The Moonmen Are Coming!
Load your shotguns, dig a bomb shelter, and stock up on Spam and beans
folks, our worst fears have been realized; they’re coming. That’s
right. Moon men.
Sound outrageous? Well, apparently not to Boston authorities, who shut down
a major portion of the city last month – 
including
the Boston University and Longfellow Bridges as well as boat traffic from
the Charles River to Boston Harbor – in response to nearly 40 “bomb-like”
devices placed on bridges, tunnels, and overpasses. Even more outrageous
was the reality of the supposed scare.
The devices, which depicted a boxy, blinking moon man straight out of Space
Invaders giving motorists the finger, turned out to be part of an overnight
advertising campaign to promote late-night Adult Swim cartoon “Aqua
Teen Hunger Force” [Adult Swim airs on Cartoon Network in the evenings].
A satire of our fast-food consumer culture, the cartoon depicts the misadventures
of a suburban happy meal, namely “Frylock, Master Shake, and Meatwad,”
and sometimes includes a pair of delinquent moon men, or “Mooninites,”
known for adolescent pranks, obscenities, and pyramid scams.
Funny stuff.
Unfortunately, Boston officials 
didn’t
think so. After scrambling bomb squads and police to defuse the situation,
authorities arrested Turner Broadcasting publicists Steven Berdovsky and
Sean Stevens on charges of disorderly conduct and placing hoax devices to
incite a mass panic. Although like-devices had been in place for over 3
weeks without incident in nine other major U.S. cities such as New York,
Los Angeles, and Chicago, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called the stunt “outrageous,
unconscionable, and a product of corporate greed.” Massachusetts Asst.
Attorney General Coakley claimed the device, “had a very sinister
appearance … It had a battery behind it, and wires.”
Turner CEO Phil Kent apologized publicly to the citizens of Boston that
the campaign was “mistaken for a public danger,” and said authorities
were notified and the remaining signs “taken down immediately.”
But Coakley, Menino and others said the apology was not enough and did not
rule out criminal charges or a civil suit to recover the estimated hundreds
of thousands of dollars it cost the city to respond to the bomb scares,
according to CNN.
Berdovsky and Stevens, who were released on $2,500 bail pending trial, refused
to comment to reporters. Instead, they offered testimony on “70’s
hair styles.” Even funnier was the testimony of Asst. Attorney General
John Grossman, who testified in federal court that the moon man in question
was, “flipping the bird, your honor.” The incident reached instant
internet fame when video footage of crews assembling and installing the
devices was posted on sites like YouTube and zebbler.com. Prices for un-detonated
moon men shot to $700 on eBay.
Shenanigans aside, we have to question the mindset of public officials instinctively
reacting with a military mindset to such harmless tomfoolery. That Berdovsky
and Stevens face jail time and Turner Inc. a reported $2 million in lawsuits,
scares me. Worse, their first amendment rights were outright ignored in
the name of homeland security, a blanket term subject to unimaginable abuse
in what Coakley termed our “post 911 world.” What other constitutional
rights are on the block? Frankly, the fact that a cartoon billboard could
shut down an entire city and alert the Pentagon, which admittedly tracked
the incident from U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, appalls me.
Is the entire country afraid of its own shadow? I admit, maybe watching
cartoons at midnight isn’t the most adult behavior, but neither is
refusing to admit when you’ve made a mistake. Even if you’re,
I don’t know, the Mayor of a major city.
Come on guys – it’s a @#$%^& cartoon.
Let it go.
TO: Shoutmag@gmail.com
RE: The Mooninites
Hey dudes,
Yeah - looks like Turner settled out of court for $2million - causing quite
a stir as it’s over two times the reported costs.
No info on the trial as of yet - some buzz that it is still going down.
HUGE buzz against the city of Boston and their overreaction and their attempt
to make it into some serious homeland security issue, post 911 hoopla.
The mayor and att. general of Boston/Mass are really taking it in the [expletive]
online.
There’s even a small “Free the Boston Two” movement.
That, and Turner is laughing it’s ass off over the publicity the stunt
garnered world wide with the coverage and footage. Plus, Berdovsky videotaped
the bombsquad detonating one of the MoonMen - great.
Well worth the $2mill and the $600 they paid Berdovsky and Stevens - they
split it 50/50.
peace and chicken grease,
aubin
Related Links
Peter Berdovsky's official site