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Posted: 05.20.2003 The safety dance
I am so sick of this shit.
Current breaking news headline on CNN: "Senior U.S. officials say intelligence 'chatter' suggests terrorists may be planning a major attack inside the United States. Details to come." To be followed by "go on about your daily lives as usual", I'm sure. How many times has this been breaking news since 9-11? That does it. I'm sending Tom Ridge a copy of this, COD. Now I'm sure it will happen again one day. And one day in the not so distant future. But until you've got more than "chatter" to scare us all back into submission, keep it to yourselves!  This is like watching your sausage get made. No one cares. Until you provide the citizenry with the tools and the weapons to fight for themselves, then why bother us? It's clear they don't want us to have those rights anyway. ¤ ¤ credit: todd | 05.20.03 at 01:34 PM | link- -this ¤ ¤ Ok, this, my friends, is what you call CYA. They hear more chatter, so they make the statement, not because they're doing anything to make us more safe, but because then if something DOES happen, they can say "See, we warned you!". ¤ ¤ credit: Tracy | 05.20.03 at 02:04 PM | link--this ¤ ¤One official called the intelligence "reasonably spooky stuff." Well now I'm convinced! ;-) ¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 05.20.03 at 02:08 PM | link--this ¤ ¤my 2 cents - it's just their way of getting everyone's panties twisted up that and an 'xcuse for my mom to call and make sure i got that duct tape all ready and secure... ¤ ¤ credit: jewdez | 05.20.03 at 02:12 PM | link--this ¤ ¤I think it's just how the justify their budgets. ¤ ¤ credit: sean | 05.20.03 at 02:52 PM | link--this ¤ ¤So maybe I'm naive, but I don't mind the heightened alert reports, even if they are based no "chatter." There was increased chatter of the same sort immediately preceding Sept 11 so I'd rather US officials be overly cautious. Plus, with all due respect, instead of asking "How many times has this been breaking news since 9-11?" I'd like to know how many times potential threats have been thwarted that we don't even know about because of heightened security. Just my $.02. ¤ ¤ credit: sunshine | 05.20.03 at 03:08 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Sunshine, if they had proof that they had thwarted a big attack, it would be ALL OVER the news. ¤ ¤ credit: Tracy | 05.20.03 at 03:16 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Hell yeah it would, Tracy! ¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 05.20.03 at 03:19 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Another reason why I am happy we don't have a TV. ;) ¤ ¤ credit: Tina | 05.20.03 at 03:30 PM | link--this ¤ ¤tracy, you call it "news", i call it cheerleading. but yeah, it'd be all over the news, and everybody in the oval office would be patting each other on the back for months. quite honestly, i think it's gotten to the point that they're trying to build our "dependence" on the current administration. "you can't vote for someone else in 2004 when there's possible terrorism abound!" ¤ ¤ credit: mikey | 05.20.03 at 03:30 PM | link--this ¤ ¤My question is why they have to bother us with these alerts. Is it somehow more likely that you, or I, or anyone will be just a bit more vigilant and somehow thwart a terrorist plot that we wouldn't have at "yellow"? More precisely, tell the cops, tell the power plants, tell anyone who _needs_ to know. _I_ can do _nothing_ with this information, so it seems pointless to give it to me. And I suspect a lot of other people are the same. ¤ ¤ credit: Zippy | 05.20.03 at 03:32 PM | link--this ¤ ¤oh, and the best part? further down in that same article, Ridge says that the US is "significantly safer than we were 20 months ago". ¤ ¤ credit: mikey | 05.20.03 at 03:33 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Well that's just publicly begging for someone to prove them wrong, now isn't it? ¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 05.20.03 at 03:37 PM | link--this ¤ ¤This is what I like to pretend, though I agree with you. I like to think they say "Oh if we keep saying something is going to happen, it won't." Kind of like you tell your mom "Hey I know you're going to have a surprise party for me" and then she doesnt. I guess maybe if we call every day "terrorist surprise day" it won't happen! (yeah, right.) ¤ ¤ credit: beardog | 05.20.03 at 03:47 PM | link--this ¤ ¤My belief is that the announcements that "we are hearing chatter" and "orange alert" actually deter imminent terror attacks merely in the telling. By this, I mean that terrorists are counting on being able to slip by unawares and do their damage. But when US government officials say that they suspect an attack is coming, it brings too much attention to the sorts of activities that would otherwise go by unnoticed. Given that the object of terrorism is to engender widespread shock and fear, they can't very well strike when we're already shocked and afraid, because who'd even notice? So I welcome the announcements. They are truly as harmless and meaningless as anything else the government says.... ¤ ¤ credit: Pad | 05.20.03 at 08:21 PM | link--this ¤ ¤it had damn well better be *after* we find out who won. ¤ ¤ credit: tanya | 05.20.03 at 09:07 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Hmm...we're back up to orange? So I forget, is this when we're supposed to wear tin foil over every square inch of our bodies and lock ourselves in our closets? Or was that back at blue? Honestly, this whole technicolor terror chart is redundant and ridiculous. Green will never happen. Ever. May as well discard it. Red? If something "red" ever happens we won't know until it's over. discard it. Blue, yellow and orange? They're all the same damn thing! "Go about your business...but be careful". Let's just dump them all and stick with one color: Maroon. It's...appropriate. ¤ ¤ credit: Mike | 05.20.03 at 09:35 PM | link--this ¤ ¤Even though your "maroon" isn't the same as my maroon, I like that color, too. -this ¤ ¤Maybe, we are witnessing a resurgence of the McCarthy years, and/or the power that J. Edgar Hoover had. No Weapons of Mass Destruction, oh well... There still terrorists everywhere and, trust us, you probably need to give up some more rights for you own good! ¤ ¤ credit: Jonathan Smith | 05.21.03 at 10:51 AM | link--this ¤ ¤
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