If
you’re in my generation, you may have some experience with the Elementary
School Duck and Cover Program. (I’m in that generation growing up the very tail end of
that cold-war, bomb-shelter, Better Dead than Red generation losing power to the Peace and Love generation.) So the bomb siren goes off, and like
rational people, we clamber under the desks, assuring our safety and wait for
the fall out to clear in 11 months.
Even
as a little kid I was pretty sure this was not a sound game plan. I recently ran into
a story of an immigrant kid trying to explain the Duck and Cover program to his
dad. A couple of tries and the dad decides he is going to get to the bottom of
this and heads for the school.
To
the kid’s embarrassment, the dad is invited to watch the procedure. Dad stands in the corner, waiting for the end
of the drill, confused by the process. The drill ends, kids get ready to go
and the teacher asks the dad what he thinks.
“Well maybe, if the Russians can’t build a bomb strong enough to damage a school desk,
we should not be afraid of them.”
And right there, the summary of
politics. If something is an actual threat
to the population then you know our government is never going to present a
functional solution. Instead, they
mandate something completely stupid but they mandate it with authority. Presentation over content any day.
No comments :
Post a Comment