PressEthic

Thursday evening, New Yorkers were informed that they would be sitting ducks as they rode subways to work, school, class, etc. the following week. I understand why Mayor Bloomberg released information about the terrorist threat. If something did happen and later it came out that the mayor’s office had not inform the public, there would be a huge uproar.

So, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Chief Kelly said the only thing they could say: Please don’t worry, but the subways may blow up. Short of shutting down the subway system entirely, there’s really nothing anyone can do about the terrorist threats – and everyone knows it. So, we go about our business. . . hoping not to blow up.

Then, in Saturday’s New York Times, I see this James Barron article, In Skeptical New York, Terror Alert Stirs Doubts. Apparently, some people think the announcement of an increased terrorist threat could be a political ploy for Mayor Bloomberg. Barron reports:

Bonnie Blankenship, an event planner and publicist, said she was concerned that the mayor and the police commissioner appeared to make more of the threat than did homeland security officials in Washington, who played it down.

"I tied that to his decision not to go to the debate in Harlem," she said. "Without the threat, I would guess that would be front and center. It was front and center in my mind. It still is. I don't understand why Mayor Bloomberg refused this debate, and I actually like Mayor Bloomberg."

Although politicians are notorious for playing the media like a well tuned instrument – Barron cites the movie Wag the Dog as an example – could the public actually believe that the Mayor would trump up terrorist threats to help his political campaign?

More likely, this is wishful thinking. Denial. Self-deception is a uniquely human talent which becomes especially useful when people are forced to deal with stressful issues beyond their control. Not that I expect NYT articles to delve into the deep dark chasm of psychoanalysis. . . I’m just saying. . . Conspiracy theories concerning political corruption and media manipulation are familiar concepts – much easier to consider than blowing up.

But for me, in all my admitted naiveté, the heightened terrorist threat is actually preferable to the alternative considered by this article: politics, so unscrupulous, so diabolical, as to play upon the public’s fear – the ultimate motivation being to mask, hide, or bury politically undesirable media coverage mere weeks before the most important mayoral election in the United States. I can only hope and believe that we have not reached this level of corruption.