It's been about six months since the "Notes From the Field" column morphed into the Cringely Blog, and in that time I've learned at least one thing: If you want to stir up a hornet's nest, blog about topics like evolution and terrorism. Faithful Cringesters responded in droves to my post last week about Star Simpson and her unfortunate choice of fashion accessory at Boston's Logan Airport. As I write this, that Faithful Cringesters responded in droves to my post last week about Star Simpson and her unfortunate choice of fashion accessory at Boston’s Logan Airport. As I write this, that post has received 109 comments, putting it second only to my entry last June about the debut of the Creation Museum in Kentucky (which stands at about 180 responses).Not bad for a snarky technology column. The overall gist: Most Cringesters disagree with my belief that the authorities overreacted to the MIT student’s blinking piece of jewelry. G. S. writes: Even my flaming liberal wife thinks people who wear fake bombs into high security areas should spend the night in jail and get “STUPID” tattooed on their foreheads.B. B. adds: I am not saying that they should have shot her, but I am saying that I hope that they made her life at least as inconvenient as she made theirs (and no doubt others)….Publicity and personal ego fulfillment seems a poor reason to make others feel threatened. The authorities reacted as they should and I do not in any way see them as overreacting. And those were the nice emails. Many posters were less kind to both me and Simpson. That’s fine. It’s what living in a democracy is about — the freedom to say what you think. I realized later I should have offered up more details of the incident, since many posters seem to have the wrong idea about what happened. As far as we know, Simpson didn’t do this as a publicity stunt or provocation, and she didn’t try to get her ‘art shirt’ through security (where it likely would have been confiscated without guns being drawn). She simply approached an information booth, asked a question, and left. Her big mistake, besides poor fashion choices, was failing to respond to the booth worker’s questions about the oddly glowing circuit board stitched to her sweatshirt.Most readers probably haven’t seen what Simpson’s jewelry looked like (the New York Times has a nice photo of it here). Suspicious, yes. Deadly? Not to my eyes. Several readers believed Simpson should have been shot and/or carted off to Guantanamo Bay for a few years. One hopes these are the folks who didn’t get all the facts of the story and were responding emotionally, not intellectually. Other readers suggested that if airport security begins shooting/incarcerating people for wearing suspicious jewelry, what’s to stop them from hauling off people who are carrying iPods or cell phones or other electronics that are more likely to house a real bomb? In other words, where does prudence end and paranoia begin? That’s really my point, however unoriginal it may be. A terrorist’s “job” is to create terror — paranoia, suspicion, mistrust, all those nasty emotions that came bubbling to the surface after the Star Simpson episode — in the hopes of coercing us to give up our freedoms. Give into it and the bad guys have won. Resist the urge to trade liberty for security, and we win. Yes, Star Simpson is deserving of having “stupid” tattooed on forehead — and if they spelled it in blinking LEDs she might actually go for it. But jail, or worse? I don’t think so.We now return you to our regular geek rumor blog, already in progress.Got more hot button issues you wish to discuss? Post your screeds below or email me directly. Top tipsters are eligible for exciting new prizes. Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business