Panic in Hamden Council Meeting

Prank Prompts Panic at Council Meeting
He slipped in almost unnoticed — an unidentified man wearing a turban and a body-length robe, carrying a small statue covered in a cloth.

He put the statue down on a table by the door in the Thornton Wilder Auditorium Tuesday night, removed the cloth, and exited as quickly as he appeared.
...
When it was clear no one [knew anything about what had just transpired], panic set in and the room cleared within seconds. Both council and audience members fled out a side door into the parking lot at the Miller Memorial Library.

Hamden Police Chief Tom Wydra, who was in the audience, darted outside to look for the man, who was still in the parking lot — minus the turban and robe.
...
The council's meeting resumed normally shortly after the incident. But for several tense moments, when no one knew why the statue was there, it was clear that everyone was thinking that it could be a bomb.

It's kinda sad that we've reached this point..when some small simple stimuli (some unrecognisable statue, robe, turban) can send people to their basest animal forms.

And people think it's surprising or unrealistic that the government would attempt to control people through fear.

Quinnipiac University Political Science Prof. Colleen Driscoll said it is a sign of the times that people would react that way to what turned out to be an innocent prank.

"If he hadn't been dressed that way, would the reaction have been the same?" she asked.

I'd LIKE to think that if some dude sneaked into a room and left a statue, I'd find it more funny or curious than scary.
Most hilarious of all, of course, is the statue itself:

We live in different times now. If I see someone come into one of my college classes put something suspicious down then leave rapidly i'm gonna be panicked too. I'd rather be alive and wrong then dead and right.

How arrogant is that town.

I doubt the #1 target on a Terrorists Dream Sheet is HAMDEN.

That is a huge statue. No one bothered to help him or ask him about it as he was carrying that big thing around? Is it really almost as big as that door or is it the angle of the picture?

Edit*
Read the article and answered my own questions

reply to post by babloyi


SO THAT'S where my bakers statue went to...

damn thieves! I WANT IT BACK!

Originally posted by kro32
We live in different times now. If I see someone come into one of my college classes put something suspicious down then leave rapidly i'm gonna be panicked too.

Have you tried therapy?

Talking to someone about your phobia is something that will help you deal with it and become more reasonable and rational in your thinking.

reply to post by kro32


This is the mentality that is going to destroy America. People living in fear of the terrorists... Oh god, the terrorists are everywhere!!! Everythings a bomb!

I bet if I told you right now your best friend was a terrorist, you'd hide under your bed and call the police.

reply to post by Lostmymarbles

Yeah, it wasn't so big, 2 feet tall. The image is of the statue on a table near the door, not on the floor near the door.

Thing is, if someone was going to do an attack, they wouldn't be dressed in a robe and turban, and probably wouldn't hide it in the statue of a butcher, a baker, or a pizza-pie maker .

And (not directed at kro or anything, but) this mentality is ALREADY destroying America. When people have been programmed and drummed up into such a state of fear, it gets easier to take advantage of them, case in point, the Patriot Act (which the Nobel Peace prize winning Obama extended for another 4 years last month) and the TSA hassles we have to go through now.

And the scary thing is...because of the fear pressure, people are willing to take it!