There’s no shortage of federal offenses, nor of those involving immediate danger to innocent civilians, yet this is the only one I know that requires citizens to be notified so harshly. This is a serious pitting, the hyperbolic title notwithstanding, to which so many have responded with pearl-clutching horror, that I hesitate to clarify my concern.
OK. Hesitation over.
I was thinking of putting a more sober version of this thread in GQ or GD until I found this thread lurking there, My issues are twofold:
- the need for such urgency in responding to possible child abductions at all. As stated, there are loads of crimes that are dealt with by the constabulary without having a cow. As a parent, I might run into my local precinct grasping my hair in both hands and demand that every officer on duty be assigned immediately to finding my wayward missing child, but I will rightly be told, “Sir, we are taking the appropriate steps, we are trying to track down the vehicle, locate the abductor, stake out his likely destinations, but our officers have other responsibilities besides finding your child.” Were I to demand that authorities, say, shut off everyone’s electrical power to call more attention to my plight, I would rightly be told to check into the closest mental institution for observation.
But, according to the principle of Amber Alerts, aren’t I correct in thinking shutting off everyone’s electricity would rile up the community so that they would read the pamphlets being dropped by the thousands by a fleet of helicopters describing my child’s outfit and the license plate of the abductor’s car? Well, yes, but as you’re no doubt about to point out, that’s a ridiculous over-reaction.
Well, so is an Amber Alert. There are ways to deal with violent crime that do not call out in any form to the general population to be alerted. Every other violent crime-in-progress that I can think of, in fact.
So that’s one question: why the absurd (and ineffective) overreaction for this one crime? BUT
- more practically, why this METHOD of alerting the general population? This inquiry refers to all alerts–weather, impending power outages, whatever–that reach people via TV or cel phone. I’d estimate that a chyron running politely along the bottom of my TV screen would reach roughly 98% of the people whose attention is grabbed by a shrieking, unpleasant noise at top volume. If some sound is required, I think I’d look up at my screen if suddenly some classical music started playing along with the newscast or sitcom I was watching. Why do they need to make the sound so deliberately unpleasant?
The answer to both questions, I think, is: BECAUSE THEY CAN. Ninnies whose all-purpose response to almost any question is “think of the children!” take the opportunity to run (metaphorically) into my police station, shrieking about the children, and polite and sane society has no hope of outshouting them.