The LAPD shut down a busy Metro station and brought in the bomb squad to diffuse a piece of street art yesterday.
The 'device' as it is being called, was a piece of street art by Free Humanity from his 'Forbidden Fruit'. It featured an apple (a real, edible, apple--not a shiny plastic one or any sort of 'bomb-looking' item), with a grenade top affixed to the stem. It was left hanging by a string in a tree in downtown Los Angeles.
It had been hanging there in the sun for over a week, so we can assume it was probably somewhat shriveled at the time, but still, most definitely, an apple. When yesterday, an ex-marine walked by and saw it in the tree and alerted the authorities. And that's when things got out of hand. Instead of identifying it for what it was, an apple, the LAPD responded as if it were a real threat, sent in a bomb squad and and shut down the nearby Metro. According to the local news report, they thought the 'device' might explode when pulled from the string.
While we appreciate the LAPD doing all they can to keep people safe, it seems that common sense should play some sort of a role in what the LAPD deems a legitimate threat. And if a decorated apple is a threat, what next?
And the way the local news has covered this story is also pretty ridiculous and slanted. Throughout the newscast, they refer to it as a 'device' or 'item', and the only time an apple is even mentioned is about the guy who spotted it when they say 'at first, he thought it was an apple'. They even go on to say that the 'item' was detonated to see how the incendiary device, if any, worked, and left it open ended as if there were any such device. Of course, no such device was found. But that, or mentioning that the suspicious item was only an apple after all, were never even mentioned in the newscast. Its poor reporting, purposefully oriented to steer the viewer towards thinking the item was something that it was not.
This whole scene is very similar what happened a few years ago in Boston, when the Boston Police overreacted to some street LED marketing for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, calling it a potential terrorist plot.
Some people mentioned on the blog that they didn't understand what this piece was about. But now, it seems this story has given the piece context, and this fruit, truly is forbidden~
