The reflex of treating this intervention as some kind of security threat is embarrassing. I read an article at the time musing that the white flags meant somet

The reflex of treating this intervention as some kind of security threat is embarrassing. I read an article at the time musing that the white flags meant something about surrender. Like a child in a cave scaring himself by whispering "boo". The installation, by the way, reminded me of Richard Ankrom's guerrilla modification of a well-known freeway sign near downtown LA (http://www.ankrom.org/freeway_signs.html http://www.ankrom.org/freeway_signs.html). The artist had a sign fabricated to Caltrans specs, got a haircut and a hard hat, and did the install in broad daylight (on a weekend). It was up for over 8 years -- Caltrans noticed it after a couple of months. Eventually it was replaced by a similar design by actual Caltrans workers.