of these goddam warnings won't be crap, that the chickens will come home to roost. And that's the rub, the thing that lit me up yesterday. We had, today in Boston, a dry run for the last day of Constitutional law in America.

Spool out the scenario that looms over us all, because we accept the terror-manufacturing point: nine real live explosions hit the critical infrastructure in a major city, and we're nationally at Red Alert. That's martial law, the absolute suspension of habeas corpus, the absolute suspension of posse commitatus, troops in the streets, the Founding Documents stuffed into a file folder along with all the rights and protections attached, and God only knows if and when we'd ever see them again.

That's what scared me today.

1. All I heard for hours was reports of nine "packages" strapped to critical infrastructure in my city, packages that had wires and electronics inside according to the limited reports, and I didn't see the actual things until much later;

2. While I have correctly joined in the disdain and outrage for all the fake-ass "terra" warnings we have been subjected to for the sake of political expedience, I have also fought to convince people that we are creating terrorism with our Iraq occupation, and that puts us in danger. If we aren't worried, why did the ports thing wig us out so much? It is my dissonance, too.

3. My greatest fear, since this all started, has been the day when something else blows up here, the day when the curtain comes down on our republic, the day when "Red Alert" supplants the Constitution. I cannot make the argument that Iraq endangers us all without enduring the dread borne from my absolute belief in the correctness of that premise.

4. I went through several hours today wondering if today was that day I had been dreading. I've written about it, spoken about it and worried about it since the summer of 2002, and for a time today, I thought it was upon us. I had no data to contradict that fear, because the damned Lite-Bright pics didn't pop for hours. All I saw was an attack scenario elegant in its simplicity: hit the infrastructure, paralyze the city, and watch the chaos. My adrenaline kicked, and I was off to the races.

So yeah, I feel dumb, and I acted like a jerk, and while I'm glad to have a full-fear reaction in my file of life experiences for the wisdom it provided, I'm going to make sure it was a one-time thing.

But I also don't want to forget the other stuff, or push it away because it is awful to contemplate. A sucker falls for the fear, but a sucker also whistles past the graveyard. I have been yelling about the threat to us all posed by this Iraq occupation for years. I believe that threat is absolutely real. I'd be a damnable hypocrite if I'd been saying these things only to frighten, only to win elections. I'd be that which I despise and oppose.

It's real, and in my town today, I endured a dry run through the harvest of what Bush has sown. It was nonsense, and the Lite-Brite thing is silly...but damn if I don't welcome, just a little bit, this feeling of foolishness. It beats the tar out of the alternative, and I can tell you that with total honesty, because I watched the shadow of that alternative do its thing a few blocks from my home.

The dissonance I describe weakens us. We must live without fear, but we must also steel ourselves for the consequences of the actions of these fools. Chicken Littles can go to Hell, but it takes a special kind of blinders to ignore the table that has been set for us.

Sorry I wrote so much, and again, I'm sorry for my behavior.

One last thought, however, specifically for those having a ball with the Lite-Brite things.

Put on, for a moment, your most clever thinking-cap, and think about one ubiquitous thing in America. It's everywhere, so obnoxious and widespread that you don't even see it anymore. You glass your eyes past it, your awareness bounces off it, but it is all around you, especially so if you live in a city.

That ubiquitous thing?

Advertisements. Billboards. Blinking shit to draw your eye. Signs, signs, everywhere signs. You've been swimming through it your whole life, and can ignore it at will now. It's invisible, but all over the place, both there and not there.

If I was a clever bastard, how would I disguise a bunch of bombs?

Packages? Bags? Suitcases? Boxes? Those things make people nervous now, especially if they're just sitting unattended in the middle of a public space. They get seen, they draw attention.

But a clever little advertisement is something you've seen a billion times, and completely ignored.

Those goddam Lite-Brite things were strapped to bridges and highways for weeks, in ten cities, and it wasn't until yesterday that they got noticed. They were there but not there, right in front of people but invisible, hiding in plain sight.

And to any Boston bomb-squad sergeant, that little black block underneath the lights looks way the hell too much like a nifty little brick of C-4 for comfort...with wires attached...strapped to critical infrastructure. They don't have the luxury of taking shit like this lightly.

Yeah, I think like this. Thank God the bomb-squad guys do, too. Seeing those Lite-Brite things might make you laugh at the absurdity of it all...but they hid right in front of the citizens of ten cities for a long time. Food for thought, and thanks for slogging through all this.

[Bonobo]

1. For my part, I accept your apology. Please read the rest though.

This dissonance that you speak of... you must understand that it runs deep through other issues as well.
9/11 for example...

We KNOW we weren't told the whole truth and yet some of us who fancy ourselves to be realists CAN'T accept conspiracy theories either.
AND YET...something about 9/11 smelled very very bad...and it wasn't JUST the stink of OBL on it.

Please bear with me:
I AM a realist. I believe in science, in evidence, in rationalism. BUT I was blown out of the water on 9/11. I deeply need to understand what happened and am still searching. I need to talk, to discuss, to hear opinions.

But what I do NOT need is to be belittled by anyone for that search.

That is why I am hurt and offended by the existence of the 9/11 forum that alienates so many of those searching (albeit misguidedly in many cases) for answers.

That is why I was hurt by your light-hearted teasing of the 9-II sign. I wish you could extend some of your sympathy and apologies to those that you hurt with that one too. It's all part of the same thing, my friend. We're all looking for answers and trying to deal. We know we have been lied to over and over and our equilibrium is...well, fucked.

So I, for one, would appreciate having you as an ally, rather than an adversary in this search for understanding.
It is the inner turmoil I feel in relation to this issue that makes me feel what you are saying with this post and I hope the feeling can be receiprocated.

Sorry I'm not the writer that you are... I hope you know what I'm trying to say, Will.

[WilliamPitt]

2. I apologize if I hurt feelings, but...

...my remarks weren't light-hearted.

How this played out: I was watching the protest with my girlfriend, and saw the sign rise behind the speakers. Good on that person, I thought, to get it before the TV camera...and then I saw the II's. I was legitimately ticked, and I felt that stuff like that makes it hard to get anywhere. If you believe in a cause, spell the sign right.

But I am sorry if I offended.

[malaise]

19. Will you have long earned the respect

of DUers. Only big men apologize. Still if I were in Boston I too may have reacted the way you did. Bushco has terrorized everyone if the skeptics.

[Parche]

89. FEELINGS

I feel so hurt and angry, I cant put into words how I feel
This has made me so depressed, I have been offended, ridiculed
I dont know how to go on with all of this over my head..........



Just Kidding.............

You are DA-BOMB Will Pitt...............oops.....poor choice of words....

[Tim Howells]

41. Please wise up about 911 and false-flag ops

There is no way to avoid this - Here's a place to start:

"How our governments use terrorism to control us"
http://www.onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_277.shtml

Are ALL terrorist ops false-flag? Probably not.
Do people really get killed by false-flag terrorism? Definitely yes.
But the only way out of your confused state is to understand
exactly how you are being manipulated.

Tim Howells

[ShortnFiery]

51. Well put. :-)

:applause:

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I didn't blame you at all, Will

I didn't see all your threads. But the ones I did read made it clear that it was a frightening experience and I can't blame you for freaking out.

I just saw on TV they are calling it 'gorilla advertising'. Sounds pretty nutty to me.

[liberalnurse]

4. I think that way too.

I totally understand. It's the passion in our souls.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Just to correct one thing

"This idea that we are creating terrorists by killing civilians in Iraq is pretty much axiomatic by now, proven in blood by the bombings in London, bombings that were perpetrated by Iraqis who were looking to get their pound of flesh from a member of the "Coalition of the Willing" that perpetrated the invasion and occupation. We're creating that which this "War on Terra" ostensibly seeks to destroy, and London was the first instance where our creations left the nest."

Unless it's bad grammar on your part (and I wouldn't expect that), that's incorrect. The London bombings were by British citizens, 3 born in Britain (and of Pakistani descent), and one who moved from the West Indies to Britain at about the age of 1. At least one did say he saw Iraq as as example of why his bomb was justified, but he wasn't Iraqi.

The rest I'm still reading. If nothing else, it's a good illustration of how people can get swept up in the coverage, when what we see can be far from a complete story. A lesson for us all, even if we can withstand that ourselves.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Hm.

Thanks for that. I guess I missed the updates.

[calimary]

6. My friend, you are hardly the only long-winded one here! ;)

Appreciate your apologies, but since you were living in what at least a "few" out there feared was the next Ground Zero, it's understandable. I'd get pretty unwigged, myself.

And your point is VERY well-taken: HOW long did these things "hide in plain sight" before they finally made somebody's eyebrows go up? I hate the "what-if's" but it's come to that, I'm afraid.

You're ALWAYS a good read, Will. Whether there's a mea culpa in there or not.

:hi:

[magellan]

8. I wasn't here for your flipping out

...but in your position I would have done the same. It's easy to disconnect and analyze these events when they aren't taking place right outside our own front windows. For example, hubby and I saw them blowing up the first of these lite-brite thingies on the bridge yesterday morning when they still didn't know what they were, except that they had wires and what looked like computer circuit boards.

Then we went to bed, and when we got up yesterday evening the whole thing had been revealed to be what it is. (I hasten to add that even having seen the amusing little creations later on, I think sending the bomb squad in was the right thing to do. Better safe than sorry.)

We laughed at the absurdity of it. But as I posted in another thread, part of the absurdity is the very serious problem exposed by this incident: that it took two weeks for these lite-brite thingies to gain official interest in the form of a bomb squad. IOW a deadly hole in our security exists if anybody can do this in several places around a major city and draw no attention. If they'd really been bombs....

Yeah, I'd have been worried too. Terrorists DO exist; Bush** is busy ensuring that. And quite honestly, I'm very (happily) surprised they haven't tried low-tech bombings like this yet. Anyway, they've just been shown how easy it would be, if they don't already know. :(

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. I, in turn, am sorry for insulting you and the city of Boston.

Although I still feel this is less likely to happen in a city that is tolerant of economic diversity, no thanks to former Governor Mitt Romney and his destruction of affordable housing while they spent massive amounts of money on a highway (and didn't even connect the two msain rail stations -- great planning for post-petroleum economy...) In essence, the path our cities are going in, towards ultra-elite havens for the Eloi, is unsustainable and must be stopped. My city has a similar problem.

The lack of fear most of us have that a terror attack of this sort would be inflicted on outlying, poor neighborhoods, is evidence that economics, and attendant physical displacement of classes and ethnicities, both in the US and in places like Palestine and Baghdad, is at the root of all threats of violence in our society. Political and religious difference are just an excuse. The problem is that the people waging economic warfare are doing so unashamedly, and the victims of economic warfare will seek other outlets. Then we are taught to hate each other, justifying atrocities. Then we're taught to merely fear each other, justifying a return to normalcy in which the economic warfare goes on unabated while the population is mobilized to battle unseen enemies.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Your analysis of Boston's economics skips a big chapter.

Simply, the arrival and economic impact of 750,000+ students in the city every September.

This is a grand example of a wonderful thing having rotten consequences. One of the things about Boston treasured by those who live here is the schools; Harvard, Yale, MIT, BC, BU, Simmons, UMass, Northeastern, MassArt, The Museum School, Berklee, Suffolk, the excellent medical schools, the excellent law schools, nursing schools, etc. Boston is a bastion of higher education.

Are some of these places merely stepping stones for the children of old money? Sure. But the sheer volume of scholarship that takes place here is astounding, and inestimably valuable.

But these students, in Allston and Brookline and Brighton and Cambridge and Somerville and Medford and right downtown by me, live in off-campus apartments. Greedhead real estate combines charge astoundingly high rent, which the families of these students pay. Thus, rental apartment properties are worth their weight in gold, their value vastly inflated, and this inflates rent and property prices all over the city.

Property is the bedrock of economics, and in Boston, a lot of people are getting priced out of the city. The students are the cause of this. It was happening before Mitt, and will continue to happen, until Boston becomes a boutique city where only rich people and students can afford to live.

I love the students, but I'll never be able to afford a place in this town because of them. How do you solve that?

[ShortnFiery]

10. Simply Put: you, et. al., have allowed the terrorists to win.

I offered to take my neighbor's car to get gas in 2002 because, my buddy, like many others in this area, were frozen with fear that they would be shot by one of the D.C. snipers. Only the day before a woman was shot (fortunately she survived) less than 3 miles from our home.

Why did I not allow fear to paralyze me? Well, because there was about the same odds of me getting hit by lightening as being within the scope of one of these snipers. Even if I were that unfortunate, I refuse to live my life in fear.

Believe the following truism: I'm FAR FROM UNUSUAL when you are talking about the VAST MAJORITY of the rest of the WORLD minus our little "American Microcosm" ... so please excuse The World Community as they laugh their asses off at the chicken-shit American People today? We have been SPOILED before 9/11, but the rest of The World has lived with ongoing terrorists acts. And rest assured, 9/11 didn't change anybody but AMERICANS - brought us into reality but fired-up irrational fears that our leaders just love to tread - pander their hate within.

In 1964, I was attending The America's School in Singapore. My dad was a U.S. engineer contractor and a significant number of them, both Brit and U.S. were kept in living compounds. Three miles up the road from our school, some "communists" raided the local school, killed three teachers, cut off their heads and posted them a al "Apocalypse Now" style. My older brother kidnapped a Taxi driver (threat of death) to come and bring me (6 y.o.) back to the safety of our compound where we lived under Martial Law for six weeks.

HELLO FELLOW AMERICANS! Welcome to the REAL world of terrorism all around us, yet other peoples of the world can still go on - not with resignation - but with the calm resolve that those who wish for us to OVER REACT will be sorely disappointed. Why? Mostly, because the majority of police/authorities of other peaceful nations outside of AMERICA - have a clue NOT to terrorize their own populace without a DAMN GOOD REASON. :(

Shame on Boston's Mayor who reacted to his emotions of embarrassment and shame by lashing out at the part time employees who were directed to put up the lite-brite cartoon characters.

The whole world now knows that, it's not the French NOW that is the nation filled with throngs of wild-eyed SURRENDER MONKEYS, it's the incompetent police spreading fear to the all too willing masses of "wired for fear" Americans.

Please folks, instead of trying to justify your fear by lashing out at the cartoon promoters, place blame where it belongs, with the over reacting authorities? Dear Leader is smiling today and has always supported any fear mongering that serves to keep our entire nation paralyzed with fear and loathing for ANY "OTHER."

Fear that makes us DEFEND the INDEFENSIBLE, i.e., the incompetent authorities.

I'm ashamed of my government officials, not the 27 year old starving artist who placed many of these A WEEK AGO, nor the companies that represent the Cartoon Network.

One final question:
Do you HONESTLY think that *real terrorists* would have bombs hanging from bridges with blinking lights? :wtf: over!

Yes Boston, your Mayor has surrendered - the terrorists have won. :thumbsdown:

Land of the FREAKED, home of the AFRAID.

[trumad]

11. Your rant inspired my thread

because when I read about it I thought---wow, this is kind of stupid... not your rant---the original story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x96009

[ShortnFiery]

13. self-delete

Studying your thread, i.e., backing the truck up. :blush:

[ShortnFiery]

14. My apologies.

I must admit my error: Some folks here have me irk my sensitivities and I was "fast off of the mark" with you. I'm sorry. :hi:

Oh DAMN! I just made a mistake and admitted it. The horror!

Americans don't admit mistakes, do we? :blush:

[WilliamPitt]

15. Funny you say that

in an apology thread.

[ShortnFiery]

16. Yes, agreed.

If we couldn't laugh we'd all go insane.

Thank you Jimmy Buffet and God Bless Us EVERYONE! :toast: :-)

[trumad]

53. Sorry I missed what you posted....

[ShortnFiery]

57. Not important - my reading comprehension skills took a short vacation.

I misread first to believe that you were dis'ing me for *ranting* because I remember yesterday I read a post of yours that was sort of, um, angry.

My bust due to the "high emotional angst" of the situation - I thought to myself as I was typing a response, "Hey, maybe he has changed his mind, it's known to happen?" So, I stopped and read the full thread that you referenced.

So, like the first arriving officials to the lite-brites sightings, I went off half-cocked without doing an cursory review of the thread you mentioned. :blush:

No excuse but I was still irked by last night's exchange with Redstone. BTW and IMO Redstone a wonderful soul and a genius at "understatement." He made some valid points that pushed my buttons. :-)

In Conclusion, I first misunderstood you and I'm embarrassed.

I'm far too proud for my own good but not too arrogant to admit that I was wrong in this instance.

Have a good one Trumad.

And remember please ---> LIVE FREE OR DIE! :hi:

[meegbear]

17. You just reacted like all of us did who live in and around Boston ...

with the information given.

And cute little Lite-Brite things can blow up too; their cuteness being a way to lure people towards it.

[ShortnFiery]

18. "cuteness being a way to lure people towards it"

Doubtful. Very doubtful. But just in case maybe we should look under our beds tonight, just to be on the safe side? :(

Don't let the bastards beat you down. OMG! A box of pop tarts could be "a package."

Please, step away from the irrational fears, fellow American?

The TRUTH of this situation: the first responding authorities FAILED US by not completing a sound inquiry before calling in the bomb squad.

[meegbear]

20. So people should always trust unknown packages and devices ...

and never believe reports that a object found is a potential bomb?

[ShortnFiery]

22. No, but when someone reports such suspicious package(s),

I expect the officers on the scene do one SOUND inquiry before terrorizing their own populace.

What happened yesterday is that we terrorized ourselves.

No, Dear Leader, Homeland Security and our FBI had our populace in absolute TERROR for the first couple of years after 9/11 with Color Codes and Duct Tape. Further, there's little to NO scientific foundation why the airlines makes us discard our liquids because the plot was untenable to begin with.

Of course people should report suspicious packages, but before "clearing areas" and whipping up all kinds of fear, the people who WE PAY TO KNOW the difference are expected to do their damn jobs.

The fact that any office of 20 somethings KNOW the character is reflective of how clueless the "decision makers" in Boston are. I wonder how many of those low level officers told their mid managers, "I think that's a cartoon character?" It would not have then taken a genius to query the Media for a potential marketing campaign.

We should report but our officials should also be competent. Our officials FAILED US. Not the Bomb Squad, but the suits who, I bet had people who questioned the veracity of the threat, barged ahead and terrorized the Boston Populace without first checking "the basics."

[meegbear]

23. So if someone creates a nail bomb and places a Blossom image on it ...

that makes it safe because everybody knows Blossom is a PowerPuff girl? The issue here is just plain public safety. A device found on bridge girder can and should be questioned.

Just because the first one located wasn't a device doesn't mean subsequent ones wouldn't be.

[ShortnFiery]

25. They brought in "an terrorist expert" on CNN when multiple lite-brites

were found. He said, "The fact that all of these are bombs is highly suspect."

Face it, the decision makers in Boston did FAILED to conduct even a cursory inquiry of the outline of the cartoon character before terrorizing their own populace? That is UNSAT.

I am pushing 50, yet, this old broad suspected that this outline was a cartoon character. People who are paid to do investigative work are paid to know the area.

We can "what if" all we want but all this boils down to is the incompetence of an sound initial inquiry before Boston Officials terrorized their own city.

I guarantee you that the FIRST responding officers within other MAJOR cities where this promotion has been running for weeks - are not geniuses or psychics - but they conducted a sound first inquiry and "the issue" went no further.

Don't let the clear ineptness of our first on-scene officials make us feel obliged to defend the indefensible.

[meegbear]

31. Let me make sure I understand this ...

whenever a bomb squad, regardless of the city, is sent to investigate a report of a potential bomb, if they see an outline of what appears to be a cartoon character, they should immediately stop and try to determine what character it is and it's social implications before continuing and determining it's safe?

So the Blossom nail bomb is harmless.

[Ian David]

33. Anyone who has ever watched Batman, knows some of the bombs are very cute. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

38. No, like I mentioned earlier, several times, they are REQUIRED

to carry on an initial assessment. Every situation is different.

You always play the probabilities and nothing is "a given" but good field investigators are aware how to glean information from multiple sources.

Continue to throw up wrenches. However, know that I've lived in very dangerous areas of the world where being shot for just "being an American" is not unusual.

It's up to you, you can choose to live your life in FEAR and cling onto "Big Brother" authorities who may or may not keep you safe, or you can live your life AWARE but WITHOUT FEAR.

My God People, we are a million more times likely to die in a car accident or get cancer than for one of us to be killed by a terrorist's bomb.

If I can't convince you to please "get a grip" (not equivalent to being oblivious but resolved) then think about the millions within the world community who see AMERICANS as scared little children, pre-Hitler ... giving everything away to the authorities, just for one more shred of assurance that they will keep us safe.

Today AMERICANs are the surrender monkeys JOKE within the World Community - Many open nations are laughing their asses off at our cowardice. People of the World ... people, who every day leave their homes knowing that they might be killed by terrorists, but sure as shit don't depend on "their government" to save them.

[Zodiak]

21. Four things:

1. Mea culpas are the hallmark of a good person.

2. There is no such thing as 100% security.

3. Fear is the mind-killer. You must not give in to fear because
Bush wins and the terrorists win.

4. Do we remember when "gorilla advertising" was common and perceived as harmless?

[WilliamPitt]

24. Four replies

1. Mea culpas are the hallmark of a good person.

Thanks.

2. There is no such thing as 100% security.

Especially in an open society.

3. Fear is the mind-killer. You must not give in to fear because
Bush wins and the terrorists win.

Been saying that for years, and had a little lesson in the difference between saying and doing.

4. Do we remember when "gorilla advertising" was common and perceived as harmless?

It was.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

26. I'm not as good a writer as you are

but I understood why you were so frustrated yesterday, and why you had a right to be genuinely concerned. Like you, I thought that an advertisement, or something with an innocent cartoon picture on it, would be exactly what a terrorist would use as cover for a bomb.

I hadn't thought a lot about it, but it makes sense that we haven't been attacked by al Qaeda for a while simply because Bush is doing their work for them; he obeyed their command to get US troops out of Saudi Arabia and then proceeded to destroy, on a world scale, any credibility we had as an honorable nation. And honor means a lot to these guys. So why do something that may rouse the sympathy of the world when we still have an iota of credibility?

For me, you had nothing to apologize for. But I appreciate your overview of the situation, because it has made things clearer in my mind.

One last thought--why do people call this crude and obscene drawing a cartoon? Give me Popeye or Bugs Bunny anytime. Showing my age, I guess. :)

[ShortnFiery]

28. "would be exactly what a terrorist would use as cover for a bomb"

According to the experts, terrorists want the Biggest Bang for the Buck, therefore UN-NOTICEABLE is their goal. This is an unsound theory unless you are talking about a crazy assed cult. But as soon as the first one went off the city would be in lock down.

That would be one stupid terrorist plot. No, not for mass casualties. :(

[NashVegas]

27. Did You Ever See the Movie About the War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast?

It was a tv drama from the mid-70s, I think.

Utter panic was induced by Wells' little crew. They'd all be behind bars for that, today.

[Jacobin]

29. That dissonance here has bothered me for a long time

It seems absurd to think that there aren't muslims mad enough to want to attack us, considering what we've done to them. Yet many if not most on DU seem to think they love us all for our foreign policy and any suggestion that they would want to attack us is absurd.

Yet the over hyped fearmongering by the administration makes that obvious fact seem far fetched.

Another in a long line of things this administration has done to harm America.

Peace and I sympathize with your post

[ShortnFiery]

30. If (or when they do hit) it will not be with cartoons or small bombs

but a big operation like 9/11.

The only way to maximize our safety is to well train our investigators and NOT starting wars all over the world. :shrug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

36. Might depend on the "they"

We are all mesmerized with al Qaeda, but they aren't the only hate group in the world. I could see a home-grown neo Nazi cult decide to do something very much like this, in hopes that Muslims in general would be blamed (after all, the MSM is doing an excellent propaganda job saying Muslim=terrorist). And, sadly, after all the ruckus over this, some sort of copycat deal is bound to happen, I fear.

[WilliamPitt]

37. That's a dangerous assumption.

Imagine we attack Iran.

Tehran deploys a dozen special ops agents to cross either of our easily-crossed borders.

Each goes to a mall in the heartland - Duluth, Cleveland, Birmingham, Mizzoula, etc. - with a few hand grenades. Maybe 200 people are killed.

That kind of attack is all too possible, and far more damaging. Huge things like 9/11 are almost too massive to encompass. Ten malls getting blasted in small towns would cement the "nobody is safe" fear...and that's the ballgame.

Whistle past that graveyard at your peril.

[ShortnFiery]

44. Funny how you should mention Tehran

Since I've lived there as a dependent of an US Military Adviser under the Evil (you wanna talk brutal regime!) SHAH.

Go for living in fear but I will not. We have more chance of getting hit by lightening than by a terrorist attack but that will not stop us American Citizens from obsessing over what has been faced by the rest of the world for decades with awareness, resolve, BUT NOT irrational fear.

Newsflash: Our government won't save us from the terrorists. PERHAPS self-awareness and having those in our community (investigators) who are alert and sound of mind, might avert a tragedy, but probably not. :(

Terrorism was NOT invented on 9/11 despite our whining to the opposite. We can NOT depend on our government to save us. But we CAN live our lives out in the open and elect representatives that don't get their rocks-off starting wars.

The choice is ours. I understand much of what is going on in the Middle East despite of it not being MY COUNTRY just for the fact that I have resided there.

If anyone should be scared shitless, it should be me. If we do achieve an Authoritarian Government, I'll be one of the first rounded up for the internment camps. :shrug:

I'm trying to get my fellow Americans to WAKE UP and realize that our government is often part of the problem and can not be *adored* as that only entity that will keep the American people safe.

[justiceischeap]

46. Not being a terrorist myself I can't say this is true

However, yes terrorists generally like "big bang" mass casualties but another form of terrorism is to create... TERROR! If that means using cartoons and small bombs to do so, they'll do it. Look at what's going on in Iraq, most of the "insurgents" that are labeled terrorists aren't using big operations because you don't need to to cause TERROR—small roadside IEDS seem to be doing the trick. It's foolish of anyone in the US to think they couldn't deploy that method here.

If I were a terrorist, I'd be feeling pretty good about myself this morning. With one big act I've planted the seed of TERROR, which means my work as a terrorist has become much easier. To continue terrorizing a nation all it takes are some blinking lights.

It isn't about living without fear and not letting the terrorists win, it's about creating a mindset and this administration is complicite in spreading the TERROR. Will is a perfect example of that, it gets under your skin without even knowing it.

None of us, except maybe you, know how we'll react in this sort of situation. For example, I was mugged at gun point 2 years ago by 2 kids (13 & 14) on bikes. I now have an irrational fear of people on bikes. Do I think it's silly? Hell yes! Have I tried not giving in to it? Hell yes but sometimes we have no control over how our minds and bodies react to stress and to simply say "You can't give in" is easier said than done.

I applaud your gravitas and wish I could be as strong as you in the face of TERROR but it's affected (effected) us all in different ways.

[ShortnFiery]

49. I empathize with you and concur.

You're right any thing's possible - even a Catholic Terrorist like Timothy McVeigh.

Thanks for providing a rich complement to this.

Like our beloved combat troops returning from the Middle East, when traumatized, we all react different symptoms and/or a different combination of symptoms, i.e., nightmares, hyper-vigilance, phobias, etc.

What I'm trying to convey is that we are NOT beholden on Big Brother Government to keep us safe. Further if hell-bent terrorist are driven to attack us, they most likely will.

But again, as a society, we must not give any more of our civil rights to "the authorities." If we do then you can depend on a lifetime of insecurity.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

35. Well, this Muslim

is not mad enough to attack us....while a Mr. Rudolph, a Mr. McVeigh, and others of their ilk are. I am sure by "muslim" you meant "terrorists" of whatever stripe; but kindly remember that not all Muslims are terrorists-most are ordinary people.

[Marrah_G]

48. the difference is

We are not, at the moment, slaughtering the innocent friends and families of the McVieghs of the world, by the tens? hundreds? of thousands. We are however, doing massive damage to large numbers of Muslims, destroying their futures. Human nature says that before long a few will snap and want some payback in the only way they can see how.

Our leaders do not understand that these problems must be solved through talking with and understanding each other. You cannot quell violence by using violence.

[treestar]

96. But that shows terrorists are not always rational

McVeigh had not discernible motive.

Fortunately, people who will actually do something like this are few and far between, but when they do show up, they could be from anywhere - they may not necessarily be Muslims in the future.

Even the Iraqis and others to whom we are doing something would have a hard time getting over here and pulling something off. Even if we weren't fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. :sarcasm:

[Jacobin]

56. My post was overly broad

I meant to describe those in the Middle East who are enraged by Israeli treatment of Palestinians supported by the U.S., the support of Saudi kings to the detriment of their people and of course what we have done in Iraq.

Clearly, many of them are anxious to retaliate, as I would be if I were in their shoes.

I did not mean to suggest that all Muslims were so motivated and apologize for painting with such a broad brush

[Dawgs]

32. Okay, yesterday I agreed with you, even though I usually don't, but...

this apology is pathetic.

You were right to feel the way you did, and anyone saying otherwise is wrong. And now you are wrong for apologizing for it. That respect I had for you is now gone.

Oh well.

[WilliamPitt]

39. Heh.

I'm actually apologizing for deploying the same kind of rudeness you just showed me. Not for how I felt, but for how I treated people here.

I'm pretty sure that was made clear in the first few sentences. RIF.

[Missy M]

34. Your reaction yesterday is understandable....

there was a time when no one would have thought airplanes would be used as weapons of destruction. I remember thinking on 9/11, when I saw the first report of a plane hitting the WTC, that it was an accident. It's still hard to believe.

[WilliamPitt]

40. Dig this

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/63/22170

[Missy M]

61. Thank you......

so much is unknown to so many Americans. Just think if President Clinton and his advisor's recommendations had been followed where we might be today. The possibility is high that 9/11 never would have happened. The cost of 1.09 billion to implement the recommendations is nothing compared to what 9/11 has cost to this date. The main cost is the lives lost but then there is the loss of the WTC and the cost of the Iraq War. The 1.09 billion is a mere pittance in comparison. It does make you wonder if the Bush administration could have prevented it and didn't because of their plans for the Middle East. I still say every suspicious package should be taken seriously. Remember Pan AM Flight 103 was taken out with a small device.

[Marrah_G]

42. You summed up my thoughts

You wrote what I was thinking in a way that I just couldn't find the right words for.

Thank you

[terip64]

43. OK, where the hell was I! My kid lives in Boston! I was clueless until my mom called me in the PM.

I'll tell you where I was, reading the live libby blog and cleaning my house, not even checking anything else. When I did talk to her last night, 20 and invincible, she was like so, yeah, whatev Mom.

Embrace your fear, Will, I am afraid that some of us ignore ours because we can't wrap our heads around it. You would have freaked me out totally and I am afraid I would have started the 14 hour ride west to get my kid if I had witnessed it first hand. I have one daughter in Chicago and one in Boston. I have fantasized that Fitz will keep my 23 year old safe in Chicago and now your penance is that you are the safe keeper of my 20 year old. Good luck with that and don't doubt that I won't try to call you on it!

Seriously, your reaction was healthy. When I finally got tuned in I am ashamed to say that mine was the same as it was on September 11th. When my husband called and told me to put the TV on on Sept 11th (I was cleaning that day, too) I thought, It's NY. Those people are all crazy, it was probably some nut looking for publicity. ( I grew up in New Haven so I know crazy) Then I watched the 2nd plane hit the tower and didn't move from the TV for days, probably weeks.

Yesterday when my mom called I thought the same thing. Probably nothing. And my kid is there!

I didn't see your posts but they would have brought me back to reality. Painful place to be these days.

Don't be too hard on yourself! That's what DU is here for! ;) Keeping us all a little more honest!

[Lasher]

45. A sincere apology. How refreshing.

All of us have said things we shouldn't, but I don't see many people ever offering a sincere apology. It is not self-demeaning; actually quite the contrary is so. More of us should consider developing the behavior.

Lasher :thumbsup:

[VelmaD]

47. I was very worried about you yesterday...

and didn't have the slightest idea how to talk to you about what happened without taking a chance on setting you off. It just didn't seem like you...so I fretted. I'm glad you found a way to unwind yourself. :hug:

I had NO idea that the media there wasn't showing pictures of the damn things and that seems almost criminally negligent on their part. Calling them "packages" and not showing them did nothing but rathet up the fear level unnecessarily (not to mention their ratings) and they need to be called to account for that. I understand your reaction a whole helluva lot better after finding that out.

I'll echo the sentiment already expressed that it takes a big person to apologize. :)

[KoKo]

50. Well...I missed whatever was going on with you yesterday and

didn't hear about those Lite Brites with the "Fuck You" cartoon character until last night...but I can say this...I hope that Ad Company called "Interference" does jail time and the two guys who put those things all over Boston learn a lesson. That things are so out of control that Turner Network would hire a company to do such a disgusting, juvenile campaign for the Cartoon Network (using a "Fuck You" lite brites) in this time in America just goes beyond belief and shows how far rampant commercialism has gone that folks wouldn't think of the terrible consequences of putting little packages with wires and tubes out in strategic points all over a major city.

Whatever...I think your post make good points. I hope the folks who did this do time in jail.

[ShortnFiery]

52. Oh Brother.

Today, America is just one BIG JOKE to the world. :(

[noonwitch]

54. That's all right, I flipped out a little during the blackout a couple of years ago

On one of the radio stations, they reported that it was a terrorist attack at power plants around the eastern part of the country. They even reported that there were fires at the plants in Toledo, that CNN reported it was a terror attack, etc. I luckily had a land-line that worked, and called my sister, who had power in West Michigan, who set me straight.

[bigtree]

55. your reaction was perfectly understandable. and I loved reading of your conflictions

I think of the contradictions this way: The reason for the ports thing and the notions we raise here about Bush's militarism creating more terrorists is a reaction, a retort, to his own blather about pulling back 'emboldening' terrorists.

There are, no doubt, folks who want to come to America and blow something up in retaliation or because of some mental illness. The reasoning behind criticizing the 'terror threats' bandied about by the administration is that, while there may be folks who would do these things, they are a rarity here in America. That's partly because of the practical obstacles to traveling from Iraq to America with any significant weapon, and partly because of the protection provided by enhanced security at our legal entry points and elsewhere. But, these 'protections' aren't foolproof. There will always be the real possibility of another significant bombing incident, as in London and in Spain.

But, what we desperately need is perspective - and maybe we need to focus on a deserving target for our anger over how vulnerable and targeted we have become in the wake of Bush's blustering, blundering militarism abroad. That's the frustration I feel, and the frustration many of the rest of us feel as well. We don't see enemies in everyone who opposes our ambitions in their part of the world. We want to have relationships with other communities and individuals abroad which are not aggravated by Bush's imperious ambitions to expand his vain, imagined empire. We can sense that that prospect of comity with the rest of the world is fading and it will frustrate anyone who's worked for the five years since 9-11 to bring some rationality and balance to the debate about our nation's security in the face of Bush's swaggering taunts to terrorists to "bring it on."

It's frustrating to watch the effects of Bush's fearmongering get underneath the skin of rational folks. I suspect we're all victim to it at some level (although, I'm the sort of idiot who'd pick up a lit firecracker), but, if we are going to set a standard with our actions and reactions to events surrounding Bush's aggression, we have to sort these things out rationally and try to separate our, perhaps, understandable paranoia, from the hyped reactions of our leaders and others which cause them to deepen our aggression in a reflexive way instead of a focused rational response which could potentially avert the tit-for-tat escalation that Bush wants.

So, we're human, but, we're also challenged to rise above the simpleton fear Bush displays, acts upon, and encourages us to embrace along with his frightened ass. It's perfectly rational to fear the effects and consequences of Bush's military meddling. It's how we act on those fears which is important.

Loved the post.

[frustrated_lefty]

58. Bah, you just got a bad hit of acid.

Sit back and breathe.

[EFerrari]

59. Living in this climate is simply contaminating. We all get there

at times, unless we're in a coma. It's enfuriating, there it is.

Hope today is a better day. :)

[Nikki Stone1]

60. Will, the Boston authorities could not take even a small chance that life would be lost

I don't blame them in the least for what they did. I blame the marketing manager who ok'd this thing without getting permission or permits from the city of Boston. I think the marketing firm should pay the cost of yesterday's debacle. They used public space to subsidize their publicity stunt, and they wasted taxpayer police and homeland security dollars by not informing anyone or getting permits. They completely disrupted everyone's life for a day and probably caused a heart attack or two. (We'll hear about it soon). All to market a cartoon.

And for all those who say the police overreacted: if they had not reacted in the way that they did and these things had actually been explosive or incendiary devices, thousands of people could be dead. All an overreaction means is people talking about it and some bitching. It's no contest.

[mmonk]

62. Well, as long as you went and got a pint

everything's ok. Seriously though, I wasn't a part of what happened but I'm sure people will forgive you for whatever you may think they should forgive you for. I seriously doubt you have anyone here who doesn't like you or your work.

[Tatiana]

63. Look, we're all entitled to have a moment. Terrorism is a real threat.

:hug:

As you've indicated, this country and its actions have basically served as a recruiting poster for terrorists around the globe. There isn't any doubt in my mind whether someone will try to attack us again. I know they will. The question is, will we be able to thwart the attack?

Under Clinton, we did. Under Bush? Well, it's every man for himself and we'd better make sure our LOCAL police and first responder systems are up to speed because "Homeland Security" is a joke (I'm reminded of that Public Enemy tune "9-1-1 is a joke") and at this point we cannot depend on them.

I'm glad everyone in and near Boston is safe.

[Redstone]

64. Furthermore, were I a Mennonite, I'd be bit honked off at the name "Mooninite," especially

because of it giving the world the finger, which is something that Mennonites don't do very much.

I'm not about to think or live like the Mennonites do, but I respect their right to believe and live as they choose.

Redstone

[Virginia Dare]

65. You'd need a prescription of valium if you lived in D.C....n/t

[ShortnFiery]

84. I live south of D.C. and when the snipers were doing their evil work ...

I carried on my business, as usual. Yes, I'm blessed with being wired differently than most folks. However, to allow this fear to envelope you honestly troubles me as a fellow American.

I'm not being a smart a** when I ask you to please stop letting the Media throw your emotional center into such irrational fears and obsessions?

Really - don't empty out the joy of your life by obsessing about "what ifs?" An alien species like Dean Koontz's "The Taking" COULD take over the Planet tomorrow, but I'm not going to interrupt my schedule until they suck all the oxygen out of the air.

Again, we are a thousand times more likely to be hit by lightening. We should be putting our "little dangers" in perspective so that we can comfort those soldiers who return with profound PTSD from seeing their best friend blown to bits in the hummer in front of them within the convoy, et.al.

We need to glean perspective and resolve so we, as a society, can provide compassion and understanding to the combat troops who've seen horrors we can NOT imagine within our worst nightmares.

[Virginia Dare]

88. I couldn't agree more...

The Minister of Terror, Chertoff was speaking yesterday warning us again about the radical jihadists who are hiding behind every corner waiting to blow us up, so please throw all the money you can at us so we can protect you.

I don't know about you, but I'm much more worried about the coming crisis of global warming than I am about some theoretical radical jihadists, and we're not doing a damn thing about that.

The sniper thing was pretty surreal though, I found myself feeling quite vulnerable at the height of that situation, especially when I was out in the open at the bus stop or something. To me, that was true terror, and it wasn't a highly trained network of radical jihadists, it was a crazy dude and a kid in a beat up old car witha laptop and a high powered rifle.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

66. Accepted.

"Is thinking like this fear-mongering? Is it being a sucker?"

Pretty much. You and me are more likely to be hit by lightning than get hurt by terrorists.

"Those goddam Lite-Brite things were strapped to bridges and highways for weeks, in ten cities, and it wasn't until yesterday that they got noticed."

Bullshit. Tens of thousands of people saw them, recognized them as advertisements.

[gatorboy]

67. It's that damn house, man.

Edward's abode will be the death of us all!!!

[WilliamPitt]

68. *groan*

:)

[gatorboy]

69. Ha-cha cha cha chaaaa!

I got a million of them (Okay technically, just the one about the house)! :P

[bobbolink]

70. Explaining your fear is one thing. Refusing to look at your pattern

of attacking others is another.

Building peace is much more than going to rallies, and writing.

It means dealing with others in a respectful manner, no matter the turmoil going on inside.

It also means having a bit more understanding and compassion for others who are *also* under tremendous stress.

I hope you will consider this.

Or, you can ignore it or lash out.

[WilliamPitt]

71. Someday I'll be a perfect and sublime beam of pure light

Until then, I'm stuck with being me, and stuck with unavoidable feelings of anger and disgust when I see a half-dozen threads making fun of my city and what we went through.

Your advice is sage, and should be adopted by a hell of a lot more people than little old me. At least I have the stones to apologize when I err.

[bobbolink]

75. Then you're stuck with others avoiding your attacks.

You're not the only one with struggles.

Hurting others is not PEACE.

[Tansy_Gold]

85. Panic is the hallmark of the already terrified/terrorized (long rant)

I started to post this several hours ago, then decided to go have some coffee, visit with friends, and think about it for a while.

I didn't read any of the posts for which Mr. Pitt is issuing his heartfelt apology so I can't address them, but only the apparent need for yet another apology and the responses to that apology.

As we here in Arizona laughed this morning at the reactions of Bostonians to what most of us would have seen on a streetcorner and, well, laughed at, we tried to analyze not only the original situation but the reactions to the reactions. (Didn't the late, great, already-sorely-missed Molly Ivins urge us to ridicule the ridiculous?) And most of my friends are not tinfoilhatters, nor are most of them activists on the political left.

Yet every single one of them/us agreed: only people who are already paranoid, already terrorized would have reacted to this situation in full panic mode.

C'mon, folks, what "terrorist" is going to plant a bomb in a "suspicious package" with blinking lights on it? What "terrorist" wants to draw attention to her/his bomb? Get real! Hide in plain sight is one thing; put flashing lights on is another because that will DRAW ATTENTION TO IT. That's what the ad campaign people no doubt wanted.

So if the police and security officials acted like morons -- and in Tansy Gold's humble opinion they did, in spades -- so did the news media for over-reacting and not investigating the story and not using the brains the great goddess gave a chipmunk.

As other posters have said, people all around the world live under the very real daily threat of terrorist attacks. Even in Iraq, where our government has created a virtual holocaust, people still go to school (remember the students killed at a university just a few weeks ago?), go shopping, read books, do whatever they can to find bits of normalcy in the chaos. Sure, those who can do so often find ways to escape, but those who can't or for whatever reasons don't want to, they do their best to maintain some level of sanity. And part of maintaining their sanity is avoiding panic.

If one panics at the mere threat of attack, if one can't keep one's wits about one when everything is really quite normal but someone else says it might get un-normal, how will one ever survive when the threat becomes real? If one lashes out at one's ostensible friends in a time of fear, how will one behave in a time of real trial?

Just a few weeks ago there was a discussion here on DU about the Air Florida crash in DC and the heroism of several bystanders and even victims of the crash. The news accounts were full of the actions of an older man, a passenger on the plane, who helped a flight attendant into the rescue apparatus that lifted her to safety. Lenny Skutnik, a civilian who dove into the icy Potomac and risked his life to save others, was the hero who shunned the limelight. I think all of us who are old enough to remember back to September 11, 2001, recall the steadfastness and attention to duty of the emergency personnel who responded exactly as we would expect them to respond: with diligence, with professionalism, with calm. One dramatic account that was played over and over and over was of the doctor who had his video recorder on as he made his way toward what we now call "ground zero," rather than flee in panic.

I've never been in a terrorist attack. I've never lived in a place where "just being an American" made me a target. But I've had to work late nights and enter dark parking garages alone. I've had to shop in commercial areas where there have been muggings and carjackings and assaults. I've driven in rush-hour traffic where a potentially fatal crash is always just seconds away. I have lived through tornadoes and killer blizzards, and I know that the very last thing you need to get through any kind of disaster or even potential disaster is panic.

And the next to last thing you need is someone who has already panicked.

In my never humble opinion, it's not enough to apologize, not when it's the third or fourth or tenth apology. Someone who has to keep apologizing for the same kind of unacceptable behavior needs to either sit down or be sat down by someone else and address a problem that obviously can't be fixed by constant apologies.

I have a temper, at times a bad one, and I've learned in my well over 50 years that the best way for me to avoid doing something I will seriously regret is to get myself out of the situation that's tempting my temper. My friends know that if I feel I'm about to blow, I will leave. This has happened a number of times when I've been around people -- not friends but new acquaintances or strangers in a public gathering place like a restaurant or bar -- who have rubbed me the wrong way. In one case, the irritant was a guy who tried to tell me that women should never be allowed to work on construction sites because, and I quote, "No woman knows anything about roofing." Now, as absurd as that statement might have been all by itself, it was made even more absurd by the fact that I happened to have worked for a woman who was one of the foremost experts on commercial and residential roofing construction in the greater Phoenix area, if not the southwest. Rather than get into a screaming match with this idiot, I simply got up and left, even though I *knew* I was right and he was an asshole. It wasn't worth it to me to risk losing my temper, making a stupid scene, getting everyone upset, and being embarrassed the next day. Later, in another conversation that hadn't reach the breaking point, I told him about the woman I'd worked with, gave him details about her background, and because I told him so rationally and so calmly and hadn't pre-alienated him by exploding at him during the earlier confrontation he apologized for his rudeness and changed his opinion of women working in construction.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, not a true tinfoil hatter. Do I trust the boooshies? Fuck, no, not any further than I can bench press Dick Cheney, let alone throw him. Do I think they're going around and setting up false terrorist threats to keep the country in a state of constant fear? Well. . . . maybe. But because I think they might do it makes me even more suspicious and less likely to accept blindly any threat that's made or revealed.

Remember just a few days ago when Keith Olbermann pointed out the outrageous lies in booooosh's latest SOTU regarding terrorist threats? More than ever -- MORE THAN EVER we need to be calm and vigilant as this tyranny enters the last two years of its (natural) life. If we can't stave off the panic, we've already handed them the victory -- on a silver platter. It's not Osama who's won; it's George. And Dick. And Karl. And Scooter. And Don. And Paul. And Condi.

I won't hand them that victory. But neither will I trust those who so easily give in to the panic George and Dick and their minions have spread. The panickers are as dangerous as the P-NACers. At least in the opinion of

Tansy Gold

[ShortnFiery]

87. Well, I never!

;) <I'm teasing!>

Very well (and nicely) put Tansy Gold. :thumbsup: :hi:

[Bluebear]

90. Oh, I think you have,

:hi:

[ShortnFiery]

74. Point taken ...

I don't think this thread is only about Will's misbehavior, so please permit me to thank-you for this valuable advice. :-)

It hits home with me - in many ways.

Sooner or later we must shed our pride because sometimes saying "I'm sorry." on too many occasions means nothing to the recipient. That's so true.

Point taken - on many levels. :hi:

[bobbolink]

77. THanks for your words. Peacemaking is hard on many levels.

Maybe it's my generation singing "Let There Be Peace And Let It Begin With Me" a few too many times. :)

I just see such a split between the hundreds of thousands of people carrying signs and demanding an end to violence, then speaking words of violence to each other and thinking that's OK.

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will break my heart."

Together we continue the struggle to live non-violently. :pals:

[ShortnFiery]

80. Yes, I'm with you there ...

I must be the worst (most sinful) Franciscan oriented Catholic on the planet, but I greatly enjoy the company of my fellow Pax Christi and Parish members. Many calm souls have demonstrated to me "a gentle persuasion" that merely setting the example can do for others. :idea:

May peace be with you bobbolink. :hi:

[bobbolink]

82. "Some of my best friends are Catholics...."

But, I make an attempt to forgive them. :rofl:

Whaddaya expect from a Luthapalian? ~~guffaw~~

Seriously, I envy you having such a group. Yes, it's much easier to practice that which you'd most like to emulate, when in a group where that is the goal.

Have you read "Community and Growth", by Jean Vanier? (Another Catholic, I believe...geez, you guys are *everywhere* hehehe) It's an old book, but I got so much out of what he said about the need for a peaceful place to retreat to, when the world got crazy. He had no idea just how crazy it would get! :(

Peace back atcha... from one of the only people on the planet who has a problem with the Prayer of St. Francis. :hi:

[Name removed]

83. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LynneSin]

72. In a nutshell - the people who thought up this stunt should be billed

for all the Taxpayer services used to determine that no, there was no terrorism threat to the city of Boston. Millions of dollars were probably wasted shutting down the city and calling up the First Respone people to figure out what these things were.

The folks at Cartoon Network should hang their head in shame. If they wanted to do a crazy stunt - using electronic devices, even lite-brites, was absolutely no laughing matter

[ShortnFiery]

81. Yeah, while the rest of the world is laughing their butts off that the people of Boston

are afraid of lite brites, while several other major cities carried on as usual. That makes perfect sense. :eyes:

[LynneSin]

86. That's not fair at all

About 5 years ago, the building they found a crack in the building where I use to work. Now this was right after 9/11 so when they started evacuating us we were all worried something serious had happened. We had no access to the news or even why we were being evacuated but ultimately if you could go home you could (many people left the building without their purses & car keys) and it wasn't until the news that night I found out it was just a crack in an old building.

What happened in Boston is funny - but as you go through an experience and no one is feeding you any news except rumors and hearsay - well it can be a bit scary

[CanuckAmok]

91. No, Boston should pay Cartoon Network...

The publicists provided a service; they safely tested the readiness of Boston's first responders. Consultants charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to do these kinds of tests.

[specimenfred1984]

73. No apology necessary, should've seen D.C. during the sniper attacks

Road blocks set up on every major road, police at every exit, helicopters everywhere, misinformation galore put out by the press and fear on top of fear. Add that real threat to the 9/11 bombings, the anthrax mailings and the multitude of fake terror alerts and this city was a complete police state.

Our gov't hides real information, it's a sad fact of our fascist culture. We're all left to fend for ourselves, especially in a real or faked emergency.

[Midlodemocrat]

78. It was insane here as well.

The final shooting happening in the parking lot of a Ponderosa in Ashland, not too far away.

People were flat out terrified. Schools here totally changed the procedures how they got the kids on and off the buses so that the children wouldn't be in view from the woods.

It was awful.

[mnhtnbb]

76. You're not the only one ready to blow your top (bad pun)

when pushed.

The Bushies have very successfully disequilibrated me since the
Supreme Court decision of 2000 followed with 9/11.

I KNOW I am being lied to by my government. I KNOW the pre-emptive attack against Iraq was bullshit. I KNOW they are making more terrorists
because of our presence in Iraq and that one day those terrorists will successfully attack us again. I KNOW that so far, my protests have been futile in changing things.

I am knotted with fear of the failure of democracy in this country. I don't sleep well at night. The least little thing happens, I am carrying on a like a crazy person.

My health can't handle this much longer. I wonder whether Molly's recurrent cancer wasn't affected by the stress of seeing things so clearly and being unable to do anything about it.

I am going to have to either see BIG change coming via this Congress holding Bush accountable and reigning him in, or I'm going to have to let go of participating (keeping up with the news) just for the sake of my mental and physical health.

I don't like the choice but I don't, for me, see any way around it.

[uppityperson]

79. Fear mongering uncertainty, my take on it. Lots of questions come out of this incident

Why was the media reaction what it was (fear fear fear vs real info)? Why were these not perceived a danger for 2 wks and why only in Boston? Why is there no national "police in big cities get to consult each other in times like this" thing?


Thank you bomb squad, bah on fearmongering
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=100958&mesg_id=100958

[BlooInBloo]

92. It's ok. You work for truthout.

[Rex]

93. Hey, no apology needed! We all say and do stupid sheit

from time to time. Hell, if I apologized for all the stupid shit I've said on DU over the years...well...it would take all my time here posting 'I'm sorry' posts! :)

[The Straight Story]

94. I got old and needed new glasses while reading this

you should apologize in a new thread about the length of this thread - and make it twice as long.

[HoneyBee]

100. hee

[treestar]

95. From your view it does sound serious, then

All the posts making fun of the people in Boston for being concerned seem unfair, because they act as if you saw those lite-brites from the beginning.

I can understand being actually frightened by the way they were described to you.

And the traffic jams would have been headache (I was caught in the one back in the late 80s in LA when the fundies protested the movie The Last Temptation of Christ by parking on the Hollywood freeway in sight of the producer's offices.)

And they were doing it for no good reason. ;-)

[Hekate]

97. One thing struck me hard about what you said: "Dry run"

I'm sorry it hit you so hard, Will. God knows how I would have reacted in your shoes.

The points you made yesterday about advertising being hidden in plain sight and about this being a dry run for the real thing really hit home for me.

Our democracy stands on the edge of a knife just now, and it won't take much for the Bush administration to decide to end it.

Yet as you said today -- we have to go on with our lives and not be cowed with fear. The terrorists -- both Al Qaeda and Bush/Cheney -- really want us to live in fear. Screw them. Screw them all.

And you, Will :hug:

Hekate

[kerry-is-my-prez]

98. I didn't think that you wigged out that bad... That crap is never funny when YOU'RE involved.

So it's understandable.

Hell, I probably went more ballistic today just from rush hour traffic.

[marions ghost]

99. thanks for telling your story Will

if we have been programmed to think the worst then we will. Nothing to be ashamed about. It's not hard for "little packages" of fear to lie dormant, only waiting for a trigger. And sometimes fear is the right response. I have had many occasions where that little fearful voice was absolutely correct. I'm sure had I been close to one of these lite brites after the story was so whipped up in the media I would not have been able to eat lunch and would have gone to an internal state of yellow alert, if not orange.

On the other hand, it's good to also have people around who do not react very quickly to things. They can help maintain some equilibrium in our collective body as we try to sort things out, apply logic, maintain composure, and all that rational stuff.

But you also have to question people who don't ever react to anything that causes fear in others. Case close to me: My stepfather was in the military. He never reacted in fear to anything than I can remember. He was great in a crisis, very calming. But there was also a certain bravado about it. It took me a long time to realize that he was so cut off from his feelings as to be almost sociopathic. He is capable of completely negating appropriate emotional responses of others. He does not feel them, he does not respect them. This is not good either. It ultimately destroyed my stepfather (long story).

This case of the diabolical lite brites is a classic story for our times. Thanks for your honesty and openness about your reaction. This is what I come to DU for--it functions as a kind of support group for living in these times and making sense of The News. We are all vulnerable to distorted information, more than we want to admit in our high-tech age.

[PATRICK]

101. One of the lessons

learned the hard way is that people don't react violently or out of revenge very often, And it is ordinary people far away being traumatized, brutalized and victimized. Most violence besides individual murders(mostly for the old familiar causes, sex and money) needs to be organized and enforced by the state and financed heavily. Most of our fears therefore are always wildly overblown sometimes presuming that it that were us we would be blazing away at the Bush mansion or lunging suicidally into Osama's tunnels. Do we know ourselves as well as we now know our fellow human beings?

Victims of bombs or victims of fear, or chasing our own tails when no one else really is. Secrecy IS the fear because that secrecy, as in the institutional response and media response to mysterious emergencies,
is the last real bastion of real danger and extraordinary fear. Secrecy protecting plans, financing, interests, national policies, inhibitions to actual peace and security, are all as cartoonish as the Twilight Zone episode on small town panic and witch hunting. When we are shepherded or "protected" fear is the victor and not security.

Despite all the madness and mad causes and evil intent in this world, without organized violence little happens that could like it does in unrestrained imagination.

Fighting the tide in 9/11- which is what it physically felt like- only made me look past all those reactions boiling inside to ADD the diverted focus from Bush and the apparent security meltdown. Like firefighters and the police we would do well here to set aside our normal reactions and try to serve sanity, focus and purpose which scatter too many critical things to the winds. If fear is not be served, it's hold cannot extend to our reasoning and actions, no matter how damp the underwear, how hot the blood rush, how frenetic the mental gymnastics sweating in fear's service.

The Buddhist conference on the emotions was very instructive as well. Anger has a flash point and then must run its course, anger for an hour(without reinforcement) and a mood for a day. No one can be blamed for body chemistry and it will coexist there with any thoughts contrary to the reaction. Since emotions are us, our very soul, it betrays our center every time and humbles the enlightened more than any external attack. Surprise, shock and not knowing contribute most strongly for the overwhelming process. There is absolutely nothing to forgive since Pitt resisted the sacred refuge of the bottle and let things run their course. Guilt is unnecessary when talking about shock anger.

What we learn is what is important. That super violence is rare outside of states, that the mind and the collective is too ill equipped to deal with terror or emergencies- and needs constant reforming and that being human means our emotions will have their time. In the inner struggle to think in those throes there is nothing like unaffected friends(with better understanding we hope) to provide help. But we don't understand that well and like bickering family take some time hashing out "wisdom". Time, unfortunately, is not always our serene healing servant these days.