This is a Test…
“This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.”
For those of us born in the mid 60s the familiar beeping of the Emergency Broadcast System was an irritation, sometimes not minor, depending on how we felt about the interruption during our TV shows. This was before Tivo, there was no rewind and no chance of catching the highlights on the internet. It was also a reminder that there could be a national emergency. We were mindful of nuclear war, Soviet bombs, the red button and the Ayatollah. We dreaded Chernobyl. “If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for news and official information”. Around the time Gorbechev “tore down that wall” the message changed. The system acknowledged that there was less risk of bombers honing in on broadcast signals. Ironically, I never knew that. I thought that somehow, the Emergency Alert System (as it would later be called) was still a means of telling the public what to do, what to expect during an emergency. I expect to be ‘instructed where to tune in to for news and official information’. Silly me, I expected someone official to actually care and inform a concerned public. What we got was boosterism, capitalist apologies, and official reassurances that every thing was going to be alright. I recently had to explain the test to my own child. She was concerned about the sound and wanted to know if it meant there was a tornado coming. (She doesn’t know about Chernobyl yet.) She does have a few recommendations for President Obama. My six year old daughter thinks he should arrest the ‘stealers’ who took the money and make them give it back. She’s thoughtful about her growing new vocabulary. She’s interested in what forclosure means… stuff like that.“This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.” If this had been an actual emergency, we would recommend against watching it on TV. Or at least Tivo the commercials.
Comments
2 Comments on This is a Test…
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loans on
Mon, 22nd Feb 2010 6:35 pm
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Kristofer Briganti on
Thu, 25th Mar 2010 5:33 am
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