What Happened To Those Pesky Terror Alerts?

By Elizabeth

I remember being accompanied on the subways of New York City by armed soldiers, dressed in camo. I remember waking up every day checking the current terror alert color along side the weather. One day would be yellow, the next day orange…as long as it wasn’t red; I really didn’t care.

So what color terror alert are we on today?

Rudy Giuliani recently spoke to his supporters and reminded them all that terrorism is still here and that it is a reality that we cannot wish away. And yet, polls have shown that 8 out of 10 voters in Florida think that the terrorism threat has disappeared.

The inconsistency here is choking.

Yes, I marginally cared about those alerts…about as much as if it were going to be windy or cloudy on any given day, but the emphasis I placed on these in the past is neither here nor there. The fact that we have politicians broadcasting the ongoing threat without the follow up precautionary steps is what really gets to me.

Is the reality of terrorism more staged than we have been imagining? Many of my skeptic friends would say, “Yes, Of course.” So why the continuing of the charade?

Are these declarations of threat being reiterated on the basis of pride or fact? Certainly, if our leaders felt that this country was still in as much danger as they thought it was immediately after 9/11, our terror alerts would still be in tact and, if the threat were so serious (serious enough to still be at war), why wouldn’t the soldiers still be decorating the New York City subways?

Terror alerts are no longer broadcasted, no longer talked about, no longer even second page news. Does that mean we’re any safer than we were when our president brought them up during every address? According to most Americans, the answer feels like a yes, since the primary concern of most citizens these days seems is somewhere between the economy and American Idol.

And somehow, I can’t help but think American Idol may be posing a much larger threat to the well being of this country than terrorists abroad ever were….