<story><title>German Artists Say They Put White Flags on Brooklyn Bridge</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/arts/design/german-artists-say-they-put-white-flags-on-brooklyn-bridge.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dasil003</author><text>The only thing embarrassing about this to the authorities is their reaction.&lt;p&gt;It ought to be apparent to anyone that providing perfect security is impossible, and that pretending we can is akin to a child sticking fingers in their ears and shouting &amp;quot;la-la-la&amp;quot;.  I think it&amp;#x27;s already clear that if we catch you doing terrorism you&amp;#x27;ll never see the light of day again, so &amp;quot;trying to send a strong message&amp;quot; about pranks like this just makes us look weak and vulnerable.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>look_lookatme</author><text>Can you elaborate on the police reaction? Here are some quotes by the NYPD:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;&amp;quot;&amp;quot;
“It appears to have no particular connections to terrorism or even to politics,” Miller said. “This may be somebody’s art project or even a statement.”&lt;p&gt;But police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the matter was serious nonetheless.
“Needless to say, no matter what the motive was, that is a matter of concern,” Bratton said. “I am not particularly happy about the event, and have charged Commissioner Miller to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances.”&lt;p&gt;Miller emphasized that the white flag placement was not funny, and was not acceptable.
“We don’t take these things lightly, or as a joke, or as art, or within the realm of speech,” Miller said. “These are issues of trespass. They put themselves in danger. They put others in danger.”
&amp;quot;&amp;quot;&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;These don&amp;#x27;t seem like unreasonable statements. It may seem interesting in the abstract, but I personally don&amp;#x27;t care for any random persons crawling all over the Brooklyn Bridge consequence-free.</text></comment>
<story><title>German Artists Say They Put White Flags on Brooklyn Bridge</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/arts/design/german-artists-say-they-put-white-flags-on-brooklyn-bridge.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dasil003</author><text>The only thing embarrassing about this to the authorities is their reaction.&lt;p&gt;It ought to be apparent to anyone that providing perfect security is impossible, and that pretending we can is akin to a child sticking fingers in their ears and shouting &amp;quot;la-la-la&amp;quot;.  I think it&amp;#x27;s already clear that if we catch you doing terrorism you&amp;#x27;ll never see the light of day again, so &amp;quot;trying to send a strong message&amp;quot; about pranks like this just makes us look weak and vulnerable.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jobu</author><text>I was going to say the same thing, and this quote from one of them made me laugh: &amp;quot;We really didn’t intend to embarrass the police.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The police did it to themselves.  If they had blown it off as a waste of time and resources to investigate some prank, then they could&amp;#x27;ve saved face and preserved the myth of the current &amp;quot;security theatre&amp;quot;.</text></comment>