Public security is a real concern

Dear Editor:

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s public warning about the increase of false bomb threats, which end up a hoax I found, not only wise, but also a sad reflection upon western society (Courier, Dec. 15).

A negative result from the Cambridge Analytica investigation was the exposure, at least to the non-psychiatric-world, about how B.F. Skinner’s behavioural-research work demonstrating that targeted external stimulation can alter individual behaviour in predictable ways. Unfortunately, by trying to get to the bottom of what happened, did we inadvertently widened its use?

How do we distinguish from real threats? We’ve certainly have emergences that turned out to be false, but aren’t these the one’s we breathe a sigh of relief about? If we don’t respond to every emergence, how do know which one is real? For safety to succeed it must be active 100 percent of the time; but for terrorism to be effective it must succeed only once.

On the other side, the ease of manufacturing an emergence in our digital-age has increased a hundred-fold. Social media can become a vehicle for social control. This obviously suits not only political terrorists, but also the run-of-the-mill sociopaths and others criminally-minded; the digital age has given them all, new tools with which to ply their trade.

To thinking men and women; it seems juvenile to threaten society just for fun. But, the digital age has met the immature and mentally ill. Demands for money, we understand a little better.

However, how the government frames extremist threat assessments, affects how well Canadians react. Public safety requires truth from government and on our part. We, the public, need to be armed with sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions for family safety. Being a citizen in today’s digital age forces each of us to develop a higher level of understanding of events around us and all the new mitigating factors that affect them.

Anarchy and racism have always existed in the shadows, along the edges of modern society, forced out and unwelcomed in mainstream society.

However, the digital-age has created within our social/political landscape vast internet-canyons, known only to the initiated; hidden from prying eyes, a place to gather undisturbed, from which to postulate their chaos and fear.

We in the mainstream majority must now be evermore vigilant.

Anarchy is not new, but the digital age is. The increase in false email alarms, announced by the minister, shows us that anarchy like everything else is easily accentuated by technology.

Public security and border security are both a real concern today.

And it is reassuring to have a competent minister like Ralph Goodale with his eye on this particular issue for all Canadians.