Spring Break
Gov't booklet does little to save citizens
Mike Harris-Peyton
Issue date: 7/27/07 Section: Ed-Op
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Anyone who has ever seen the classic Cold War era "Duck and Cover" films knows that sometimes, the U.S. Government can hand out some really absurd and inadequate advice.
Who honestly thinks that hiding under a wooden school desk will help you in the event of a nuclear explosion? And you'd have to be crazy to think that there would be a warning of an incoming nuclear weapon-they have a slight tendency to be unexpected.
Giving out inadequate disaster advice must be a chronic condition for the government, because they've done it again.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a fold-up pamphlet entitled "Preparing for Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies" to The Triangle's office. Only the press received copies of it, because heaven forbid a regular citizen sees this horrifically-inadequate document.
This lovely little orange delight begins with a message from the Department of Health and Human Services, emphasizing "clear and effective communication with the American people about health and safety issues." This phrase will later become very, very ironic.
The pamphlet then moves on to describe what a great little pocket guide to death and destruction this is, and how, in the event of a terrorist attack or major event, the first thing you are going to do is whip this thing out of your wallet and write a press release.
"More detailed" information is available on their Web site, because trust me, as soon as the bombs go off I am so going to sit down and wait for the Wi-Fi Internet access to connect so I can go see what might be causing my imminent death.
Now on to the fun part: they give you charts, listing agents, descriptions, first symptoms, first actions and medical responses. Let's start with biological agents.
The first one is anthrax. Why does that sound familiar? Oh, probably because we've been through that before. And we all know (or we should know) that anthrax isn't a very effective biological weapon, because it's not contagious and doesn't spread easily by any means. Plus, if you think you've been exposed, all you really have to do is take an antibiotic like Cipro or penicillin and you'll be okay. That is, unless you're the type of person that waits until you're coughing up blood to call your doctor.
Who honestly thinks that hiding under a wooden school desk will help you in the event of a nuclear explosion? And you'd have to be crazy to think that there would be a warning of an incoming nuclear weapon-they have a slight tendency to be unexpected.
Giving out inadequate disaster advice must be a chronic condition for the government, because they've done it again.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a fold-up pamphlet entitled "Preparing for Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies" to The Triangle's office. Only the press received copies of it, because heaven forbid a regular citizen sees this horrifically-inadequate document.
This lovely little orange delight begins with a message from the Department of Health and Human Services, emphasizing "clear and effective communication with the American people about health and safety issues." This phrase will later become very, very ironic.
The pamphlet then moves on to describe what a great little pocket guide to death and destruction this is, and how, in the event of a terrorist attack or major event, the first thing you are going to do is whip this thing out of your wallet and write a press release.
"More detailed" information is available on their Web site, because trust me, as soon as the bombs go off I am so going to sit down and wait for the Wi-Fi Internet access to connect so I can go see what might be causing my imminent death.
Now on to the fun part: they give you charts, listing agents, descriptions, first symptoms, first actions and medical responses. Let's start with biological agents.
The first one is anthrax. Why does that sound familiar? Oh, probably because we've been through that before. And we all know (or we should know) that anthrax isn't a very effective biological weapon, because it's not contagious and doesn't spread easily by any means. Plus, if you think you've been exposed, all you really have to do is take an antibiotic like Cipro or penicillin and you'll be okay. That is, unless you're the type of person that waits until you're coughing up blood to call your doctor.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
Stunned Reader
posted 12/29/07 @ 7:03 PM EST
Wow... Your thoughts allude to the fact that you know very little about people.
1) The government knew a desk wont save you. But in times like that, having a plan (stupid as it may be) works for crowd control and keeps panic to a minimum. (Continued…)
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