The Boston Police recently took down a sinister looking and blinking threat that could have been for all we know the timing mechanism for some horrendous bomb, or a homing beacon for evil space aliens /Arab Terrorists/liberal Democrats (pick one).
Actually, the neon intruder was a plug for the cult cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a crime fighting trio composed of an order of french fries, milkshake, and a meatball. Actually, if reason serves, a billboard for cigarettes, liquor, or SUVs is far more alarming. But no matter, given the fevered imagination of today, the threat was there, kinda. But blame the fever. Consider this, if you were on edge about the sky falling, the last thing you want to hear is something unexpected like a balloon popping. That would set you all a flutter, and put the prankster in league with the devil, or if you're on the other side of the fence, the great Satan. It all has to do with a case of nerves, not reasoning.
But is the sky falling? Well, no. Much more likely it will be an expanding waistline rather than a terrorist bomb that will do us in. A sad fact of life is that humans are mathematically able to calculate risk but incapable of rationally responding to it, and if you add a bit of emotion to the equation, even a neon-animated order of fries can set them off. Perhaps we need a few deadly exploding doughnuts or pop-bottles to get us to focus on the truly risky things. But in lieu of terrorists sabotaging our french fry supplies, I'm not counting on it.
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