n I think an important thing to note during this whole “bomb scare” (“Ad ploy mistaken as bomb scare,” Feb. 1, p. 1) is that Turner Broadcasting Company did not, as the media has led us to believe, intend for these light-up signs to be mistaken as anything but advertisements.

To shed a little truth on the subject, I’ll start with the editorial by The Daily Free Press, (“A crummy commercial,” Feb. 1, p. 8).

The editorial chastises Turner, saying, “Turner would not be laughing if a real tragedy [had] transpired.” But this is hardly fair since Turner was never “laughing.”

In fact, it immediately posted an apology on the main webpage for “Adult Swim” and never meant for this to be a joke of any kind.

The editorial then faults Turner for “[taking] so long to come out with [this] statement . . . [since] the packages had been there for two to three weeks,” which is a stupid thing to say. You see, a “statement” wasn’t necessary until the completely harmless light-up posters were confused for bombs, so criticizing Turner for not coming out with one sooner is ridiculous.

We don’t ask every company that advertises to make a statement beforehand that says no one could have expected this tragic confusion and pointing fingers doesn’t help.

Also, the editorial makes the argument that by “putting the black boxes on structures like bridges and road networks – to increase visibility” was trying to “foster chaos.”

I can’t help but be less-than-surprised that advertisements were placed where people could see them. You see, the problem with this line of argument is that advertisements are meant to be seen, whereas bombs are not.

I think that Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Lieutenant Sal Venturelli summed things up well when he was quoted in a recent Boston Globe article as saying, “This is a perfect example of our passengers [on the T] taking part in Homeland Security.”

He couldn’t be more right. I think this is a perfect example of why the general populace shouldn’t take part in homeland security. A nation that tries to deputize the general citizenry ends up over-paranoid and over-zealous. This wasn’t a “bomb scare.” This was a bunch of people being unable to discern the difference between a Lite Brite and an Improvised Explosive Device.

The statement that “The nine other cities where Turner placed these magnetic lights will also waste time and money searching for them” is, at best, misleading and is probably closer to being factually inaccurate since Turner immediately gave the location of all of the devices to every appropriate city police department.

Alex Krause

CAS ’09