Snitching in the name of national security
鈥淩eport Suspicious Activity. 1-800-XXX-XXXX鈥�
鈥淭error Tips. Call 1-800-XXX-XXXX鈥�
Hmmm鈥� What to make of it?
The War on Terror has been pushed out of the headlines by the war on the financial crisis. Besides, everyone was beginning to see that the war on terror was a fraud. You鈥檙e never going to win a war against a tactic. And spending beaucoup money trying to win the hearts and minds of fanatics is a losing proposition.
But the war lives on. We have seen these signs at least 10 times in the last three days. They are up over 1-95 and US495 around Washington. What purpose do they serve? Has anyone ever called?
We would have called ourselves鈥nd asked for a tip. But we were afraid of getting on a suspect list.
It is hard to imagine that we will see anything that looks suspicious. First, because terrorists in the Washington area are rarer than honest Congressmen. Second, because they would hardly drive along in pickup trucks wearing Arab headdresses and carrying 55 gallon drums of gasoline in the back. In other words, we wouldn鈥檛 see them because they don鈥檛 exist and if they did exist they would be the last people to make us suspicious.
We conclude that the advertising is merely to keep the lumpen voters hyped up for war鈥magining that they are under attack and that they must pay big money for someone to protect them鈥nd accustomed to snitching on their neighbors in the name of national security.
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