this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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๐Ÿ‘‰ Boston.com article

๐Ÿ‘‰ Wiki

On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago

The best part:

As members of the media attempted to ask them how they felt about causing a panic, the pair refused to answer any questions not related to โ€œhaircuts of the โ€™70s.โ€

And as I remember, someone asked them more or less, what type of haircuts do you think you guys will be getting in prison? And whoever was going to answer the question genuinely hesitated and looked worried.

Jajajaja

[โ€“] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If the Boston marathon bombing had happened within a year prior to this I might understand, but come on...

[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Iraq war was still in full swing and cities were getting Homeland Security bulletins about possible revenge attacks.

[โ€“] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

That was a very dark time for the country, we've definitely not recovered from it and it allowed a lot of Christian nationalism and budding-fascism to metastasize into the danger it is today.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING

[โ€“] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Correct. But yay aqua teens.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

No, I'm certain there's been dumber bullshit. You underestimate our collective stupidity.

[โ€“] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Can you see this? I'm doing it as hard as I can

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

FTL: Best of the Mooninites from the Adult Swim Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0udqZsvrux0

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=0udqZsvrux0

https://piped.video/watch?v=0udqZsvrux0

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Damn, I can't believe this was 16 years ago...

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember when Adult Swim aired the entire movie for free... At 1/32 the size in a corner of the screen

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I remember how excited I was at the beginning, until they shrunk it down. I tried making sense of what was happening by standing real close to the Tv. But like most ATHF content, it was as nonsense without sound as it was with. The Neal Peart solo was pretty cool though!

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember that. I never watched that show so I had no idea what the reference was, but if I had seen it in person, I would have just thought it was viral marketing. What's so scary about it?

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I did see it and knew what it referenced. There was nothing scary at all about it, it was clearly an LED sign. I couldn't believe how massive an over reaction there was to it by the police. Terrorists tend not to put bright LEDs on their weapons as an advertisement.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People were still pretty 9/11 crazy in those days and I remember thinking the reaction was way more entertaining than even the marketing.

As a huge ATHF fan (I have a Master Shake tattoo on my ass), it just really spoke to me. Felt like an alignment in the cosmos.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Boston PD were(are) out of their minds. They also blew up an ordinary traffic counting device deployed by the city.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I always thought they were Lite Brites.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I remember this happening in Atlanta. After maybe 2 weeks, no one cared. The whole of Atlanta received this marketing and was just like "Oh, well that's weird." I absolutely do not recall or believe the idea that a city (no matter where) was "turned upside down" - because they weren't. It took almost no time of investigation to determine this was just marketing from Adult Swim. Cool your jets, man.

[โ€“] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember it happening in Boston and it WAS a big deal. Not sure why you think your anecdote is particularly relevant?

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It was a big deal in the media, but I think their point was maybe that it wasn't a big deal to the locals and the city was definitely not "turned upside down"?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

More that his anecdote is in a different city entirely

[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Boston != Atlanta

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Lemmy user slams article for inaccuracy!