With Independence Day (U.S.A.) rapidly approaching, I am wondering if Dopers think this will be a different July 4 in light of the events of September 11. Anyone planning on doing anything differently, or at all?
Only thing I’ve noticed to be different is the security level at planned events. They’ve been making quite the to-do around here about how many more cops/guards/undercover they plan on having at the fireworks show. I think that’s mainly because of the “we’re going to strike again” BS that Osama and Co. have been spewing, but it’ll be interesting to see if anything else is altered. Myself, I don’t plan on going downtown. I can see the show perfectly well from my porch; and as much as I hate to feed into the paranoia I just don’t think it’d be worth the [sub]miniscule, quasi-legitamite[/sub] risk to take my one-year-old into a crowd like that.
I think it’ll be a little more patriotic, but I find myself irrationally scared of what’s going to happen. I know there’s really no reason, but I just can’t shake the feeling that something bad will happen. I’m going to be glad when it’s over.
Well, I’d say the part about the World Trade Center being destroyed and killing three thousand people would constitute a “reason.” I don’t think your fears are irrational at all. I’d still recommend you go out and have lots of fun, though.
Well, I live one block from the Pentagon, and I’m not bugging out because of the supposed terrorist threat. (FWIW, I was downtown at work on 9/11.)
I’m not going to go down to the Mall, either. I can get just as good a view from my roof, and three solid years of doing that in university have soured me on the experience. This is more from an avoidance of crowds thing than from any real feeling that something bad’s going to happen.
I do think that in the next six months or so, there will be some kind of attack by al-Quaeda, but since I’m not sure what exactly it’s going to be, I’ll just keep living my life, albeit more cautiously. I was a pananoid sonafabitch before, though, so it’s not like anything’s changed. I have pretty good access to intel through my job, and I’ve just gone through three weeks of crisis management, counterintelligence and general “what-to-do in an emergency” training.
I’m not going to live my life substantially differently just because Ridge hears a car backfire and puts the threat level up to aquamarine, or whatever it is. I already take basic precautions and have bug-out kits in the car and house. Living in fear isn’t going to help any.