by Madison Ruppert

Contributing Writer
November 17, 2011

from ActivistPost Website

 

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com



A so-called “Community Awareness Program” (CAP) has been launched by the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (the CELL), a non-profit group directly linked to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The CELL is the same group behind the absurdist fear-mongering video entitled “Recognizing the 8 Signs of Terrorism” which is nothing more than a clear attempt to strike illogical fear into the hearts of Americans.
 


 

 

 

 


Now this government-backed organization seeks to instill a pervasive paranoia in everyone in the United States through the CAP program, regardless of the fact that the threat of terrorism is minimal to wholly negligible.

The CELL, quite an interesting choice of a name for a supposedly counterterrorist organization, I might add, is also behind the $6 million Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: Understanding the Threat of Terrorism exhibit at their “nonpartisan institute” in Colorado.

One critic aptly characterized the exhibit as,

“an expensive, museum-size example of America’s paranoia” while pointing out, “Graphic images of a bomb ripping apart downtown Denver seem to fall into the category of fear-mongering.”

This paranoid mindset is exemplified by one of the individuals running the program, a New York native that,

“refuses to ride on the subway and spends as little time as possible in high-rise buildings.”

Interesting, seeing as no successful terrorist attack since 9/11 has hit a high-rise or a subway.

 

This is the kind of widespread nonsensical thinking that is rampant among the “counterterrorism” and Homeland Security establishment.

It makes even less sense when one considers the fact that skyscraper safety has been improved over the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks and last year an alleged terror plot targeting the Washington D.C. subway was “thwarted.”

Of course, like most alleged terrorist plots in the United States, the man charged with plotting the attack was dealing with FBI agents who pretended to be al Qaeda operatives in order to lure him in to planning the attack.

However, this incident, and all the other incidents of government-manufactured terrorism somehow seem to make people behind groups like the CELL and others even more paranoid.

This was evidenced by the statement made by U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security, David Kris, who said in response to the alleged D.C. plot last year,

“Today’s case underscores the need for continued vigilance against terrorist threats”.

In this case the government-sponsored fear mongering is even more absurd, given the fact that they are now promoting that anyone and everyone could very well be a terrorist.

An administrative assistant in the safety, security and facilities department of the Regional Transportation District, Diana Woodson, told the Denver Post,

“It’s not going to be the person you think it’s going to be. He’s your best neighbor, your best pal. It doesn’t always look like the bad guy; it can be someone unassuming.”

Yes that’s right, your 75-year-old portly retiree neighbor could very well be a terrorist planning to kill you and your family! Are you afraid yet?

The Denver Post hilariously writes,

“the idea is to make Joe and Jill Public aware that they may be just as important as any super-secret agency when it comes to preventing another attack on the U.S.”

In reality the “If You See Something, Say Something” program is an attempt to twist every American into a paranoid volunteer citizen spy and the CELL’s video was nothing more than an exercise in fear mongering produced with a DHS grant totaling over $30,000 and in alliance with the local fusion center, the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC).

The CIAC is one of 72 fusion centers across the United States which analyze and share information between federal and local law enforcement agencies, or, more accurately, conduct domestic spying operations on American citizens.

According to the Denver Post, the CELL’s paranoia-infused “Recognizing the 8 Signs of Terrorism” video, was,

“so popular that the Department of Homeland Security asked the organization to create a public-awareness program.”

The CAP program is an attempt to unify the “nuanced and inconsistent” message provided by previous outreach programs conducted by the,

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

  • Urban Areas Security Initiative

  • Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)

The paranoia of the leaders of the CAP program is hardly deniable, yet Woodson claims that when she,

“takes stock of what’s going on around her when she’s moving from aisle to aisle in a King Soopers [a supermarket], says she’s not being hypervigilant - and certainly not paranoid.”

How is it not hypervigilant or paranoid to be looking for terrorists in a supermarket? Since when have terrorists in America attacked the frozen foods aisle?

Maybe Woodson is looking out for people stocking up on food; after all, that is probably a sign of terrorism along with using binoculars and taking pictures.

Sorry, Woodson - America is not Kabul or Peshawar, and your behavior in supermarkets is indeed both hypervigilant and quite paranoid indeed.

It appears that Woodson and another organizer, Alan Bashany, a former Marine and Florida police recruit, are attempting to get people to radically change their lives.

“Too many people just go about their lives,” Beshany said. “I think what happens is, people are busy just trying to live their lives,” Woodson said.

What is wrong with trying to live our lives?

 

In reality common factors like car accidents, railway accidents, cancer, hot weather, accidental electrocution, airplane accidents, drowning, a fall, heart disease, getting killed by a police officer, or even seemingly absurd causes like accidental suffocation in bed or choking on your own vomit and more pose a greater danger than being killed in a terrorist attack.

Indeed more people in the United States die by drowning in their bathtubs and toilets than have died since 9/11 in terrorist attacks.

Animals, household repairs, alcohol, lightning, hospitals, insects and vending machines also put you in greater danger than a potential terrorist attack.

With all of these common dangers that pervade our everyday life, is it really worth creating a climate of fear and paranoia over a risk that is much lower than all of the above causes of death?

I do not think it is remotely reasonable to have a “War on Terror” but not a “War on Cars” or a “War on Bathtubs,” and I encourage every American to examine why the government and those in control have chosen to manufacture the threat of terror while minimizing the real, everyday threats we face.

Contrary to the statements made by the people behind CAP, I think most Americans do in fact need to “just go about their lives” instead of worrying about a non-existent al Qaeda terrorist in the next aisle of the supermarket.