Friday, November 05, 2010
Now I've sussed it out.
During the 12 years when they've been using Amber Alerts around here, I've heard roughly one Alert per week on average.
PRECISELY 100% of the alerts have been "repossessions". Sometimes one biological parent claims the kid from the other, sometimes BOTH biological parents reclaim the kid from Soviet ownership. The Alert is always phrased cleverly to make you think otherwise. For example, the "suspect" is described as a white female around 25 years old, possibly driving a red Hyundai ... even though the authorities already know exactly who the "suspect" is, because the "suspect" is the CHILD'S OWN GODDAMN MOTHER.
PRECISELY NONE of the alerts have been actual abductions. During these 12 years there was PRECISELY ONE actual abduction around this area, and it was indeed the most unimaginably violent event: Joseph Duncan killed half the Groene family with his bare hands and abducted their children. This horrible abduction did NOT get an Amber Alert, for some obscure technical reason.
I conclude from all available data that Amber Alerts have two Leninist goals. (1) Keep the public confused and panicky, maintain the official myth that violent stranger abduction happens once a week instead of once a year. (2) Probably the more important goal: Break the bonds of family by describing real biological parents as "criminal suspects" once a week.
= = = = =
Update: Interesting article from England showing how the Soviet family-destruction system works there, and how a few (relatively wealthy) parents are escaping the Soviet family-destruction system by fleeing to Cyprus.
= = = = =
More broadly, the whole EAS has decayed into a Public Confusion System. It's used for Amber Alerts, and for certain weather events legally declared by the Weather Bureau. But it's never used for other important public-safety situations.
Immediate example: Yesterday an Amber Alert was issued in Spokane for a typical fake event, biological father without custody picking up a kid from a babysitter in Bellevue, 200 miles away. Also yesterday, a violent police standoff with an armed suicidal man closed down several blocks right here in Spokane, forcing a school to send its kids home. No EAS alert for this real event.
And of course the biggest failure: Emergency broadcasting was originally designed to be used in an enemy attack. When we finally did get an enemy attack in 2001, EAS remained silent and our entire quadrillion-dollar defense system remained asleep.
Maybe that wasn't an enemy attack after all. ¶ 5:57 AM
PRECISELY 100% of the alerts have been "repossessions". Sometimes one biological parent claims the kid from the other, sometimes BOTH biological parents reclaim the kid from Soviet ownership. The Alert is always phrased cleverly to make you think otherwise. For example, the "suspect" is described as a white female around 25 years old, possibly driving a red Hyundai ... even though the authorities already know exactly who the "suspect" is, because the "suspect" is the CHILD'S OWN GODDAMN MOTHER.
PRECISELY NONE of the alerts have been actual abductions. During these 12 years there was PRECISELY ONE actual abduction around this area, and it was indeed the most unimaginably violent event: Joseph Duncan killed half the Groene family with his bare hands and abducted their children. This horrible abduction did NOT get an Amber Alert, for some obscure technical reason.
I conclude from all available data that Amber Alerts have two Leninist goals. (1) Keep the public confused and panicky, maintain the official myth that violent stranger abduction happens once a week instead of once a year. (2) Probably the more important goal: Break the bonds of family by describing real biological parents as "criminal suspects" once a week.
= = = = =
Update: Interesting article from England showing how the Soviet family-destruction system works there, and how a few (relatively wealthy) parents are escaping the Soviet family-destruction system by fleeing to Cyprus.
= = = = =
More broadly, the whole EAS has decayed into a Public Confusion System. It's used for Amber Alerts, and for certain weather events legally declared by the Weather Bureau. But it's never used for other important public-safety situations.
Immediate example: Yesterday an Amber Alert was issued in Spokane for a typical fake event, biological father without custody picking up a kid from a babysitter in Bellevue, 200 miles away. Also yesterday, a violent police standoff with an armed suicidal man closed down several blocks right here in Spokane, forcing a school to send its kids home. No EAS alert for this real event.
And of course the biggest failure: Emergency broadcasting was originally designed to be used in an enemy attack. When we finally did get an enemy attack in 2001, EAS remained silent and our entire quadrillion-dollar defense system remained asleep.
Maybe that wasn't an enemy attack after all. ¶ 5:57 AM
