renaissance poisson

i'm watching criminal minds, season 4, episode 24 "amplification". the unsub got rejected by the army because he failed the psych eval by answering "yes" to the question "is it ever justified to sacrifice the lives of a few for the lives of many".

the unsub lets loose a weaponized anthrax strain in a park as a test, and everyone expects a major attack. the entire episode spends much of its internal agony over whether it'd be ok for the agents to notify their loved ones so they can get out of town, and the official attitude is to keep this from the public for as long as possible, because otherwise mass panic would set in.

uh huh.

and then at the end, when emily gripes about having lied to a woman according to the company line, telling her everything was perfectly safe when in fact it wasn't at all safe, rossi asks her "how would people feel if they knew everything we've prevented since 9-11? would they feel safer, or more vulnerable?" as if that perfectly justified the lies. i think i wouldn't feel more vulnerable, but i would have a more realistic assessment of the dangers and counter-measures out there -- and i always, always rather know than don't know.

i think 9-11 proved that feeling safe isn't particularly good for people; so much overreaction came about in part because people had had no actual concept of the real and present dangers of terrorism. being realistic, being prepared, is important IMO, even though that doesn't make one safe, of course. it changes my mindset, and i am less likely to panic, more likely to have a plan, or at least reasonable objectives if actual danger hits.

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i still miss gideon (though not greenaway whom i never liked). i'm sorry about gideon throwing in the towel, but that writing was large on the wall even before frank returned. though i really, REALLY hate it when shows like this put a team member in the direct crosshairs of an unsub -- once i can take, but they've done it to greenaway, gideon, garcia, and reid, and i am afraid it's just gonna continue, and since the boston reaper episode i am pretty sure it'll be hotchner. the show has drama enough, it doesn't need to artificially rachet it up. *grump*.