Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Doesn't seem like a prank in these times.>> Yea, but... Have we gone overboard with paranoia? A person could have done just as much damage by tossing a cherry bomb fire-cracker in a trash can. Is that really terrorism?
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 The thing with this "prank" is that someone could have gotten really hurt. What would have happened if a little kid stuck his hand in the trash to throw something away right as this thing exploded? Also, people could have been hurt if there was a panic after the explosion. In addition, the bomb squad had to come out and deal with it, which costs taxpayers a lot of money, and Disney lost any money they would have made in Toontown while the area was closed. I am not saying this guy should be charged with terrorism or thrown in jail for a long time or anything, but he did an incredibly stupid thing and there should be consequences for it. I really do not feel a bit sorry for him at this point.
Originally Posted By HRM I guess this goes to "show" not all Cast Members consider their jobs as Magical; for some, as most other people, a job is just a job.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Have we gone overboard with paranoia?<< Absolutely. >>I am not saying this guy should be charged with terrorism or thrown in jail for a long time or anything, but he did an incredibly stupid thing and there should be consequences for it.<< Absolutely. We have various triggers that apparently really set us off. We do not handle random violence well. So a bomb goes off at the Boston Marathon, and it's news 24/7 with an entire city being shut down. We know the names of the dead. We see their Facebook photos plastered all over the news. We know their hopes and their dreams. A fertilizer plant in Texas explodes, killing five times as many people, and we shrug and say, "Cryin' shame, that." This isn't supposed to happen at DL, so when it does, we apparently end up with possible terrorism charges and one meeeellion dollars bail, all probably because a dumb kid probably wanted to get out of work for a day and go see Star Trek.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Believe it or not, the night it happened it was the lead story on the local news here in NY. In LA I get it, but NY? Goes to show a). anything vaguely related to even fear of terrorism still sells, and b). Disneyland still very much a national icon.
Originally Posted By tashajilek I still think the guy leaving a loaded gun on Dinosaur is way worse, but that's the U.S for you.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Doesn't seem like a prank in these times." It does to me. "Have we gone overboard with paranoia?" This is how we end up with things like the Patriot Act, three strikes laws and zero tolerance policies. I hate humans sometimes.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I still think the guy leaving a loaded gun on Dinosaur is way worse, but that's the U.S for you. >>> The difference between the two is that in the Dinosaur incident, there was no malicious intent. Whatever the DL guy's intent was (probably not terrorism, but at the very least to startle a lot of people), it wasn't good. Let's assume he had no intent to injure anyone - still, setting off a bomb of any type, even if just to make a lot of noise, deliberately in a high-profile place with a lot of people, isn't good. And, during the early stages of the story, nobody including the media knew that it was just a harmless prank - all that was known was that there was an explosion of some kind at DL and that part of the park had been evacuated.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< A person could have done just as much damage by tossing a cherry bomb fire-cracker in a trash can. Is that really terrorism? >>> It wasn't when you and I were in high school. Back then, when something like this happened, most people thought "Oh, some kids probably blew up a trash can or mailbox with a cherry bomb." These days, there's a reasonable fear that such a thing is more than that. It's certainly reasonable that the authorities treat such situations as serious until they establish otherwise, and people conducting "pranks" such as these need to take that into account before they act.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 hese days, there's a reasonable fear that such a thing is more than that.<< reasonable fear my ass, you have a better chance of getting gunned down walking to your car then you have of getting blown up by a terrorist in the U.S... But let's keep on stoking the fears of everyone....
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Yes, our fear is the goal of terrorists. They can't kill us all, but they CAN make us all scared. The terrorists have truly won.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Yes, our fear is the goal of terrorists. They can't kill us all, but they CAN make us all scared. The terrorists have truly won. << The media doesn't help matters....they almost look forward to terrorist acts based on the way they jump all over them...
Originally Posted By ecdc >>The media doesn't help matters....they almost look forward to terrorist acts based on the way they jump all over them...<< Sadly...this.
Originally Posted By berol They better look forward to it. It's huge news that needs quick coverage when it happens.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 They better look forward to it. It's huge news that needs quick coverage when it happens.<< Wow....just wow...
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I am not minimizing the Boston attack, but where is some reality? How many were killed that day because of it? Three? Yes, it was a terrible event, but auto accidents probably kill that many in the Boston area on an average weekend. The media laps it up and then barfs it back to us... and we eagerly eat it up like a baby Robin being fed by their mother.
Originally Posted By HRM I was talking about this incident with co-workers, and the conversation went toward what we did as kids... cherry-bombs, etc. - some even admitted to the dry ice/ plastic bottle "bomb". Times have changed.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 The media laps it up and then barfs it back to us... and we eagerly eat it up like a baby Robin being fed by their mother.<< The coverage is often incomplete and flat out wrong, and corrections are either ignored and/or not admitted to loudly enough so some Americans continue to believe the reporting, even when it is not entirely accurate...
Originally Posted By Tikiduck Well, now it's up to the legal system to figure out how to deal with the guy. Malicious anarchist, or dim witted punk. My guess is on the dimwit, but I feel an example is going to be made, one way or another. The state of paranoia is only going to get worse. An eight year old schoolkid was recently expelled for chewing his pop-tart into the shape of a gun. Then the school offered counseling for any students who were traumatized by the incident. Madness!
