Once again Boston has shown itself to be a little too tightly wound. What is it that makes these people quiver at the sight of toys and pranks?

The latest episode of skittishness is the arrest of an MIT student who is accused of wearing a “fake bomb” at Logan International Airport. Never mind that the allegedly fake bomb is nothing more than a circuit board with a battery attached. Forget that it was being worn on the outside of a sweatshirt in full view of everyone (not something a terrorist is likely to do). And ignore completely that the student, Star Simpson, is enrolled at MIT where students commonly engage in creative inventions.

The foregoing notwithstanding, Boston’s finest still managed to overreact and assume the worst. This, of course, is not the first time. Back in February, the city ground to a halt because a cable tv network left some litebrite toys around town to publicize the premiere of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon series. As I said at that time:

“Once again we are reminded of the ever-present danger posed to society by artists. The free exercise of creative expression continues to be amongst the more serious threats to an ordered and manageable population. No wonder responsible governments spend so much of their time and resources suppressing such subversions. Without such efforts we would be forever vulnerable to the horrors of independent thought and action.”

In both incidents, the media became a willing accomplice to this conclusion jumping. Every headline and teaser blasts the words “Fake Bomb” as if there had been an actual determination that this was the intent. A responsible press might have considered describing it as an “electrical device” of unknown purpose. But that wouldn’t grab as many viewers or sell as many papers.