Terror level to Orange/Elevated

[PokePop]

I agree with UncleBob, if you give in to the fear of terrorists, you let them win. If you never ride a plane again because 9/11, they won.

Never riding a plane again or never going to New York City again would be silly and letting the terrorists win and I know some people that have overreacted like that.

I've flown lots and been to New York and my family was in Washington DC two days ago. (note that I was nervous about my kids being in DC at this time)

However, going to Times Square on New Years Eve during a heightened alert when that gathering at Times Square is known to be a potential, if not likely, target... well, that's a bit different.

My hats off to those that went, but again, I would not say a word to anyone that decided that the risk was not worth it. It's easy for those not in the NYC area to decide that they would go and therefore everyone else should make that same decision.
Personally, I don't feel that I'm qualified to make those decisions for everyone.

 

[UncleBob]

While I see your point of view, PokePop - and it is a reasonable point of view, it reminds me of a conversation I had with my g/f about "Mall-O-Ween"

For those unfamiliar with the story, here's a great link from a wonderful site... http://www.snopes.com/rumors/mallrisk.htm

Anywhoo, my g/f's mother had received the e-mail posted on this site warning everyone to stay away from shopping malls on Halloween night because of a threat of terrorist activities... My g/f's mother was all freaking out about it and my g/f and I got into a big arguement over it becuase I thought (and still do think) that it is stupid to change your daily plans because of "unknown threats" that most likely aren't going to effect anything. Even after I showed her the page above (with the link to the FBI's press release discrediting the entire e-mail) she *still* refused to go to the mall on Halloween.

Not only did the terrorists win this one (and, mind you, they probably had absolutly no hand in this e-mail) but those who did start the e-mail got their jollies because of every individual who refused to go to the mall because, basically, they were scared.

On a related note, my g/f used to tell me about all kinds of e-mails her mother would get (the stolen kidneys, the heroin needle in the play pit at McD's... etc) and every time, I'd show her a page on this site with that exact same e-mail and various sources stating that the e-mail was false. Finally, she got mad at me and has not since told me about another crazy e-mail her mother has received... (unfortunatly, I could get her to reffer her mother to this site...)

 

[PokePop]

I love snopes!
www.straightdope.com is also an excellent site.

My wife told me a while ago about this board of education member that was talking about something and, in passing, mentioned as a 'fact' that KFC used genetically altered, boneless chickens for it's fried chicken.
I used snopes to pull up the debunking of this, but it was sad that a person in authority bought into crap like this without questioning it.

Anyway, the 'mall-oween' incident and the current orange level alert fall into slightly different categories. One is a rumor spread by e-mail (heard the latest one about 'french-owned' Target not allowing the collection of Toys for Tots?) by idiots and believed by fools, and the other is an alert put out by our government.

Now, granted, this is the same agency that armed us with duct tape and sheets of plastic, but still, you have to give it some thought. That's all. I wouldn't judge anyone for dismissing it outright, and on the other hand I wouldn't jusge anyone for giving it credence either.

 

[UncleBob]

>Now, granted, this is the same agency that armed us with duct tape and sheets of plastic,

hehehe... I'd forgotten about that. Yay for our government...

Anywhoo, I agree that the two do fall into different catagories, but the end result is the same: Are you going to let the fear of a possible-but-unlikely threat keep you from doing things that you enjoy? Because, if so, you might as well lock yourself in your house and never leave, because who knows- you could get hit by a car by simply walking out your front door. (actually, staying home isn't a good idea either, espically if you live in one of the danger houses like they showed on The Daily Show that gets hit by cars quite often...)

 

[baby*j]

Ummm, he doesn't care about winning, he cares about my life.
I think he has a good point too. There are very big factors involved ...

1)NYC is the greatest city in the world.
2)There will be and estimated half-million people there.
3)Everyone is in high-spirits.

- making it the biggest target [in the US on New Years] for
cowardly terrorist attacks. Also, all the news reports involving
the "chatter" has gotten him more ... uhhh... alert.

***For those who don't know *cough*
UncleBob *cough* I am a FEMALE.***

 

[UncleBob]

***For those who don't know *cough*
UncleBob *cough* I am a FEMALE.***

Sorry... Text on a computer screen doesn't lend itself to giving away gender very well...

Ummm, he doesn't care about winning, he cares about my life.
I think he has a good point too. There are very big factors involved ...

Yep, and as you can tell, all of his fears and concers were validated when the NYEinNYC celebrations were attacked by terrorists... what? They wern't? Oh...

Seriously, It's wonderful that your father is involved with your life and such (as opposed to being one of those parents who could care less about what their children do) and I can think of many, many good reasons not to let a child (depending on their age/maturity) go to the NYEinNYC celebrations - but the vague fear of terrorism is *not* one of them (IMHO, at least). If anything, it's *more* reason to go and give 'em a big middle finger instead of hiding in a cave somewhere... but to each their own.

The point of the orange/elevated alert status is not to hide out and change your plans. It is there to make sure that the proper authorties are in place and doing what's needed *and* for the average citizen to "be aware" of what is going on around them.