k wrote:
Even in a relatively sane society, you ought to expect an impromptu interview with a cop if you go to an airport with hastily constructed electronics on your shirt.

Right, the problem was not that they responded. They SHOULD have responded. The problem was that they assumed it was a bomb and were about to mow her down in street, and when they found out that it wasn't a bomb and there was no problem they nailed her to the wall with the most serious criminal charge they could come up with for causing them the trouble. Similar to the Boston incident, the fact that you have to investigate things out of an abundance of caution implies that you're going to investigate a bunch of innocent stuff. Whats important is what occurs after you figure out that there is no problem. If you continue to make a big deal out of it and threaten to ruin lives over it you can become a greater risk than the terrorists you're fighting.

The genuinely sad truth is that if they'd shot her, a large proportion of the country would think it was the right reaction.

Fascists are always crawling out of the woodwork to defend this sort of thing.

Side note, not relevant to the above, as an "art project", I think the hoodie sucks, but maybe it's just not my style, like Dali or 99% of comic strips.

Kind of a lame circuit, just some lights, but you spend a lot of time in labs with stuff like that when you take those classes...

RE: MIT student arrested for entering Boston airport with art project