Is the politics of fear spreading?

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Ernesto has time - and enough open sea - to return to hurricane strength before hitting the Keys and Southern Florida. Or at least that is what was reported 20 minutes ago.

In this case, I dont think it is fear but reality.

Thankfully for the people in Florida it was simply a rather weak tropical storm as it hit. The mountains in Cuba pretty much killed any chance it had of gaining stregth, as they significantly broke it up.

I think all of the panic and discussion by local and government officials is simply a CYA. With Katrina mismanagement well in memory (both on a local and national level), that's going to continue for a long time. In fact, scare tactics in general - if you want to call them that - are simply a CYA. They can all say, should things turn bad, that they warned the populace and did all they could in preparation.

This is the case with terrorism too. I don't think Bush and his admin are trying to scare the populace, I think they are pulling a CYA. Knowing that just one even insignificant attack that is successful will call into question every single policy and every moment of preparation or lack thereof and every avenue of intelligence gathering, they want to remind the population frequently that they are doing all they can in the face of a determined enemy so that they can be on record when (sadly, I wish I could say if, but I can't) it happens.

And with every disaster situation, no matter what is done, there seems to be a need for a fall guy. Sometimes bad things happen and no one is to blame. It just....is.