Screw the Brite-Lite Bombers
I haven't posted in a while, but I felt the need to jot my opinion on the "brite-lite bombers" from Wednesday, January 31st.
What a couple of idiots!
Even though I usually identify as a progressive, I think this time around the suspects should be tarred and feathered. I have complete pride in my city's best and brightest for taking action to dismantle these blinking items, suspicioulsy attached the the sides of bridges. In a post-9/11 world, such actions are inexcusable.
But worse is the action of Turner Broadcasting System for being so out-of-touch with the everyday citizen that it thought these gurerilla marketing tactics would fly. Not in this town; I think in Boston, we have a higher degree of caution because the terrorists of September 11th departed from Logan. We should take these irregular happenings seriously.
And why should we tolerate illegal advertising on our public property and infrastructure? Aren't we already bombarded enough by advertising and marketing ... now we have to spend time, money and manpower reviewing whether something is an ad or a bomb?
posted by Blue-Xela @ 8:37 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I actully think all three sides are off on this one. This is a fine line that we are treading here though. Where is the line between advertising and art? At what point does art have to sacrifice for security in our post 9-11 world?
It's certainly a good question.
I guess what upsets me is this request (from Turner) that these computer-size monitors were to be placed "in target areas," like "train stations, overpasses, "hip and trendy areas, high traffic areas of high visibility,"' according to the Boston Globe.
These two adults were installing several dozen of them in the middle of the night and to the naked eye, they included duct tape and batteries.
I'm all for public displays of art. I think talented graffiti artists should be making murals and that the public should pay for they through grants or earmarks (if they vote for it). In Mexico City, where I had just visited, there is an amazing, publicly-funded arts scene ... granted, most of the media was traditional, i.e. sculpture, painted murals, photography ...
The Boston brite-lite case, however, was a shady operation and pure foolishness ... and then to see how this 27 and 28 year-old acted at the press conference! It was apalling!
They had no regard for disrupted lives, hindered public transportation, lost wages and missed appointments.
"They had no regard for disrupted lives, hindered public transportation, lost wages and missed appointments."
I actually disagree. They were told by either their lawyer or employer to not talk about the case. So, they didn't, and in true performance art style (I didn't say it was good art, necessarily) they mocked the media frenzy over the whole thing. Something that, actually, I found rather fitting.
The day everything happened, the media wasn't too off base, but after that, it was ridiculous. They repeated the officials' use of the word "hoax" despite the fact it was obviously NOT meant to be a hoax (ie, meant to panic people). AND the officials did a lot wrong, too. After the initial panic which, (despite the fact it would have been obvious to anyone paying attention to what their teenagers were watching on late night TV) was somewhat justified given the unknowns and the OTHER realistic fake pipe bombs, not related, that had been found that day...once they understood it was not for real, they waited, as I understand, TWO HOURS to report that to the press.
A lot of this was preventable on ALL sides. And from what I hear, those kids might have had permits to put those things up, though I'd want to verify that.
With all due respect, they are not "kids." I'm 27 years old; one of the freelancers is 27 and the other is 28. The whole situation makes all people in their 20s look retarded and immature.
I do think the two perpetrators are sacrificial lambs in a sense. If anything, the blame should fall on Turner Broadcasting System for their out-of-touch advertising and marketing techniques. You know why they call it 'guerilla marketing,' it's because we're the oblivious targets who suffer their greed.
And I don't think I'm being that dramatic ... but c'mon, did anyone in the upper chamber boardrooms at Turner suspect that this may cause some friction with homeland security officials? And if they did want the public panic and clamor to generate more publicity for their little cartoon, then that's kind of evil.
Okay, maybe not evil, but certainly callous and self-serving.
Hey, I'm still very much a kid, and I'm not even in my 20s anymore - turned 31 last year. ;P
I have no problem with people calling me kid. When I quit rollplaying games and watching cartoons, maybe then the name won't be appropriate anymore. :)
agreed with and loved your article on the brite-lite bombers..
I'm still a huge fan of the Simpsons, Captain Planet and Daria. I'm actually still waiting for Daria to come out on DVD!
I doubt that Turner thought this would cause a panic since it didn't anywhere else. I don't want to defend corporations, but it seems a little unreasonable to say they've got to take into account the fact that a lot of our public officials overreact and get hysterical.
I mean, come on, our local officials are on the news talking about how they broke up a "graffitti ring" and have diverted god knows how much personnel and resources to thwart the "international graffitti underground guerilla movement" that's supposedly converging on us this weekend (run for your lives! stay inside! carry paint remover wherever you go! especially don't go to Brighton because there have been a bunch of rapes over there and with the cops diverted to the graffitti artists there won't be any to deal with the rapists, but hey we've got graffitti on the run), I;d say that the definition of security is a little more like repression these days.
Not that I need to have the last word, but I've thought about this and agree that going after members of a graffiti forum is ridiculous and a waste of resources.
Here I think authorities are crossing the line ... black boxes with batteries and masking tape is one thing to be suspicious about, but let's not go after real talent and urban artistic expression in the name of homeland security.
Post a Comment
<< Home