it's my terror alert and i'll laugh if i want to
Yes, this one seems serious. So why am I making jokes?
Before this, the alert level had not been raised since May of 2003, when it went from yellow to orange. It was moved back down to yellow ten days later.
When the color coded chart was first established, the level moved up and down so fast the entire nation suffered from terror whiplash. It became somewhat of a joke, and every time Ridge warned us once again to be careful and Ashcroft told us to stay vigilant and Home Depot had a sale on duct tape, we would laugh at the story of the Government that Cried Wolf.
The fire alarm in my office building goes off frequently. We stopped paying attention to it. The alarm is ringing, ringing, ringing and I just continue on with what I was doing, not even flinching when the first bell pierces the air. But when that alarm goes off and is followed by the sound of a court officer yelling Get out of the building! I run.
Ridge is that court officer yelling at me to get out. He's saying, in essence, that this is serious. This is real. They stopped messing with our heads a long time ago. They realized eventually that the chart was becoming a joke. So now when they raise it, it sets off an alarm in my head.
So what do we do? There's really not much you can do, is there? I keep wrapping the Christmas presents and making plans for my upcoming work vacation. And yes, I make jokes about the color change because I'd rather die laughing than die curled up in a fetal position in a closet.
But I suddenly find myself back to those panicky post-9/11 days, looking at the planes overhead, waiting for a giant shoe to drop. Forgive me if I appear to be laughing it off - nervous laughter is sometimes the only defense we have against panic and fright.
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Panic and they'll laugh at you. So pardon my sneaker color alert system, and excuse my laughter at the expense of ready.gov.
I'm going out smiling.
Comments
We are currently at Force Protection Condition Bravo. Keeping our eyes open and doing 100% ID checks. Also doing more perimeter checks. It is easier when you carry an M-16A2 and a combat load.
Posted by: alfredo stroessner | December 21, 2003 07:25 PM
True about the M16 I suppose...
I don't live near NYC, so maybe it's just that I don't feel the immediacy that you do Michele. But truthfully, I feel like it is out of my hands, so I might as well just go on with life. We cannot live our lives in constant fear -so go ahead and laugh as best you can. The Israelis do, and they live with this crap every single day.
Posted by: Doctorfrau | December 21, 2003 07:56 PM
I just wish they could/would give us more info. It's the weekend before Christmas and so many people will be traveling over the next few days with enough holiday stress without this. So I hope they know what they're doing in raising the level.
Posted by: beth | December 21, 2003 08:43 PM
But but but.........
Converse only releases "the obtuse" colors but once in awhile!!! And my husband's aunt doesn't work for them anymore and....and...and....I CAN"T GET ORANGE ONES ANYMORE!!!!
Posted by: SondraK | December 21, 2003 08:53 PM
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Panic and they'll laugh at you."
"Sneeze and it's goodbye Seattle!"
---Steve Martin in Roxanne
Posted by: Anonymous | December 21, 2003 09:46 PM
There's always a measure of silliness in these alerts -- "Panic, be alert, watch out for anything suspicious! But go about your normal life, don't panic, just act normal."
Posted by: M | December 21, 2003 10:05 PM
My wife and I work in NYC. We watch the news, and go to work, whatever the color chart ssys.
When they say "Severe terror alert; stay home/leave metro area." that I want to hear. Otherwise don't bother me.
Posted by: The Commissar | December 21, 2003 10:48 PM
I don't see the point in panicking the people.
Either we have faith in all of the people that protect us or we don't.
The bad guys were always there. It's just now the public knows about them.
Posted by: -=e=- | December 21, 2003 10:59 PM
The fire alarm in my office building goes off frequently. We stopped paying attention to it. The alarm is ringing, ringing, ringing and I just continue on with what I was doing, not even flinching when the first bell pierces the air. But when that alarm goes off and is followed by the sound of a court officer yelling Get out of the building! I run.
Sounds like my dorm freshman year. It got to the point where unless the RA knocked on the door and rousted us out, we just went back to sleep.
Posted by: Thlayli | December 21, 2003 11:15 PM
Heavy drinking and massive doses of Wu-Tang, counter-balanced with the Vitory Records catalog...totally helps me deal with elevated terror alerts...
Posted by: doc | December 22, 2003 12:27 AM
I believe the whole color coded terror alert system is primarily a level of protection for Bush from the "Bush Lies/Bush Knew" crowd. The warning is similar to a giant Abrams tank covering Bush's ass. The government knows that the average citizen can't really do anything to stop a terrorist attack, but they don't want to seem like they are keeping secrets from the genereal population either. If the Bush Administration only told people that could actually do something to prevent a terrorist attack such as police, local governments, etc. it would leak anyway. Thus, Bush has to tell everyone.
Posted by: Brendan | December 22, 2003 03:37 AM
Still love ya, girlfriend. :-)
Posted by: Dean Esmay | December 22, 2003 07:03 AM
Doc, Wu-Tang for an tang-colored alert?
Reminds me, when I was a kid we drank only frozen orange juice...
The first time I drank fresh squeezed OJ I remember thinking, "It tastes just like Tang. Oh, that's why Tang tastes like that! I thought Tang tasted fake, and all along it was frozen OJ that tastes wrong."
Tom Dashel is on the radio, saying that he feels vindicated that Iraq was a complete falure... RRRR. At this rate I may never vote Democrat again.
Hang in there Michelle.
Posted by: Joshua Scholar | December 22, 2003 09:24 AM
Oops, sorry for misspelling your name.
What's the smiley for sheepishness?
Posted by: Joshua Scholar | December 22, 2003 09:25 AM
it just doesn't feel like a high terror alert level until Michele breaks out the color-coordinated Chucks.
Posted by: Rob | December 22, 2003 10:06 AM
"At this rate I may never vote Democrat again."
I'll never vote for "professional" Democrats that flip-flop on issues, have no spines... like Daschle, Kerry, or Lieberman...
They're all about telling people what they want to hear. (Well, that's politicians in general ain't it?)
mmmmmm....Tang-wiches!
Posted by: -=e=- | December 22, 2003 10:26 AM
Looking around blogdom, Michelle, we seem to be in a minority, and folks are horribly outraged that we could be taking the "ALERT CODE LAVENDER: Please go about your normal flying and DON'T PANICK!!!" with anything except all of the gravity it deserves.
I'm trying to feel bad about that, and failing miserably. ;)
Posted by: Ironbear | December 23, 2003 01:27 AM