Boston’s Reaction To Security Scare Debated

In nine cities across the country, blinking electronic signs displaying a profane, boxy-looking cartoon character caused barely a stir.

But in Boston, the signs — some with protruding wires — sent a wave of panic across the city, prompting officials to shut down highways and bridges and send out bomb squads.

The question many were asking Thursday was: Did Boston overreact?

The suspicious devices found in Boston (top) are virtually indistinguishable from the type of improvised explosive device commonly used in terrorist attacks (bottom).

The question that people should be asking is not “Did Boston overreact?” but “Why is America underreacting?” In a post-9/11 world, anything less than barely contained hysteria is not only irresponsible, it’s downright unpatriotic.

We’re at war, people! This is no time for calm, rational thought. We have a moral obligation to those who have died — and are dying — in the war on terror to be, well, terrorized. Not panicking implies that there is no reason to panic. And if there is no reason to panic, then there is no reason to be in Iraq, firing wildly into the desert in hopes of killing something brown and evil.

Sure, you might not feel threatened by the My Little Pony sticker stuck to the subway bench next to you. And maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s not a paper-thin wafer of Semtex explosives laced with highly concentrated radioactive anthrax. But are you really prepared to take that chance? I’m not.

The fact is, we live in a dangerous world, full of dangerous people and dangerous things. Danger is everywhere. Death lurks around every corner. Each minute we live is a minute closer to violent dismemberment at the hands of a faceless terrorist.

I Scream, You Scream: A bloodthirsty terrorist puts the finishing touches on her latest murderous creation.

You think you know Death. You think you’ll see him coming. But while you’re looking out for a tall guy with a skull face and a black robe, Death is sneaking up behind you disguised as the Hamburglar, or as a Fonzie doll, or as Hillary Clinton.

And while your mortal screams fade to just the sound of your arterial blood splashing to the pavement, I’ll be safe with the real Americans: under the bed in my homemade bomb shelter, clutching a shotgun, a Bible, and a big sign saying, “I Told You So.”

Wake up, America. If we don’t live our lives in the grip of relentless, irrational, unyielding fear, then the terrorists have already won.