FUD - Short for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.
I was on my way home yesterday and heard this advert on the radio. All sinister with that spooky music, the type you find in some horror film or high drama, you know the type; designed to make you wonder what's about to happen, put you in a state of fear.
Before I go any further, I think its important to highlight one particularly tragic event that happened on the 7th of the 7th 2005 here in London, the London Bombings as they have come to be known. People lost their lives, mothers lost sons, daughters lost fathers, brothers lost sisters, aunts lost nieces, husands lost wives. A tragic senseless obliteration of life. Scores of others lives have been blighted, people both mentally and physically scarred.
We will never know whether an advertising campaign could have gone anywhere near to preventing that event. To be honest, I don't really see the point in debating the point either, its likely to be circuitous.
I kinda struggled with the idea of whether even mentioning that event was even fair or justified or relevant.Its always difficult to make a point that has a connection with the loss of life as, well, I just dont want to use it to score any points or ratchet up any defence of anything. Its appalling, its awful and there isn't too much more that can be said about the loss of life so close to home, yet saying that, I can't help but draw paralells with others and at least mention some of the stuff they have to endure, because whether we like it or not, they are all connected, at least thats what we are told to believe. Ive no idea what it must feel like to be an ordinary citizen in Iraq today. Just thinking of the crap they have to put up with. Mass murders daily, no power, water and sewage issues, health issues, communities destroyed and fractured.
Its odd though, cos we don't really identify with their loss. Iraq is 1000's of miles from us in a land full of sand and people who talk arabic; we are disconnected from it all, yet at the same time we are reminded daily that people from this country, British soldiers are out there, killing and getting killed too. Young men acting under orders, losing their lives in the name of something already conveniently forgotten - WMD.
Our media tend to show us the odd picture of a tank or a tent or soldier in the distance, up will pop Blair or Bush and say the odd token terrorrist word and rant on about the evil and danger they represent, how the stability of the middle east is paramount and all that, almost suggesting now that really, its all the fault of the terrorists out there and that the war on terror needs to be ramped up or continued until its all gone away.By creating a climate of fear, talking about an axis of evil, bringing it here to our doorsteps and public transport systems, then overall, it becomes easier to maintain things like the invasion of sovereign nations, tragic loss of life. It also makes it that much easier to pass laws designed to weaken individual rights, easier to restrict and control and maintain power, power borne out of oil and the ability to control its supply lines and production.
Originally when I started this post, I wanted to rant about those adverts I'd heard, I wanted to say how insipid they were. How they undermine community relations, help engender a spirit of separateness, a spirit of disunity and mistrust.
The advert said things like (paraphrasing) "If you see something that looks suspicious, it could be terrorists, they are living in our communities, shopping in our shops, you cn help us catch them, call us free on xxx xxxxxxx xx"
I wanted to ask, where is the benefit in having phone lines full of calls from Mrs Goggins at number 47, reporting how she'd just seen a few men in Bradford with white cloaks and beards unloading some boxes out of the back of a car? Then multiply that by a few 1000 and tell me how such a report a foreign terrorist line benefits anybody at all?
II wanted to ask why that if there really is such a clear and present danger to society, then why not just spend that money on extra 'intelligence'?
I wanted to be flippant and say things like "What warn people I hear you say? As in the days of the war, air raid sirens and all that jazz? How about morning broadcasts with a little scale. What about a terroist forecaster with a map and bomb symbols?"
But now, it just doesn't seem appropriate. I still think the adverts suck, but I'll leave it at that.