Terror Threat Levels

OMG! OMG! The terrorist threat level has been raised! Stock up on the canned goods, and avoid contact with other human beings.

Alan Johnson:

"We still face a real and serious threat to the UK from international terrorism, so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity."

The facts:

The home secretary stressed there was no intelligence to suggest a terrorist attack was imminent.

Right, so the terrorist threat level has gone up despite there being no intelligence to suggest that it should go up. I can't be alone in seeing the absolute insanity in that. But the facts don't really matter, do they? Because the headline is "UK terrorist threat level raised to 'severe'", not "UK terrorist threat level raised to 'severe' for no reason whatsoever". And the raising of the threat level is intentional, but its intentions have very little to do with protecting us against terrorism. No, this sort of thing is about creating and maintaining a certain level of panic with society, that can then be used to suppress civil liberties, and to justify attacks on the way minorities live in this country. If you want proof that it isn't about fighting terrorism then just remember - there is no evidence to suggest a terrorist attack is imminent.

"It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party." Well, Orwell was right - to some extent. In that the ruling elite will always try to shape reality in order to meet their own ends. But it only becomes impossible to see reality except through the prism of the ruling elite if you let it, and if you don't challenge what they say. So the next time you hear that the terrorist threat level has been altered (which, lest we forget, it went down just before the London bombings of 2005) ask why that has happened, and whether there is any evidence that the situation has actually changed. I can almost guarantee there won't be.