An ad released by the Los Angeles Police Department urging the public to participate in an anti-terror snooping program is being described by numerous observers and news sources by a single word: Creepy.
The one-and-a-half minute spot, which can be viewed below, features a multicultural line-up of speakers explaining why they participate in iWatch, a "neighborhood watch for the whole city," as the ad describes it.
"If you see, hear, or smell something suspicious, report it. Reporting is easy. Use the web or the phone," the speakers state. "A single report can lead to actions that can stop a terrorist attack. Think about that. Think about the power of that. Think about the power of iWatch."
And indeed plenty of people are now thinking about the power of iWatch, and many observers are not impressed. Allison Kilkenny, on her TrueSlant blog, says it won't be long before iWatch will be exploited by people for their own purposes.
Tina Dupuy at the media-affairs blog MediaBistro writes that the ad "is universally thought to be creepy and not unlike we've imagined PSA's on Orwell's telescreens to be like."
The full story.....But our reaction is why did this take so long? Hello! September 11th 2001 was like eight years ago. It's taken the LAPD this long to ask Angelenos to be on the look out for anything suspicious in regards to terrorism?! What, did they get stuck in traffic for the better part of a decade?
Yeah, I keep a close eye on my neighbors. And if some dude in a turban comes into the neighborhood I call the cops. Let the cops figure it out. Of course, I take all these special precautions because I'm too dumb to recognize suspicious or criminal activities simply because they appear. And would report them anyway. But I've always wanted a good excuse for keeping an eye on my neighbors. Thank you, IWatch!
ReplyDeleteThe ad is on the mark. Notice how no Arab or Muslim types are in it. I'm ready for 'em, and I helped clean out my local gun store. No need to get ME all fired up.
LA's police department has an infamous history. I wonder what this tells us about them today?
Speaking of great media victories~~~
ReplyDeleteThin Ice
Freakonomics gets chilly response to tech fixes for global warming
© Bryan Zepp Jamieson
24th October 2009
A poll came out two weeks ago measuring American attitudes toward global
warming. According to media accounts (gleeful media accounts, in the
case of Faux), only 57% of Americans believed in global warming,
compared to 77% in 2007.
At first I thought it was an unbelievably sloppy poll. If someone came
up to me and asked if I believed in global warming, I would say I
didn't. “Believe in” suggests faith without evidence, religiosity.
“Believe in” means you have an opinion, and you want that opinion to
come true, because, well, you happen to like that opinion. I believe
there is intelligent life out in the universe, not because I have a
shred of evidence supporting such a view, but because I want it to be
so. I have faith.
I don't believe in global warming. I acknowledge its existence, based on
a lot of solid evidence, and its potential to do severe harm to us. I
don't accept it on faith; I accept it on evidence.
So I thought that the pollster had just been unbelievably sloppy. Except
it turned out it was Pew Research, and when I went to the source to find
out what they actually asked, I discovered that the phrase “believe in”
wasn't there. What they did ask was, “Is there solid evidence the earth
is warming?” There's a flaw in that question, too, but the flaw depends
from a lack of thought by the respondents, rather than lack of thought
on the part of the pollster.
Remainder of essay here~~~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zepps_essays/message/781
I was thinking of donning a turban and chanting in my backyard. I figured someone would "Iwatch" me, and I could sue and get a settlement like the Flying Imams.
ReplyDeleteLol Truth and Quinty....Or is laughter premature?
ReplyDelete