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this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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To be fair, after the attacks on 9/11 I heard a fair number of comments from people who were convinced their local high school football stadium would be a prime target for international terror rings.
"Think about it, Becky. It's Friday night and the whole town of Left Nube, Indiana will be packed in there. We're sitting ducks."
It's silly, but people project their fear locally.
At least the city I lived in was close enough to "primary nuclear strike" targets to be demolished by shockwave.
Never mind the fact that that's nuclear strike targets, not "Terrorist-hijacked-jets" target. Clearly people tend not to think rationally about these things.
We live a few stone throws away from the biggest military base in this part of the country. I usually joke that we'll either be the first or the last to go if there's a war.
However, terrorists attacking that would be "putting your dick in a fire ants nest" level of stupid.
I think it would make more sense to attack there.
The goal of an attack is not to do a standoff with the military and win. It is tocause a lot of damage quickly, to negate the feeling of security. Attacking next to the largest military base would be perfect for that, as it creates the appearance, that the military is unable to protect the people.
But the fact is that noone can really protect against this.
Some heavy truck driving through a crowd was often more efficient than gunmen throwing grenades.
Unless specifically searching for it, any semitruck will pass most police unnoticed and could be loaded with a couple tons of explosive fertilizer, enough to destroy a large buildung, killing hundreds of people.
And the attackers either include their death as a planned result, or they run quickly after an attack, making it impossible to respond immediately.
Are you between the two nuclear labs in the Bay area? Those always show up as top targets and people always brought it up
The Midwest is full of missile silos that are on MAD target lists. There’s possibly more legitimate fear that terrorists could target something in San Francisco or similarly popular places. Terrorists also want attention, so a place with lots of news coverage is better too.
My dad pointed out to me as a kid that the city next to us would be a nuke target because it held the US strategic reserve of silicon carbide, a substance critical to grinding parts (e.g. making weapons).
Well, I HOPE most people think rationally, but the ones who are going to whine about the local sports match? ... Yeah, agreed.
After 911 a woman in my city (Portland Oregon) called the police because she saw powder on the hood of her parked car - parked under trees that were shedding pollen. She though fer sher that evildoers were targeting her with anthrax spores or something. The police are required to respond to those calls with full bio-emergency gear, so it was a huge scene, road blocked off, police vans everywhere, people in full body protective gear taking samples of the "anthrax" from her car. The end result was a public announcement from the police asking the public to please use common sense before calling. The drama going on in people's heads sometimes ... yikes.
People need to remember that chances are they are far too unimportant to use expensive stuff like anthrax on them. And if they are important enough for it, then they would already know and take precautions.
Unless you randomly pick up what appears to be a bottle of perfume and it's full of Novichok nerve agent.
Sounds like a fun Friday night
Dude, you don't have to make up Left Nube, Indiana when the state has Floyd's Knobs and French Lick.
You mean they project their insecurities.
Wolverines!
Left Nube... That's a city Colin Mochrie made up, isn't it?
It is. And it has permanently entered our household lexicon.