Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: udet on February 13, 2003, 02:27:55 PM
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do you think World War 3 is starting?
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My Father thought it was in 1950...
My Father thought it was in 1962...
I thought it was in 1979 and again in 1982...
This time I think not because I am older and wiser now.
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I thought this article was outstanding!
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030213-11870357.htm
Hysteria runs riot; networks fuel
the fear
By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Where is our citizen war footing?
Sixty years ago, enterprising
and patriotic Americans saved
tinfoil and bacon grease to help
defeat Hitler during World War II,
heeding the old Office of War
Information motto, "Use it up.
Wear it out. Make it last."
Some pockets of panic in
California did develop immediately
after the Pearl Harbor attack of
December 7, 1941. However,
when Japanese balloon bombs
drifted near the West Coast or
Nazi U-boats were spotted off
New Jersey, Americans learned how to extinguish an
incendiary bomb or spot the silhouettes of enemy submarines.
They were not making a run on the local supplies of
bottled water and duct tape in a hysteria somewhere between
snowstorm panic and the last shopping day before Christmas.
But then, the good folks on the home front were not
pummeled by a 24-hour media with time to fill.
"Are you ready?" asked ABC News yesterday, trotting
out a "Good Morning America" home-improvement editor to
demonstrate how to turn a laundry room into a fallout shelter
with duct tape and plastic dropcloths.
"Duct tape sales rise amid terror fears," noted CNN.
MSNBC offered mixed messages, saying that "jittery
Americans were stocking up for disaster" while offering an
online poll that said 71 percent of the respondents were
"doing nothing" to ready themselves for terrorist attacks.
Some were already weary of the fear-mongering.
"I'm not afraid of these jerks," said one Westwood One
Radio Network host yesterday. His listeners concurred,
many saying they would not join the race to hoard duct tape.
Others used the stuff to shore up their agendas.
"Washington is urging people to prepare for chemical
attack by purchasing duct tape, while it fails to provide fire
departments with funds for protective suits or bioterror
detectors," a New York Times editorial said yesterday.
Though the Federal Emergency Management Agency
revamped its "Are You Ready?" citizen-preparedness guide
after the September 11 attacks, the media pounced upon the
same information rereleased Friday as "breaking news."
TV reports were immediately emblazoned with orange
"high alert" banners and rife with talk about poison gas,
microbes and imminent threats. Even pet owners were
advised to pack an emergency kit for their dogs, complete
with "bottled water and food supply."
Syracuse University broadcast analyst Robert Thompson
says news organizations have slipped into the instant "bunker
mentality" they adopt during bad weather.
"Americans are subjected to split-screen broadcasts
which show the terrorist alert symbol on one side and
weather and fashion on the other," Mr. Thompson said
yesterday. "What do they focus on? Many buy into fearful
hype."
Indeed, some news coverage has centered on consumer
panic and the sudden appearance of "homeland security"
sections in local hardware stores.
"The trouble is, if we connect the dots between some of
the really serious news events — the possible dissolution of
NATO or divisiveness within the United Nations — then that
gets scary," Mr. Thompson said.
"We have reached a new era which requires us to go on
living life knowing the 'big event' may be just around the
corner," he said. "That's what people do in other countries."
News coverage in dire national moments is still a work in
progress, however.
"There is a massive difference between a crisis and a
catastrophe, and in the case of a bioterror attack, the effect
of media coverage on public perception could be the deciding
factor between the two," notes Barbara Cochran, president
of the Radio Television News Directors Association.
The group issued its own practical guidelines on
bioterrorism, terrorism and war coverage two months ago,
urging members to "present the facts as clearly, objectively
and dispassionately as possible."
Charles Figley, a Florida State University trauma
psychologist who has studied media disaster coverage for
two decades, faults federal offices for issuing guidelines open
to interpretation by both the media and the public.
"Ideally, you want the vast majority of people to be on
alert, but not dramatically alter their daily routines," Mr.
Figley said yesterday. "People should already have an
emergency plan in place anyway for bad weather, industrial
accidents or the like."
Changing disaster scenarios requires flexibility, he said.
"We learned there's no magic bullet, no one way to
modulate public information to prompt people to do the right
thing, at the right time," Mr. Figley said. "But if
unsubstantiated warnings go out, people don't pay attention
after a while."
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Just another reason not to watch tv :rolleyes:
Ducktape:rolleyes: they should stick their heads up their arses, better protection.
Oh wait, they already have their heads there, should be fine :)
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all I need to know about ww3 I learned in a film we saw in grade school.. called 'duck and cover' we learned that a school desk will provide all the protection you need from a thermonuclear fission bomb exploding over your school
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There was a guy on the news wrapping his whole house in plastic. I hope he didn't suffocate last night :)
Charon
BTW I'm going to the store to get a case of canned water. Lime flavored, carbonated. Need something for the vodka tonight. [edit: and a GD valentine's day card, talk about threats to survival]