2008 Woodie Awards
NBC Marks the Spot
David Stelzmuller
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Opinion
Terrorists: they are out there. They may be homegrown or imported. They might be planning an attack right now. You had better be scared.
Actually, you should be scared because news agencies love to run reports on places in America that are vulnerable to attack, and I do not understand why. These are the things we should be fixing covertly, not posting information about on the
Internet, or have Brian Williams do exposes on them to be aired on a nationally televised news program.
The problem with this is that the reporters do such a good job on finding out where attacks should take place, how the attacks should happen, and what the aftermath will be like that it is almost like sending out an invitation.
Hey everybody: if you are mad at America (which you probably are), this is your best chance to make everybody realize it.
Just recently, Newsweek ran a story that asked, "Is the food supply vulnerable to terrorism?" The story provided all those disgruntled potential terrorists with a real zinger of an idea: attack the food supply.
I myself had not thought about this one. Sure, someone attacking the water supply had crossed my mind. It would not stop me though; I am a bottled water kind of guy. But the food supply, I was not prepared for.
The article points out "recent events have underlined just how real the threat is." Oh, goodie! And why is that?
It would seem that some of the "suspects in the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, for instance, include physicians, a reminder that terrorists can have biomedical know-how."
Well, I have to admit that argument is about as solid as a piece of Swiss cheese and relies on a lot of assumptions, but it doesn't end there.
Lets talk about how we can get this done: "In 2003, a Michigan supermarket worker contaminated 200 pounds of hamburger with a nicotine-based pesticide, making 92 people sick." OK, now we're talking. All I need is a job at a supermarket, some pesticide, and we are in business. 92 people though, that seems a little minor, perhaps we could figure out a way to do more damage.
Actually, you should be scared because news agencies love to run reports on places in America that are vulnerable to attack, and I do not understand why. These are the things we should be fixing covertly, not posting information about on the
Internet, or have Brian Williams do exposes on them to be aired on a nationally televised news program.
The problem with this is that the reporters do such a good job on finding out where attacks should take place, how the attacks should happen, and what the aftermath will be like that it is almost like sending out an invitation.
Hey everybody: if you are mad at America (which you probably are), this is your best chance to make everybody realize it.
Just recently, Newsweek ran a story that asked, "Is the food supply vulnerable to terrorism?" The story provided all those disgruntled potential terrorists with a real zinger of an idea: attack the food supply.
I myself had not thought about this one. Sure, someone attacking the water supply had crossed my mind. It would not stop me though; I am a bottled water kind of guy. But the food supply, I was not prepared for.
The article points out "recent events have underlined just how real the threat is." Oh, goodie! And why is that?
It would seem that some of the "suspects in the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, for instance, include physicians, a reminder that terrorists can have biomedical know-how."
Well, I have to admit that argument is about as solid as a piece of Swiss cheese and relies on a lot of assumptions, but it doesn't end there.
Lets talk about how we can get this done: "In 2003, a Michigan supermarket worker contaminated 200 pounds of hamburger with a nicotine-based pesticide, making 92 people sick." OK, now we're talking. All I need is a job at a supermarket, some pesticide, and we are in business. 92 people though, that seems a little minor, perhaps we could figure out a way to do more damage.
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