Wow, I have to say that my first thought was "why the hell would anyone wear something like that to an airport?" followed quickly by "what in god's name does a 19 year old MIT student need with playdoh at an airport?", "was carreer day at the airport, or was she going there after?" "How is stinking of playdoh going to help you stand out in a good way?", "Why didn't she answer when she was asked about the 'device' on her shirt?"... I mean, obviously when examined there's no way what she was wearing could blow anything up, I dunno... I think that first off, she was completely moronic to wear something like that to an airport, and, perhaps more importantly, there's no way she should be charged with wearing a hoax device, whatever the hell that is... I don't know,I'd like to hear her side of it, 'cause from what little I read, it seems like she was kind of trying to start something.

heh... that's kinda like the 'guerrilla' advertising campaign that happened a while ago in many cities, but Boston was the one that overreacted.
2007 Boston Mooninite scare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was basically an LED sign stuck in a few random places.

Maybe soon they'll think anything with a battery is a bomb and outlaw cellphones and ipods. One can only dream, right? :P

I just don't get the US. I can't figure out the paranoia they are under the influence of. I do not disagree this woman was a twit, or absent minded, or whatever. She probably should have thought a little more before she acted. On the other hand, 'security' issues get blown way out of proportion these days and nobody thinks with a level head.

I'm not going to get into the argument of whether or not what she did was right, or what law enforcement did was wrong. I think there is blame to be had on both sides, more so on law enforcement than on her. End of story.

What I want to make a point out of, is the hysteria that is going on in the U.S. over something like this. The culture of fear, and fear mongering by those in charge is ridiculous! I'm getting sick and tired of people getting scared into doing what the government wants, being told to behave or 'they might end up dead'. This whole incident is a media circus to further reinforce this feeling into people. Don't act out of line. Don't do anything we don't like. Heck, don't do anything at all other than consume what we give you like mindless sheep.

The point of terrorism is to create fear and terror. Now let's think about this rationally for a second, what do we have in the U.S. (or even here in Canada) right now? That's right, they have have fear and terror in abundance. All of this security and overreacting hasn't made anyone feel any safer. Not one bit. If you listen to the polls (and I can't vouch for their objectivity) when people are asked if they feel safer, none of them do. The fear is rampant, and our freedoms are dwindling as powers are given to the government to combat this fear. These knee-jerk reactions mean that the terrorists are winning, and they haven't even done anything. We're scaring our bloody selves into thinking that everyone's out to get us.

You have to get past the fear, or they've already won the battle... no matter how much you try to fight them.

I can't believe mike actually has valid non-sarcastic points.

Flying is a huge hassle now a days because of "security". things like this at MIT. And various other random things.

Here's a couple off the top of my head: Seven-year-old Muslim boy stopped in US three times on suspicion of being a terrorist | the Daily Mail Sippy Cup Spill Sparks Tiff at National Airport - washingtonpost.com

TSA's ban on liquids and gel's is absolutely asinine. The so called trained security experts that handle these things are often extremely clueless and overreactive.

Then there's the stuff that they completely miss and let pass like this: ZUG: Comedy Articles: Shakes on a Plane

I dunno, I don't feel like I'm being spoon-fed fear, but that could have something to do with the fact that I pretty well avoid news... I find it depressing on a whole, and I've known the world is going to hell in a bucket sice I was about four; I don't need the knowledge reinforced... and to be quite honest, I do feel better with security measures at airports being boosted. I mean, it's not like my civil liberties are being violated if I have to take off my shoes and run them through a scanny machine. The liquid thing, I still find funny. It honestly feels like "oh, this zip-lock bag will save us."
As for loss of rights (excluding the right to wear tech-art to an airport, which is now seemingly gone) I'd love some examples. Maybe I'm missing it, 'cause of my lack of knowledge of news and stuff, but I can't think of anything, other than the fuzzy liberal type of fear mongering we get here, ie: elementary school kids not being allowed to wear masks, look scary or carry plastic weapons on halloween and other small-time nonsense.

I don't know much about electronics, but I don't buy the 'that couldn't be a bomb' argument much. If she's wearing a baggy sweater, the device she was wearing could easily have been a relay connected to a much larger power source and some plastic explosive, all hidden under her sweater. Unlikely (she'd probably just hide it ALL under her sweater in that case), but certainly not impossible.

The article said it was very quickly determined that the device was harmless once law enforcement took a look at it. What more can you ask of them? Should they not look at all, because the I.Q. 87 airline stewardess who saw the girl decided it was just a breadboard and a 9V and couldn't possibly be a bomb? If you ask me, that would be ridiculous. They saw someone suspicious, didn't take chances, found out there was nothing wrong, end of story.

Except of course for the 'hoax device' charge which I think is partially ridiculous. At the same time, it's partially not ridiculous at all. Wearing something that could reasonably be expected to generate this reaction into an airport is a surefire way to waste the time of law enforcement officers, and put people on edge, contributing to the state of paranoia and fear that you're referring to. So, I don't think you can have it both ways. She's being punished for adding to the heightened state of fear, because she should have known better. I think you have to either agree that there's some sense to that or stop ranting about how awful the heightened state of fear is.

On the issue in general (the fear mongering, paranoia, etc.), I absolutely agree. It's getting nuts. The security measures that are being brought into place in various venues (e.g. public security cameras, border crossing restrictions, etc.) serve mostly to make people more afraid, not less, and I definitely don't think that's an accident. I think however that we need to take a step back and not let our youthful inexperience trick us into believing this is a new phenomenon or that things are getting worse.

I'm sure you'd find numerous examples in recent economic history of such scare tactics that dated much further back - the deliberate establishment of a climate of fear; the process of always keeping the American mind trained on some predatory worry, to make them that little bit more malleable.

The extra technology necessary to make paper pulp out of wood instead of hemp was born out of a ban on the growth of any plants in that same rough family - a ban largely pushed into being by scare tactics initiated in the media by newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who had coincidentally acquired massive forest assets. Again, the ignorance of the public at large was targeted, citing the violence and unruliness of the latest generation of frightening teens as the product of drug use, particularly 'marijuana,' a term, apparently, that was deliberately used because the public was unfamiliar with it. The fear mongering went on until suitable public and political support could be found for a War on Drugs (sound familiar, anyone?), including the formation of the D.E.A. (F.B.N. at the time), at which point that War on Drugs quickly became a facilitating machine for the personal agendas of government officials and cronies such as Hearst himself.

It doesn't stop at fear mongering, either (another likely tie to the War on Terror). To avoid competition from other hemp growers worldwide, the D.E.A. pushed until a number of non-proliferation treaties were signed with various countries, including Bangladesh, which was driven into poverty after pressure from the U.S. led to the abandonment of hemp - its principle cash crop.

There is even speculation about a possible role in the Kennedy assassination - and it's a plausible connection too. Kennedy was reputed to be a recreational marijuana user, and there were rumours that he planned to legalize the drug. He even went so far as to fire the head of the D.E.A., who had been appointed at its creation and had held the role for 32 years without challenge. Shortly afterwards, he (Kennedy) was killed.

I guess what I'm attempting to zero in on with this example is that every brief study of every aspect of American history I've ever made has revealed the use of the media to instill fear in the people as a tool to accomplish one agenda or another. The circumstances have always been absolutely ridiculous, the motives always transparent, and yet it seems to be a proven and successful technique.

I do agree that it's abhorrent and disgusting and very very frightening (no, not... you know what I mean :P), but I also feel that the Sad State of the U.S. is something that probably dates back to confederation.

... and don't even get me started on Canada...

Or, to sum it all up, Quig,...'The Sad State of Insert Soverign Nation Here (lovely country, the ISNH...chief export is shrimp).

It's really that whole 'governments should be afraid of their people' thing...and not just because the majority of their people are stupid...such as the Iraq...but because it's (usually) the people who put them in power and take it away, via election or revoution or whatever comes first.

...I'd never heard that particular take on the Kennedy assassination, but I suppose it makes as much sense as any other (except aliens, unless you mean the illegal sort).

I could continue making no sense, but I think I'll just head for bed....

PS: Stupid woman wearing a circuit board and lights should be punished...not just for causing a whole big fuss when even someone from Deliverance would know better...but because embedding flashing lights and 'tech art' in your sweaters is lame and tacky no matter what fancy-pants tech school you go to.

hahaha... nice. and such, the Iraq and Africa in the schools.