Terrorism for tots

[theoriginalblankman]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/01....ap/index.html

I don't think it's such a bad idea to keep the kids a little aware but it's like what are we becoming?

Do they really need to bunch the terrorism prep with the natural disaster prep as if terrorism was as common as an earthquake? It's like were teaching the kids to be afraid of something that is most likely never going to directly effect them.

I shouldn't be that pissed about it, it's only a little thing. But I keep on envisioning u.s. on a steadfast track to becoming a world like "Brazil". I may just have to go insane one of these days.

[CingularDuality]

I don't see a problem with lumping terrorist stuff in with natural disaster stuff when it comes to preparedness.

And the idea is a good one, past hurricanes and most recently, Katrina, have shown us just how ignorant and unprepared people are for emergency situations. After Katrina, I browsed a survival forum one evening and was surprised at just how unprepared I realized I am. I recommend to everyone that they find a survival forum and read some of their suggestions (just be prepared to ignore the comments from the tinfoil hat crowd!).

[aeroripper]

Imagine what would happen if oil prices skyrocketed overnight :O. Try about $100+ a barrel.

[TG_Bubba]

I like the idea. Having our kids learn and be prepared for any kind of disaster is always a good thing. The world is changing everyday, and the more information we give our young one's the better. Remember, they are our future.

"The goal is to prepare kids and educate kids for emergencies," said Martinez. "It's something a little more elaborate but similar to preparing children for tornadoes by having them get under a desk."

[TheFeniX]

Originally Posted by the article

"Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,"

I for one like the idea. If adults have to be bombarded with propoganda from FOX News and it's ilk about how unsafe we really are, and that we all are going to die in the next five minutes (after the commercial break that is), then kid should be force fed the same kind of crap.

This reminds me of the stories my mom would tell me about going to school and having to crawl under their desks for a drill designed specifically in the event a of nuclear attack. Because the brick walls wouldn't help, but that 1/4 plywood will stop radiation from harming you. Ha!

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

I don't see a problem with lumping terrorist stuff in with natural disaster stuff when it comes to preparedness.

I fail to see the point in training little kids on a situation that has almost no application in daily life. It's a waste of time. Those who are smart enough to understand the information would probably file it under "common sense I should already know." Those who either don't care or can't understad the concept would ignore it anyways.

And the idea is a good one, past hurricanes and most recently, Katrina, have shown us just how ignorant and unprepared people are for emergency situations.

We knew it was coming for almost a week. Those who were smart didn't need any training because common sense kicked in: they up and left. If those that chose to stay couldn't be swayed by the evidence staring them right in the face: that's an issue with stupidity, not training.

And for those who did not have the means to leave: they were screwed either way considering how our "enlightened government" handled the whole deal.

After Katrina, I browsed a survival forum one evening and was surprised at just how unprepared I realized I am. I recommend to everyone that they find a survival forum and read some of their suggestions (just be prepared to ignore the comments from the tinfoil hat crowd!).

I've always wondered if stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot offer news channels cash incentives to "up-play" the whole disaster angle, making sure to get people to buy generators and other high-dollar survival tools. I mean, a 15% restocking fee on a $1500 generator that's still in the box has got to make that monthly report look so much more gravy.

[Santa]

Heh, i wonder what theyre doing for the kids to be prepared for some kind of terrorist attack. I hope its more effective than the crappy procedures they have for other emergencies. When i lived in Texas, part of the plan for when either bad guys with guns stormed the school, or a tornado hit was to hide under your desk. They mean well in setting up these procedures, but they do absolutly nothing unless its the fire drills (which are actually OK).

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by TheFeniX

I fail to see the point in training little kids on a situation that has almost no application in daily life.

Because society has trained people to not have to rely on themselves. "Don't worry child, Uncle Sugar will take care of us..." It's BS and it's ruining our country.

Politically, it's dividing our nation, too. Look at what has become of the once proud Democratic Party. Their reduced to feeding this notion that the gov't will make everything OK in order to get the votes that they need to stay in power. Sure, the whole party isn't like this, but, in general, they're becoming more and more familiar with this tactic.

Anything that encourages people to be a little bit more self reliant has my support.

So, what are YOUR plans if a Katrina-esque hurricane is headed for your city and you're told by your employer that you need to work until 10 hours before it's scheduled to hit your city? You have enough water, food, batteries and ammo for a couple of weeks?

[TheFeniX]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Because society has trained people to not have to rely on themselves. "Don't worry child, Uncle Sugar will take care of us..." It's BS and it's ruining our country.

If society has taught me anything, it's that you can't rely on other people. Self-reliance is job #1.

Your average liberal school teacher might spew a good line about how "police handle the bad guys, so guns are worthless," but anyone with critical thinking skills who uses them knows this is complete BS.

And further, I don't need "society" to teach my kid survival habits. That would be my job as a parent. School is there to teach book knowledge, not push some worthless survival knowledge that has no basis on his academic career. If you can't do it, sign him/her up for cub scouts.

Politically, it's dividing our nation, too. Look at what has become of the once proud Democratic Party. Their reduced to feeding this notion that the gov't will make everything OK in order to get the votes that they need to stay in power. Sure, the whole party isn't like this, but, in general, they're becoming more and more familiar with this tactic.

So, the democrats prey on the uniformed and weak-willed? I would say that any political party preys on that. Hell, any entity usually preys on those people.

Anything that encourages people to be a little bit more self reliant has my support.

Hiding under a desk during a tornado drill, or marching out of the school for a fire drill teaches nothing. Self-reliance is a state-of-mind. You can't teach someone to do it. And if you have to force feed someone how to handle a situation they might encounter, that's kind of the opposite of self-reliance.

So, what are YOUR plans if a Katrina-esque hurricane is headed for your city and you're told by your employer that you need to work until 10 hours before it's scheduled to hit your city? You have enough water, food, batteries and ammo for a couple of weeks?

What my plans were is irrevelevant. But I will respond (in my typical humerous diatribe) that I find it insulting that you would think I don't keep enough ammo on hand to last several months at the least, at all times.

And I find Katrina to be a red herring. This is about drumming "OMG TERRORISTS WILL KILL US ALL" into children. It smelsl of fear-mongering to me because you don't need classes on statistical improbabilities like being involved in some kind of terrorist bombing.

In this light, I'm inclined to believe that it's a waste of money and will only help make a new generation believe that they are in constant danger of death by someone unknown entity.

[aeroripper]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

So, what are YOUR plans if a Katrina-esque hurricane is headed for your city and you're told by your employer that you need to work until 10 hours before it's scheduled to hit your city? You have enough water, food, batteries and ammo for a couple of weeks?

The Katrina thing was just a joke. They should give more first-response control to the state and local agencies in natural disasters like this instead of waiting for the feds to finally come in. How many ambulances were ready to go but wern't let in because of FEMA? Why were doctors waiting in a airport lobby, unable to treat people because FEMA told them to mop instead because it presented a liability issue)?

The whole "TERRORISM, LOOK OUT FOR TERRORISM" you hear constantly (it was worse in the months after 9\11) is just fear-mongering based in some reality. It's been that way for a long time (The nazi's, the cold war, the green peril (saddam, this campaign somewhat failed), now worldwide terrorism). Seems like the government always needs some enemy, somewhere to fight. Propaganda my friends works, that's why they have to repeat themselves constantly. Hell, even bush will tell you that:

"See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by TheFeniX

And further, I don't need "society" to teach my kid survival habits.

Perhaps you don't, but how do you propose that we turn around our culture of government dependancy?

Hiding under a desk during a tornado drill, or marching out of the school for a fire drill teaches nothing. Self-reliance is a state-of-mind. You can't teach someone to do it. And if you have to force feed someone how to handle a situation they might encounter, that's kind of the opposite of self-reliance.

This isn't about hiding under a desk. People joke about the Ready.gov promos, and there have been some silly ones, but they also contain some very good information for people that are simply ignorant about what type of preparations will be helpful in an emergency. Education is power, y'know...

But I will respond (in my typical humerous diatribe) that I find it insulting that you would think I don't keep enough ammo on hand to last several months at the least, at all times.

Yeah, but what if the zombies feed off the dead bodies in your front yard? Will you still have enough?

[SmokingTarpan]

So many people have it wrong. Get in the hallway for tornadoes, under your desk for nuclear bombs.

What would you do without me?

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

I recommend to everyone that they find a survival forum and read some of their suggestions (just be prepared to ignore the comments from the tinfoil hat crowd!).

Any forum suggestions?

Originally Posted by TheFeniX

If you can't do it, sign him/her up for cub scouts.

I feel should mention to you that this is not what the BSA is for.

Originally Posted by TheFeniX

School is there to teach book knowledge, not push some worthless survival knowledge that has no basis on his academic career.

I've never heard of a school pushing these as "survival knowledge". The only survival skills I got out of school was from an English teacher who was a Vietnam veteran.

I applaud schools for educating students on their (the schools) procedures during emergencies. Drills at schools are not meant to teach anything other than the procedures that school will use in case of an emergency. They are critical for communicating to the students how things will go down during an emergency (fire, tornado, earth quake, school shooting, etc.). Even my church has a fire drill every six months. And my office building once a quarter. Explaining to people and having them practice the best route out of a specific structure, or the nearest place to dodge a tornado (and what to do afterwards) will help them and others survive. Hardly worthless.

The sad reality is that a lot of families don't have discussions on what they will do in case of a home/regional/national emergency. Having a classroom drill can create a discussion in homes of families that would not typically talk about emergency preparedness; I'm all for that.

[AMosely]

I like the concept of government funded disaster preparedness - probably the biggest lifesaver in the face of ANY disaster - natural or unnatural - is preparedness.

I do not like the concept of putting it under the topic of 'terrorism', 'homeland security' or any of these terms. Preparedness is a ubiquitous skill that should be tought as such.

On a side note, I'll bet you anything that this $100 million program was earmarked long before Katrina. Some of that should have gone to educating former FEMA director Brown! WORST person of the year!

[TheFeniX]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Perhaps you don't, but how do you propose that we turn around our culture of government dependancy?

I don't really understand what you are trying to say here. How exactly has society become so dependant on the government? A liberal policy believes that a sufficiently sized nation (the US) should help out the lower rung of society. Is this a bad thing? No. I fail to see how a class that's going to scare kids into thinking they could die at any moment (anyone got the Cold War feeling yet) is any solution to your perceived problem.

This isn't about hiding under a desk. People joke about the Ready.gov promos, and there have been some silly ones, but they also contain some very good information for people that are simply ignorant about what type of preparations will be helpful in an emergency. Education is power, y'know...

I think the issue here is that you don't understand what I'm trying to say. I really don't have an issue with schools trying to teach kids what to do in the event of Katrina or some other natural disaster. My problem is the government using schools for fear-mongering.

Yeah, but what if the zombies feed off the dead bodies in your front yard? Will you still have enough?

I would think my case of shotgun ammo and 500 rounds of 9mm would at least allow me to fight my way towards more ammunition.

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by TG_Santa

Heh, i wonder what theyre doing for the kids to be prepared for some kind of terrorist attack. I hope its more effective than the crappy procedures they have for other emergencies. When i lived in Texas, part of the plan for when either bad guys with guns stormed the school, or a tornado hit was to hide under your desk. They mean well in setting up these procedures, but they do absolutly nothing unless its the fire drills (which are actually OK).

Yeah, we've got a 'lockdown drill' here. Keep under your desks, and away from all the windows. More correctly, laugh at anyone who does it and then carry on.