Read this article about the promotion for the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, first.

Done? Good.

Anyone who comes up with a promotion involving fake bombs placed through a major city is a dumbass.

Want a more logical, sophisticated response? Fine. Anyone who comes up with a promotion involving fake bombs placed through a major city is incredibly unaware, insensitive, and does not understand the current societal mindset and its affect on human nature at all.

But, I guess you could say they understand marketing really, really well. After all, this promotion is getting widespread attention due to its criminal nature.

But that’s not really why I chose to comment on this. I chose to comment in response to some of the equally unaware, unthinking comments posted on sites like Engadget.com.

No, not all of them are stupid comments, but, as with all things Internet, the dumb ones stick out like weeds.

I was going to include one post in particular because it proved my point… until I realized that he was referring to something else. However, after scanning through more of the comments, I found exactly the comment that my suspicions told me would be posted:

“That’s really pathetic to think that people thought that those were bombs. People are idiots & the media is just hyping it up.”

Wow. He thought about the issue for about five seconds, didn’t he?

It’s highly, highly probable that most of Boston (let alone the country) doesn’t watch or even know what Aqua Teen Hunger Force is. Hell, I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen pictures of any of the characters. There’s plenty of crazy, scary stuff out there, so much so that a Lite-Brite cartoon figure slipping the bird accompanying a bomb could very much seem more like a social statement than a promotion for a movie.

And I’m not one to deny that the media doesn’t hype things up. For example, one of our local news channels once ran a spot promoting that night’s 11 o’clock news, and their story was, “Cat stuck up in a tree! Will he be saved? Find out at a eleven.”

That’s news? C’mon. No, I don’t think news should be completely devastating and scary, but at least report something of interest – a local convention, a big donation to charity, SOMETHING besides a cat stuck up in a tree.

So, no. I will not deny the media will glitz things up for the sake of selling their story to the public. However – and, granted, I have not read or heard every report on the matter – I haven’t heard anything too glamorous about the bomb-promo, nor is it difficult to determine the facts of the situation and how they lead to the conclusion that this was, in fact, a stupid, stupid thing for a company to do. Should I assume that these commenters are fans trying to find someone else to blame other than the network and the hired advertising firm? Or is blaming the media for hyping something up a natural reaction to notable stories these days? I’m not sure – I have no evidence to support either, other than to point out that I, myself, didn’t see any hyping.

And speaking of hyping, the other type of comments I read on Engadget.com was about the media’s penchant for turning scares into terrorist-related matters.

“I hope everyone realized that the terrorists have already won. The nanosecond someone can shut down roads based simply on the illusion that it might be a terrorist plot, they have gotten exactly what they wanted: being able to bring America or segments of America to a standstill without any actions on their part whatsoever.”

The MSN article that the Engadget page linked to mentioned “terror” once, which I’ll include here in context: “Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

“‘Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there’s absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world,’ Knocke said.”

The rest of the article did not make any mention of the promotion being mistaken for a terrorist-related incident. In fact, the above quote shows that a Homeland Security spokesman merely wanted to praise the efficiency of Boston officials and point out that in the current political climate, such hoaxes are not to be taken lightly. And he makes that statement rightfully so; in today’s world, I bet the first thing most people would think of is, “AAAAHH!!! Terrorist!” Is that the media’s fault? The government’s fault? It doesn’t matter. Whatever the cause, people are afraid. It’s not a good thing, and the government and the media are not doing anything to help alleviate that fear. But, in this case, it’s not even relevant. Terrorism aside, why were roads shut down in a “nanosecond”? Because there was a fake bomb found nearby. Terrorism is irrelevant here! If there was a bomb, fake or real, found on the side of a road, on a bridge, in a subway station, are you telling me that if terrorism wasn’t an issue and it’s more likely some kid planted the bomb, you wouldn’t shut the road/bridge/subway down? I think that you would. Terrorism has nothing to do with shutting down a road when there’s a bomb scare. The fact that a bomb was found, period, has EVERYTHING to do with shutting down the road.

If people can blame the media for over-hyping events, then I can blame people for hastily reacting (and over-reacting) and jumping to conclusions. Was there ever a time people took the time to listen, or read, and think about what they just heard or read? I know the Internet has made it easier for anyone and everyone to post a comment in an instant, encouraging hasty reaction, but that doesn’t mean anyone and everyone should. As Chris Rock once said – and I paraphrase – just because you can drive a car with your feet, don’t mean it’s a good idea.

You can blame the media and the government all you want, but when you post a comment online in reaction to, well, anything, you’re participating. You’ve become part of the media. And when your comment wasn’t thought out, you’re only contributing to that which you berate.