Here we go again

[redbird]

The "terror alert level" is back up to

If it ever hits Elmo, should I head for the hills? And are we still supposed to believe that the capture of Saddam Hussein somehow made anyone outside Iraq safer?

(That link fetches the current alert level, which presumably will change at some point; when this entry was posted it was at Ernie (orange))

Comments

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Um, you have to read the rationale in that Snuggle Fabric Softener teddy bear voice (I apologize for any trauma caused by hearing the Snuggle voice.)

"Because there are bad people who don't like Baby Jesus!"

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Officialy because of increased Al Queda chatter, some of which sounded like threats instead of propoganda.

Thing is, even with that explanation in mind, I can't help the cynicism ... Gotta make sure people stay just scared enough to remain cowed; can't let the major travel period go without a reminder of why things are the way they are; make sure people look to The Administration That's Protecting Them Really We Mean It Don't You Feel Safe so they don't think too hard about what "jobless recovery" actually means or whether we'll all be better off with one of The Candidates Without Experience Taking Care Of Us In These Dangerous Times in the White House.

So I'm having trouble feeling as scared as I'm "supposed" to feel. I probably wouldn't feel it at all except that sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow someone I love is getting on the first of a series of planes to take her from Maryland to visit her family in Turkey. The terror alert is just in time to wake up the little voices in the back of my head that say, "What if they try planes again? Please, please, not the one she'll be on..."

They're saying something is apparently in the works "bigger than 9/11".

On the one hand, they don't want to interfere with the economy and scare people away from shopping malls now, so maybe they'd only be doing this if there's really something to worry about. On the other hand, it's a perfect time psychologically, reminding people who've been thinking about Christmas instead of terror or politics, so we'll be thinking about how Our Government Is Protecting Us as we look for conversation topics at family gatherings, so it's too convenient-looking for me to trust. On the gripping hand, this would make sense for a time to attack, from a terrorist perpective...

[allyson13.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, they don't want to interfere with the economy and scare people away from shopping malls now, so maybe they'd only be doing this if there's really something to worry about.

Good point.

I don't think the Govenment wants folks not to spend money. Too many retailers are counting on a green holiday.

cynical bitch...

[elynne.livejournal.com]

"Increased chatter." "Big threat" of "indeterminate nature." "Plans in place." You know what my cynical self says? That they have an idea, anywhere from a glimmering to a pretty shrewd one, of what is being "planned"... and they deliberately aren't revealing what the actual threat is. Generously, because they don't know exactly where/when it will happen; less generously, because they do know, but don't want to spook the populace off their holiday spending any more than nessecary.

*sigh*