Because we take public safety seriously
By Anna Daniels
Americans have apparently decided that events like those happening today in DC are acts of God like the Colorado floods or hurricanes in the Atlantic. There’s nothing we can do to prevent it. Mass shootings are the American Way. Digby Hullabaloo
Homeland Security provided funds for this Texas Public Service Announcement so that citizens are better prepared to deal with an unhinged shooter in their school, workplace, church/mosque/temple, movie theater or any of the other myriad public places in which they erroneously assume that they should be able to gather without the fear of being murdered.
Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter Event
During the arms race between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1950’s and 1960’s the threat of nuclear strikes required a different kind of preparedness. A series of public service announcements by the Federal Civil Defense were geared specifically toward school children. Mid-century children grew up knowing how to “duck and cover.”
It is easy to watch the archival footage below and simply dismiss it as a combination of poor production values and utterly stupid/naive bromides in the face of nuclear annihilation. No, the effects of nuclear radiation are not really like a bad sunburn. But beyond those criticisms, the fear of nuclear annihilation was largely eliminated when the Cold War came to an end and because of international efforts since then to locate and destroy loose nukes and to keep other nations from developing nuclear weapons.
We were able to largely eliminate a reasonable fear by finding a way to ban the development and use of nuclear weapons. How will we look back on the Run, Hide, Fight video, with its high productions values and its own unstated assumptions about gun violence, fifty years from now? Perhaps it too will be seen as little more than a period piece, because we had the guts and commitment to address the issue of gun violence itself…and moved on.
Anna Daniels
Latest posts by Anna Daniels (see all)
- Bob Dorn: Rest in Power! - December 3, 2018
- The Urgency of Transgender Safety, Legal Protections - November 27, 2018
- Chaos and Cruelty at the Border - November 26, 2018
“Improvise weapons, and try to take the shooter down,” the Texas narrator intones, and “…be aware and… run, hide, FIGHT!” This is so that we can feel more comfortable going to our workplaces in Texas? Texas, where the NRA is just another neighborly pressure group, eager to help you survive the… what?… liberals who want to take our guns away?
Who can make sense of this mess?
It’s governmental propaganda, Bob. Just like those “duck and cover” films and “Reefer Madness” before that, this “Public Service Video” is designed to make us feel a little less powerless in a terrible situation. But what really gives this video away as a piece of rank propaganda is the mention “the authorities are working hard…” less than 30 seconds in.
Shooting incidents used to be almost unthinkable. Now, we are trying to prepare for them as an almost everyday thing! But, given that reality, there is some good practical knowledge here. Just as you want to have a fire safety plan in your home, we now need to be aware of escape routes at work.
Bob, didya notice it really uses great psychology in the ‘fight’ section. If yer gonna get shot anyway, ya might as well fight. Remember Flight 93!
I forget the numbers now, but Homeland Security has so much money they don’t know what to do with it, so they make movies. San Diego Unified School Police are now carrying
rifles in the trunks of their cars. Thanks, Homeland Security. I sure hope the folks in the DC Navy Yard saw this video before today’s carnage.
When is enough enough? Ditto for the NSA.