Teh Stupid -- It Burns

[mdlbear]

MIT student arrested for entering Boston airport with "fake bomb" light-up T-shirt - Boing Boing

Short version: it wasn't a "fake bomb" at all, it was a wearable tech jacket on the body of a friendly young technologist who would have been *way* better off wearing something else to the airport today. Authorities in Massachussetts who've been accused of overreacting to tech art misunderstandings before -- remember the Mooninite Menace? -- are throwing the book at her.

... She wasn't even getting on a plane -- just picking up a friend.

Comments

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

After reading some of the comments at that site, I'm bothered by how many people imply she's somewhat responsible because of what she chose to wear...even many of those you are superficially sympathetic.

It reminds me way too much of how victims of spousal abuse were once treated (and may still be in some cases). "Oh, poor thing, you shouldn't do anything to upset him. You know what he's like when he gets into those moods." (Or, for that matter rape victims who are "asking for it" because of the clothes they wear.)

[mdlbear]

Agreed. Yet another indication of how far down the road to tyranny we've gone in the last six years.

[danceswthcobras.livejournal.com]

I have to weigh in on behalf of airline security folks who are scared shitless of people wired with real bombs. They have to take action when they see what they have reason to believe may be a serious threat.

Is it stupid to mistake a circuit board on the outside of a jacket for a real bomb? Er....maybe, or maybe not. It would indeed be a legitimate bomb component for some types of bombs. Is it stupid to wear something that looks like you have something wired to your body into an airport? Oh hell yeah. Sorry but I think that most of the stupid was on her end.

They're throwing the book at her to make the point that people need to think harder before walking into airports wearing stuff that can legitimately be mistaken for bomb wiring. Not nice perhaps, but if they didn't, I could see other folks following her example because they thought it was funny or cool or daring or what have you. Nothing good would come of that.

I don't believe that it's possible for a rape victim to "ask for it", but I do think that if you do stupid things without thinking about potential consequences, Darwin may take some dues. The situation is more analogous to a live action roleplayer who jumps out in front of some cops and waves a semi-realistic Star Wars blaster gun model at a fellow roleplayer. Should the cops be smart enough to tell in a split second that the gun being brandished is made of plastic and doesn't quite look like any real gun known to forensic science? Maybe, but it's pretty stupid to count on it.

[tiggerypum.livejournal.com]

I agree to the totally uneducated, they probably can't tell anything with wires apart -- although you would think they should have SOME training about what actually makes a bomb, and that a circuit board out in the open with leds and a battery might simply be something you ask a person to remove from the premises.

I disagree about 'throwing the book at her'. One of the mit instructors commented that he's waiting to be caught for having 'bomb materials' in his car when he's delivering the kits for their classes.

Using the 'fake bomb' when she was right there, correctly identified it as NOT a bomb, apparently cooperated with security..... no. You do not throw the book at an ordinary citizen because of an overblown fear of a threat.

BTW, the boston group who blew up the Mooninite board just in case also blew up one of their own traffic dept's monitoring boxes. Note that with the Mooninite boards, they appeared in other major cities, the cities removed one, carefully examined them, and then simply removed others as they found them. No bomb. Only the folks up in the Boston area seem to be so jumpy as to not engage brain. I want the folks protecting us to ENGAGE THEIR BRAINS and also not trump up some misunderstanding into unreasonable charges.

You assume 'I would never do something THAT stupid'. Maybe. Or maybe you'll do something else 'that stupid' - or be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the wrong nationality - and then discover you've got people freaking out and pointing guns at you. My ex was pulled over for driving an SUV in the vacinity of the SJ airport. Uhm. We live and work in the area. His car was a SUV. He looks middle eastern. My son looks like his dad. Does that make him a terrorist?

[danceswthcobras.livejournal.com]

I agree that racial profiling is highly suspect.

Thing is, we live in the real world where security isn't the highest paid profession or one that attracts the intellectual giants. It would be nice to say that security guards "should" learn to recognize MIT tech art on sight and differentiate it from real bombs, but in the world we currently live in, not happening. Cops aren't going to recognize Star Wars model blasters on sight either, even if they probably should.

The book probably wasn't thrown because of fear so much as a public discouragement for other people from doing likewise. I don't agree with it but I can understand the reasoning behind it.

[mdlbear]

I agree: they're just barely within their rights to ask her to leave the premises; arresting somebody for carrying wearable art is right out.

I wouldn't be surprised if I got arrested -- or at least detained and questioned -- because the case of my travel guitar looks like it could hold an AK47.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

You may have put your finger on a core point: anything done by people in power, especially brutes and bullies with guns, while they are in a state of "scared shitless" has always had a very high probability of pissing me off.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Poor girl.

Security guards should be chosen with an eye to a modicum of brains so that they can be trusted with dangerous weapons in a public place

[mdlbear]

One can't help thinking of Salvor Hardin here: "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent".

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

A nice summary of the problems with the War of Terror.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

These aren't security guards. They are sworn peace officers.

Security guards with guns don't enjoy executive and statutory immunity and a good relationship with the same DA's office that prosecutes them if they err. Police do.

I also have to add, "You get what you pay for."

What I think SHOULD have happened?

[capplor.livejournal.com]

If in doubt, they should have sent the SWAT team, and checked her out. (Hopefully, she wouldn't panic and look like she was hitting a trigger). However, after it was clear this was just lights & batteries, THEY should have apologized, and asked her not to be quite so flashy next time.

They used to warn people not to make "Hi, Jack" jokes at the airport. I once got chewed out for Fred putting a legal "explosives inside" sticker (whatever the official wording is) on his guitar case. Not a good idea, but having established that it was absolutely not explosive, they let me go back to my seat & continue the flight and no more was said (other than me to Fred, "You're removing that before the return trip).

Re: What I think SHOULD have happened?

[mdlbear]

They did, in fact, detain her and question her at gunpoint. Then, rather than admit they'd made a natural but unfortunate mistake, apologizing, and telling her not to be so stupid next time, they arrested her. Idiots.

Re: What I think SHOULD have happened?

[danceswthcobras.livejournal.com]

Thing is, I can see it from their point of view also. Because she didn't think hard enough to realize that her garb would badly scare the low-IQ airport rent-a-cops, there was a very real risk of a serious incident (eg, an innocent civilian might have gotten shot by stupid panicked cops). They really, really want people to think harder before entering airports with stuff that can scare the rent-a-cops. Ergo, make an example of this person and hopefully others will learn that their security really is that stupid and easily confused by flashy blinky lights and wires.

It does in fact suck that the average airport security worker (not to mention police officer) is Not Too Bright, but that's not realistically something we're going to see fixed in this generation.

Re: What I think SHOULD have happened?

[anach.livejournal.com]

I would not have heard about this story, except for the fact that they are throwing the book at her... If they had just said, "Don't do that again", we would not have this comment thread...

Former Bostonian

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it was too close to the infamous 9/11. The people who work at Logan Airport are still suffering from a huge guilt complex. They are second guessing themselves all the time. I have a nice chat with a TSA person when I went back there for my mom's funeral.

Also.... being a student sometimes mean not using your common sense. Yes, the poor Boston Police are paranoid; but there is a time and a place for art.