The Insecurity State

Recently I was part of a training exercise that was meant to update the kinds of risks that might occur during the workday.  And most of it was what everyone expects; fire, flood, power outage, tornadoes and hurricanes, earthquakes(?), downed power lines, automobile crashes, etc.

And after several hours and hundreds of questions that were meant to flesh out our thoughts about what would have to be done in these circumstances, I was thoroughly bored (as you could imagine).  But then we got to the really wacky stuff.  We got to the active shooter, hostage taking, suspicious powder in a letter, malicious drones and angry mob scenarios.

Now I had gone through what-ifs for active shooters, hostage situations and anthrax attacks.  But killer drones and mob violence was new.  And (as you could imagine) some of my answers started getting a little humorous.  Even the instructors were a little tongue in cheek when it came to events like the angry mob (actually called large combative protest group).  Our predictable answer was to summon the police. Lock the doors and provide information to employees and bystanders and shelter from the demonstrators.  But when first asked for my plan I said, “I’d recruit a squad of able-bodied men armed with salad tongs and cafeteria trays and wade into the center of the mob.”  This got some chuckles and some frowns.

Suffice it to say that our answers were very perfunctory and tended toward actions that revolved around calling for police support, summoning emergency workers such as utility companies, calling for an ambulance and providing the kind of first response help that usually doesn’t accomplish much.  So afterward I didn’t think much about the training but later it occurred to me that drone attacks and mob violence are both now solidly in the center of the radar screen for corporations and governments.

And they’re right.  Ten years ago, drones were toys that photographers were starting to buy to get interesting and difficult to capture perspectives on photographic subjects.  Now they’re almost the primary weapons of war.  They can take out a tank or a trench full of infantrymen.  They can spy on people in their homes and even attack other drones.

And everyone is now aware that mob violence is a favorite tactic of Leftist groups like BLM and Antifa.  And, of course, the favorite answer we had for the trainer; calling for the police and waiting for their arrival, isn’t really an answer when the police have been instructed to stand down and let the mostly peaceful mob sack and torch your home.  As far as the drone scenario, chances are the drone belongs to the federal government and if you attempt to interfere with its activities, I’m guessing that will just increase the charges against you to include malicious destruction of government property.

What I’m trying to say here is that we live in very troubled times.  None of these scenarios are what Americans of fifty years ago would consider things to worry about or plan to survive.  But today, if you don’t you may be putting yourself at risk.  Even twenty years ago home invasions and carjackings only happened in the worst parts of the worst cities.  Now they happen in Beverly Hills and the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  We live in the dystopic future that science fiction writers imagined back in the 1970s.  And we’ve just kind of accepted it.  And that is the scariest thing of all.