Living under Orange reinforces this. It didn't mean anything. Tom Ridge's admonition that Americans "be alert, but go about their business" reinforces this; it's nonsensical advice. I saw little that could be considered a good security trade-off, and a lot of draconian security measures and security theater. I think the threat levels are largely motivated by politics. There are two possible reasons for the alert. Reason 1: CYA. Governments are naturally risk averse, and issuing vague threat warnings makes sense from that perspective. Imagine if a terrorist attack actually did occur. If they didn't raise the threat level, they would be criticized for not anticipating the attack. As long as they raised the threat level they could always say "We told you it was Orange," even though the warning didn't come with any practical advice for people. Reason 2: To gain Republican votes. The Republicans spent decades running on the "Democrats are soft on Communism" platform. They've just discovered the "Democrats are soft on terrorism" platform. Voters who are constantly reminded to be fearful are more likely to vote Republican, or so the theory goes, because the Republicans are viewed as the party that is more likely to protect us. (These reasons may sound cynical, but I believe that the Administration has not been acting in good faith regarding the terrorist threat, and their pronouncements in the press have to be viewed under that light.) I can't think of any real security reasons for alerting the entire nation, and any putative terrorist plotters, that the Administration believes there is a credible threat. What the Terror Alert Colors Really Meanby Della Croft Liberty For All (posted 20 July 2004) So, here we are in Code Yellow status. If you even know what that means, you are one up on me. With predictable verbosity and confusing mumbo-jumbo, our friends in Washington have purposely made this Homeland Security Advisory System incomprehensible so that we are always in a state of panic - which may be their sole objective. People are more easily led if they are confused and terrified. Mr. Ridge has asked every citizen to be vigilant in reporting suspicious activity to his or her local authorities. I took a look out of my front window for suspicious activity and I think I am going to be logging a lot of phone time. Really. Just what is the point of all of this? I mean other than adding more people to the government payroll. The hard fact is that we cannot stop anyone from attacking this country. They can and will change their mode of attack as current climate dictates. No one in their right mind would attempt another attack using airliners, but you can bet they have other avenues in mind. But, hey, if the government took all this time and money to think of this silly warning system, the least we can do is to give it our attention. For those of you who are not familiar with the warning system, I have broken it down for you. In each level I have listed the government's responsibilities along with those of Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen. LOW - GREEN: Low risk of terrorist attack. (This level is extremely unlikely to be activated because it would require that our government have its nose out of the Middle East for at least one year. But, just in case, here are the responsibilities.)
GUARDED - BLUE: A general risk of terrorist attacks. (General risk? What the hell does that mean? This level will most likely be used in the event that people get too comfortable in Code Green and start wondering why we are funneling all this tax money into Homeland Security.)
ELEVATED - YELLOW: Significant risk of terrorist attack. (We will be at this level until they serve margaritas in hell because our government shows no sign of minding its own business in the very near future.)
ORANGE: High risk of terrorist attack. (This level will most likely be the result of a higher level of "chatter." Only three people in Washington know just what "chatter" is, but it seems that it may have something to do with a pissed off Arab person fabricating stories about another Arab person to whom he owes money.)
RED: Severe risk of terrorist attack. (This level would most likely be invoked about three hours after an attack.)
Colorfully yours,
Please take all you read here with a grain of salt. Who really knows what the truth is any more. You can't trust the government to tell the truth, nor the media. You'll have to make up your own mind about what is truth and what isn't, and act accordingly.
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