Eyes Wide Open

Many of you avid readers of the funnies may have already hear the news, but for those of you who haven’t: Last week our intrepid local government in the city of Boston Mass turned its’ morning commuters into a bunch of lollygaggers when they, oh so brilliantly, came to the conclusion that a few lite-brites scatter about the city were big bad bombs placed by those evil emboldened terrorists that have supplanted the Boogie Man as the modern day monster under the bed.

The lite-brites in questions, set up to promote the Cartoon Network series Aqua-Teen Hunger Force, got the royal treatment as police cordoned off the T stations and Bus stops where the little advertisements had been comfortably sitting for the past two weeks.

Following the “D’oh” that could be heard echoing from Mayor’s office later that day just about every News Outlet found it self carrying the same story, ‘How can a marketing firm be so damned irresponsible?’ Which of course is ludicrous seeing that we’re talking about an industry has successfully lobbied to keep laws regarding subliminal advertising purposely vague. And let’s not forget how they’ve co-opted communism filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s work making it the model for modern TV advert.

Seriously how can anyone stand there with a strait face no less and blame this industry? Maybe they just haven’t “had there break today?”

But since I have I’ll continue with my critique by pointing out that this ‘buck doesn’t stop here’ attitude demonstrated so forcefully by the Boston Mayor’s office is common in politics today. It seems that no matter the mistake the politicians think all they need do is cry “boo-hoo” then pass the blame. As if they were elected to some juror high school office where dropping the ball doesn’t mean that hundreds of commuters in Boston were left stranded in the cold for hours, or that out of the 3 major cities where these adverts were place only Boston spent millions of dollars to remove the two week old toys.

-Huff-

I half expected them to say, “By the way aren’t you impressed by our great response time… once we actually noticed them, that is. Not to mention how fast we located and arrested the poor shmuck who was paid 7 bucks an hour to hang them! Doesn’t that make you feel safe?” Like some fawning child waiting for a Werther's Original and a ‘Good job!’

So I honestly don’t know if I should be mad at the genuinely irresponsible men and women that make up the Massachusetts government or sad that fear of the unknown had so blinded them that what amounts to a child’s toy could garner such a paranoid response…

If this had happened last century would we have seen such a red-faced reaction?

We live in a country that’s been at war for the last several years. A shell shocked country in war that most of the ‘free world’ (and a decent amount of her our own citizens) knew to be a mistake. And now as American’s collectively opens our eyes, with maybe’s & perhaps’ floating about the Senate and House, has anything actually changed? Has anyone taken the responsibility for those mistakes?

In the real world we take our mistakes and fears, we face them, we take responsibility for them. What kind of example is being set when our leaders don’t take action, when they don’t take responsibility? How are Ad Agencies and Children going to lean if they have no role models or worse, if their role models are passing the buck?

For a generation already supposed to live shorter lives this doesn’t seem fair at all.

It’s been said that the only folks that need fear are folks with something to hide. If that is true what are we hiding from? Life?! Growing up?!

Well I hear someone else once say, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” it’s a shame the higher ups at the Boston PD hadn’t hear the same. So do me a favor STOP being afraid. Fear really is the mind killer. Turn off the radio, the TV, the computer and do something about… well, do something about anything.

Hell, just stand up somewhere and start people talking and thinking and marching. Stop the fear and stat growing up!