The Dry River

There is a new story being released by CNN that has been building for years: online images of sensitive locations to our nation’s security. In the past few years, technology has hit a new peak with high-resolution images that can be accessed by any regular internet connection. I agree with the story; these images should be blurred or removed to prevent them from being used by terrorists. But in looking at the news story, what does CNN think? Obviously the reporter and interviewees are concerned about this situation, yet they still feel it is their duty to release this information.

I have two points to make about this. Point one, terrorists already use these images to plan attacks; we have proof of that. But why would CNN spread that information of availability more and more? As of the time this story was released, there might have been several terrorist organizations that didn’t think about this obvious use. Well, we can be assured that now they do know of this use and even where to look for sources. I for one say “thank you CNN; thank you for making sure that the entire world knows of the flaws in our national security.” We can all rest in peace now because protecting this information is no longer necessary. Even better, people who actually cared enough to do research have pointed out weaknesses in several communication shacks, air shafts, guard towers, and patrols. These people would be an asset to our security because of their attention to detail, but no worries, CNN has made it their job to ensure that the terrorists won’t need to do their own research. They can just watch the news as CNN points out each weakness spotted by concerned citizens. I have an idea; CNN should make up a realistic terrorist attack and publish it. Just give them the plans in full so that they won’t need to do any legwork at all. I have been extremely sarcastic thus far, but seriously, how is releasing photos of these sites on the news going to help anyone? Might as well write a “Terrorism For Dummies” book and get it over with.

My second point is that this is a ratings grab by CNN. Most people, well, most educated individuals, already know that terrorists have used these online photos for intelligence in planning attacks. So this story was purely meant to scare people. They did it very eloquently, but they might as well have said, “You’re not safe, the terrorists know our weaknesses, we will be attacked again.” The media mask has been using this tactic to gain ratings for decades. Find a topic that scares people and play it over and over again. Swine Flu is a great example. Here are some statistics for you to chew on. Worldwide there have been almost 20,000 cases of the H1N1 virus, according to the World Health Organization. The total population of the world is roughly 6,783,421,727, according to a census. That means that not even .000002 percent of the world’s population has been exposed. Compare that to the 1918 epidemic where it is a low estimate to say 50 million people died. Now remember, we are comparing deaths to cured cases here. That’s roughly 3% of the estimated 1918 world population. Statistically speaking, Swine Flu is not an epidemic, yet it makes daily news releases. Chances are your neighbors don’t have it, chances are your community hasn’t seen any cases, yet we are still supposed to be scared. I have an idea; CNN should release a bacterial mouth cover with their logo on it. If you’re going to feed yourselves on fear and death, do it right and admit where your priorities lie.

I definitely support free speech; hell, I have this blog, but you don’t see me posting possible terrorist targets up here. Even if I were privy to such information, I wouldn’t want to scare people with information that cannot be changed. It is a tough topic, though. China is currently blocking such sites as YouTube to prevent people from seeing anti-government propaganda. I disagree with the government blocking information. On the other hand, I see no problem with the news making a conscious decision to not release a story due to the fact that it promotes fear among the general public and cannot be changed. Or even better, release the story without all the biases. I have yet to hear a reporter say the truth, “The chances of you personally being attacked by terrorists or infected by the Swine Flu are lower than the chances of you being in a fatal car crash.” Maybe we should be more concerned with buckling our seatbelts than preventing terrorists’ attacks or flu infection. But this brings out the humanitarian in me; drive fast with no seatbelts, promote terrorism, get the Swine Flu, go win yourself that Darwin Award and leave the rest of us with our intelligence and morality.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 4:44 pmand is filed under All, Humanity, The News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.