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General => Archive => Political and Religious => Topic started by: rumborak on June 09, 2011, 09:36:31 AM
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Both Boston's MBTA as well as NYC's train services have the "see something, say something" announcements going, sometimes even with videos explaining how to spot potential perpetrators.
What's your opinion on this? I personally just can't see this really resulting in a lot of correctly-identified individuals, but certainly a lot of wrongly accused ones, and sic-ing the public against each other. And while I can maybe see why NYC inhabitants are more willing to do this, Boston can't really say that (the biggest terrorist related event was this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare))
Opinions?
rumborak
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Tough call. As with a lot of things, I can see that it could potentially be a great thing in a society where being apathetic and too into your own little world is not a good thing, and looking out for others/the public good is a good thing. However, I also see the potential problems you mention, which could have potentially disastrous results.
:dunno: I have mixed feelings. Not sure what the right answer is.
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Leaving aside the notion that I really hate snitches, my opinion of LEA has really tanked over the last few years and I wouldn't wish involvement with them on anybody, outside of the very worst criminals. While this sounds paranoid, an honest mistake which involves LEA can have horrific consequences. Even in the highly probable event that they're completely exonerated of being a terrorist, there's still a helluva lot of room for being hassled or mistreated.
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That bomb scare in Boston was so hilarious when news of it broke out. :rollin :rollin :rollin
As for the actual point of the OP, I have mixed feelings as well, but as a general rule I don't think training people to be paranoid is a good thing.
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Reminds me vaguely of 1984, to be honest. Seems close to training children to be spies.
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Nothing teaches people to be more paranoid than the internet.
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I'm down with a good 'Neighborhood Watch' program....keeping and eye out for your neighbor and all but like as has been mentioned, the down side to this outweighs the up side. Like ElBarto alluded to...it takes one paranoid old lady to report you and your life is Effed' up for quite some time.
The easy thing to do would be to just put a chip in everyones hand or arm, maybe forehead, and be able to track and monitor us like that. :lol
That was joke BTW...just in case it was lost in internet translation.
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I'm cautiously in support of it. Basically, the only way to stop a terrorist attack is if the terrorists are massively stupid, or if average joe is alert. Security personnel can't be everywhere, or anywhere really. It seems like these programs stem from an acknowledgment of this. The wording isn't "BE VIGILANT" or "DOES SOMEBODY LOOK SUSPICIOUS?" It's a little more laid-back.
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When I was in Boston it didn't really bother me that much. I always got the impression that city was fully of the laziest people anyways so if someone did see something they'd have a "eh, someone else'll do it" attitude. Maybe one or two times of stopping T service on the way to or from work might have me a little annoyed but I didn't see that when I was there.
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I hate the campaign. Highway 84 was closed for like 2 hours a few weeks ago because someone saw a cooler (the kind you take to the beach) laying on the side of the road.
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I feel like people in CT just love closing 84 for whatever reason.
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No different from reporting suspicious characters in airports, I figure, just you don't have to go through any security checkpoints beforehand.