Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

UK people... just out of interest.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:25 / 11.09.06

...Do you remember that booklet we all got given a few years back about protection against terrorism?

Question 1: Do you still haver yours? Handy, like, as in something you'd be able to refer to in a hurry if need be?

nah, me neither.

Question 2: Do you remember anything at all about it, other than the colour scheme?

nah, me neither.

Question 3: does this worry you at all?

nah, me neither.

Question 4: HOW FUCKING MUCH did those things cost us?

All Acting Regiment

17:27 / 11.09.06

Oh yeah, the fuckers! I remember that now. I got it through the door along with a BNP leaflet, and it made me wonder...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:28 / 11.09.06

Typically, I made sure I got an extra one, so when I inevitably lost mine I'd have one as a souvenir. Guess what?

Spatula Clarke

17:33 / 11.09.06

I never got one. Should I take this personally?

unheimlich manoeuvre

18:10 / 11.09.06

Are you Preparing for Emergencies?

How will you Protect and Survive?

...

I've lost my leaflet too...

Dead Megatron

18:22 / 11.09.06

Was that booklet before or after 9/11

In both cases I can see it as a very lengthy way of saying "acting paranoid will save you life and your family's". But,I'm beting that only an after 9/11 booklet would also include racial profiling as well.

Olulabelle

18:24 / 11.09.06

Randy, I didn't either. Don't take it personally.

All the omission actually means is that someone, somewhere has a little list of people who are rock'ard and you and I are on it.

Mistoffelees

18:34 / 11.09.06

HOW FUCKING MUCH did those things cost us?

I wouldn´t worry about that. The half a million security cameras (in London alone, I believe) and their maintenance should far outweigh the cost of a onetime legion of leaflets.

petunia

18:39 / 11.09.06

does that mean I'm on the rock-ard list, too?! Please?

Stoats makes a good point tho - how much money did we lose on this feeble attempt at creating a veil of security (while, of course, adding to the fear that necessitates this feeling of security...)?

But then, how much do we lose every year on...

I can't even bring myself to start.

Goddamned government.

Catchy colour scheme tho

Kiltartan Cross

19:28 / 11.09.06

Oh yeah, the fuckers! I remember that now. I got it through the door along with a BNP leaflet, and it made me wonder...
Oh, yes, well, plotting terrorist acts against the BNP is excusable enough. You needn't feel too bad about it!

As to the leaflets, well, I've certainly misappropriated mine. On t'other hand, our school history curriculum seems to dedicate an awful lot of time to The Blitz(TM), gas masks and Anderson shelters, so I'm sure the yoof of tomorrow will be adequately protected from sarin in the subway and nuking the Gherkin.

Whisky Priestess

19:47 / 11.09.06

War's always been a sexy subject at school. That and the Egyptians. And dinosaurs. I'm sure one can draw many life lessons from both other subjects, actually.

But what I remember mostly from the terror leaflets was the clanking obviousness of the advice given:

Stay indoors. Eat canned food. Make sure you've got plenty of water. Don't dance naked in your garden singing "I've got enough Pot Noodles to last me five years, come and get it if you think you're hard enough" etc.

I remember thinking that it was a bit like "When the Wind Blows" by Raymond Briggs, without the intelligence or pathos.

20:17 / 11.09.06

I got one and kept it. Shoved it in a shoebox with a load of comics. I figured that I'll find it in a few years, when we're not drowning in all this state promoted paranoia, and look back with the warm glow of nostalgia that comes from living in a more enlightened era. Like finding old "Duck and Cover" leaflets in amongst a load of old books in your gran's loft. We can laugh at them now, thank god. Either that or the world will have turned even more to shit, in which case I'll try and flog it on eBay.

Tryphena Absent

20:44 / 11.09.06

I think I pinned the leaflet up in our old flat, it had kitsch value, especially the part about turning your radio on but more importantly it was a pleasant reminder of the fact that we had launched a huge bombing attack on Iraqis... we were meant to be worried about terrorism when we were actually bombing another country constantly? Our discomfort and fear just wasn't all that, the leaflet was a good reminder of that because it was a leaflet about potential moments in time. A very good reminder of political hypocrisy.

Sekhmet

21:47 / 11.09.06

Am I to assume that the British government, unlike ours, didn't insult your intelligence by advising that you use cellophane and duct tape to seal the entrances to your home against biological agents?

The Falcon

21:49 / 11.09.06

There was some fairly nonsensical 'duck and cover' style stuff to be found therein, iirc. My dad still has his, I think, as a memento, so I may have a swatch sometime soon.

Disco is My Class War

22:03 / 11.09.06

In Australia we got fridge magnets with the phone number for calling in suspicious behaviour, tips for spotting terrorists and some basic first aid info. I think that was a high point of the Australian anti-terror campaign, myself. It was all about how everyone could do their bit -- help save the nation from attack if they just kept the number on their fridge door. Why the fridge door? Drinking all the orange juice is terrorism too, you know.

(Hilariously, the hotline for dobbing in a terrorist has been the target of numerous prank calls, the best of which was a guy claiming to be part of a huge Aboriginal-Islamic cross-over insurgency group waging jihad on the white colonial infidels. The authorities shat their pants and arrested him, even though he was obviously just stoned/bored. They charged him too, which sucks: they must get a lot of prank calls, and they don't charge everyone.)

Jub

06:48 / 12.09.06

Brought to you by the department of vague paranoia

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

06:57 / 12.09.06

I didn't get one. I think the authorities wanted me to die. On the other hand I live in a very Muslim area which would make it difficult for the BNP to deliver.

I learnt about the Celts and the American West at history in School and my history teacher was a huge Bruce Springstein fan. Made me a bit paranoid about those Roman fuckers mind. I tell you a resurgent Roman Empire is the next big security threat.

stabbystabby

08:15 / 12.09.06

the Ozzie Fridge Magnet of TERROR:

pointless & uncalled for

08:18 / 12.09.06

Either that is a fluffy fridgemagnet or someone is running a highly entertaining script on their site.

If it's the latter then j00 h4v3 b33n pwnedz0r3d.

Quantum

08:54 / 12.09.06

I bet the leaflets cost less than the millennium dome. I never got one, and I never went to the dome, but still had to pay for them, grr.

pointless & uncalled for

09:00 / 12.09.06

Don't worry, you'll soon be able to go to the Dome when it get's converted into a massive casino.

Of course you'll get to pay again, and again and again.

■

09:37 / 12.09.06

I have one, it sits atop a disconnected phone in my hallway, as it has since the day it was delivered, gathering dust.

Kiltartan Cross

09:37 / 12.09.06

Don't worry, you'll soon be able to go to the Dome when it get's converted into a massive casino.

That's when I reach for my revolver. Still, with any luck Two-Jags has doomed the Dome bid with his lack of discretion.

pointless & uncalled for

09:44 / 12.09.06

Sorry, insider sources can reveal that his indescretion ran off the projects back like beer runs down a barbeloids throat in The Plough.

stabbystabby

09:53 / 12.09.06

Crikey! let's try this:

nixwilliams

10:18 / 12.09.06

i'm glad the australian contingent has done our bit here. my friends and i wrote a song called 'suspicious looking packages', which contained the classic line "dial one eight hundred one two three four double oh before that bomb explodes". fun times.

no, i can't find mine, either (and yes, sadly, i have looked for it).

We're The Great Old Ones Now

11:54 / 12.09.06

I seem to remember that leaflet was frogfuckingly embarrassing and painfully useless. It chattered about what we being done to make sure that the Downing Street cat would survive in the event of alien invasion, but made no mention of things like Atropine, evacuation protocols, or vaccines. It was a 'place head between legs, kiss ass goodbye' leaflet.

Screw 'em.

paranoidwriter waves hello

12:01 / 12.09.06

Kind of hard to do in that position though, eh?

Stoat, if you still need an analogue copy: have you tried Stoke Newington or Hackney Central libraries? If not, I'm pretty sure the British Libray will have a copy you could photocopy.

Add Your Reply