Color Codes and Terror Levels

The article shows that just because you're an intelligent scientist, it doesn't mean that you can't make asinine conjectures.

I think the threat levels are largely motivated by politics. There are two possible reasons for the alert.

Reason 1: CYA. Governments are naturally risk averse, and issuing vague threat warnings makes sense from that perspective. Imagine if a terrorist attack actually did occur. If they didn't raise the threat level, they would be criticized for not anticipating the attack. As long as they raised the threat level they could always say "We told you it was Orange," even though the warning didn't come with any practical advice for people.

Reason 2: To gain Republican votes. The Republicans spent decades running on the "Democrats are soft on Communism" platform. They've just discovered the "Democrats are soft on terrorism" platform. Voters who are constantly reminded to be fearful are more likely to vote Republican, or so the theory goes, because the Republicans are viewed as the party that is more likely to protect us.

(These reasons may sound cynical, but I believe that the Administration has not been acting in good faith regarding the terrorist threat, and their pronouncements in the press have to be viewed under that light.)

This smells strongly. Mostly of conspiracy theories. Of course there couldn't be any way that those that thought up the warning levels may have been trying to make an honest attempt to create a tool to help the American public. No, it has to be the republicans getting votes. I don't think his statements are cynical so much as paranoia. I would conjecture that he voted for Kerry.

The funniest of thing of all for this is that he wrote it in January 2004 (before the democrats even had a candidate). I wonder if his statement truly held up. We heard this same whining during the election, and it came to nothing. Did the fact that there was a color coded terror alert system get Bush votes? Not a chance. By the time of the elections, the public was used to hearing about the changes in levels and as usual was complacent. The public did perceive Bush as being more capable of providing proper security and effective defense in the war on terror is more likely.

I wonder if he'd be so cynical if it had been a democrat that had created the system.

In this case I think maybe the scientist should stick to science, unless he actually has proof of wrong doing by the present administration.