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
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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.