In case you didn't know, today was national scare the shit out of New Yorkers day, apparently
As you've probably heard by now, earlier today the Department of Defense or the White House, I'm still not sure who exactly is to blame, decided to have a replica of Air Force One, it's backup plane actually, fly low over downtown Manhattan so that a photographer could get a photo of the plane flying with the Statue of Liberty in the frame. The problem with this was that they failed to notify anyone about this, so when a low-flying plane being tailed by a military fighter jet made several passes over the city and Hudson river, many people freaked the fuck out. You see, it seems New Yorkers are a bit sensitive to this sort of thing for some, ugh, odd reason. So if it wasn't enough that our morning newspapers were filled with horror stories of a potential swine flu outbreak, many people were convinced that it was 911 all over again. Many residential and commercial buildings were evacuated. The markets tanked. It was, at the very least, a bit of a shitshow.
Seriously, WHAT. THE. FUCK.
I've been scanning Youtube periodically throughout the day looking for a good video clip that I feel accurately captured the concern many people felt this morning. My friend John Carney over at Clusterstock dug one up taken by a woman from the balcony of her Tribeca apartment. You can sort of hear the fear felt by many when she utters the words, "oh my god...it's a hijacking!"
Even better, in addition to just being downright stupid, the photo op orchestrated by the Defense Department may have been a felony.
UPDATE: Here's another clip from earlier today, this one capturing a bunch of terrified workers and tourists running for their lives in Battery Park, dug up by Ryan Tate at Gawker.
Meanwhile, this guy is apparently the person responsible for the flap.
9 comments:
While i agree that it was stupid, i Believe the website calling it a Felony is taking the action a little far. There was never any intent to harass, injure, or terrorize. If anything, it would be criminal negligence, and the DA would have to prove that the government owed a duty of care to the public to notify them of something (which they DID) and then failed to fulfill that duty of care, which is also what happened. Unfortunately, I do not think there is a Negligent teroristic threat.
Not that im saying this was by any means a well thought out idea...
And here I was thinking stuff like this abruptly ended when Bush left office.
felony? how would they prove that the gov't was threatening new yorkers? did you read that post you linked to? you may not be paranoid about swine flu, but you sure are touchy about airplanes.
@anon...i've said it before and i'll say it again...just because i link to or quote something does not equate to my agreeing with it 100%. i just thought that it was an interesting take/side story.
and i'm not paranoid about the plane thing at all, i'm more outraged at the stupidity of it all, but if i were paranoid about it, fuck, WOULD YOU BLAME ME?
Here's a painting that captures the feeling: http://pertinentart.blogspot.com/
Truly unbelievable. People should be fired over this sick idea - how the hell it ever got any kind of approval boggles the mind.
I could not believe the news yesterday and got goose bumps seeing the images. Can't imagine how scary it must have been in lower NYC
k
Sometimes people do stupid things. This was stupid. Besides that, how hard would it be to photoshop a pic of Air Force One and The Statue of Liberty. I think if I wanted to spin this I'd say it shows how out of touch D.C. is with the rest of America.
RJ
Where are the previous examples of the plane being photographed with other national icons? If there is a precedent, I'd like to see it.
I want to believe that Pres. Obama did not know about this. That he would have balked at the idea and told whoever floated it, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Still, that's what bothers me the most: when I believe you're the common sense administration, you cannot do things that play right into the hands of your opponents.
Sadly, I'm waiting for a far right wing nut job to say this was some kind of "test" of our defense system by the Islamo-facist in Chief, and that he's just waiting to strike and turn us all into heathens and gays.
While I, too, think it was a really effed up thing to do--I couldn't even watch the videos people took, it brought back too many horrible memories--I think that the POTUS actually trusts the people who work for him to do their jobs properly and not make stupid decisions. I think he would like to be able to deal with Iran, and Swine Flu and the economy then police the people who works for him like some parent with his sixth grader.
The right-wing nuts have been so marginalized by their insane chatter that nobody will listen to them or care what they have to say; moderate Americans tuned them out back when Obama won the primary.
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