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elfsIt's a truism of modern life that "do-gooder" institutions, having fulfilled their stated mission to the fullest, do not just have a celebratory party and then go into a maintenance mode to ensure that their gains are not lost in the future.
The canonical example is, of course, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which long ago acheived its original goal of slashing drunk driving to less than half its highest rate, and for tightening the laws regarding drunk driving in all 50 states. Having acheived their goal, MADD looked at the power, authority, and human capital it had accrued over the years and decided, instead, that it was going to find a reason for keeping all of it: the laws had to be ever more harsh, alcohol itself had to be demonized, to justify keeping that budget and political capital.
So now, the Amber Alert people are putting out an ad that talks about that "cold, frightening moment at the playground when you don't know where your child is." It goes on to praise the Amber Alert system
The National Crime Information Center shows that in 2002, the last year for which we have statistics, there were 115 off-the-street abductions and 58,200 child abductions by a non-family member with whom the victim or the victim's family already have some close knowledge. There were 1,547 suicides within the same cohort (2006 data). The vast majority of abductions were of teenage girls, not toddlers at the playground, and in many cases those teenage girls initially got into that car knowing her abductor was about to drive her away from her "old life."
This needless and ill-informing ad campaign by the Amber Alert group isn't helpful. It doesn't do the parents any good; it doesn't tell them what to watch for or whom to really vet. It's irresponsible and nasty: it doesn't tell you what you should really do to protect your children, it only encourages you to participate in ways that justify the Amber Alert's ever-growing budget.
The canonical example is, of course, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which long ago acheived its original goal of slashing drunk driving to less than half its highest rate, and for tightening the laws regarding drunk driving in all 50 states. Having acheived their goal, MADD looked at the power, authority, and human capital it had accrued over the years and decided, instead, that it was going to find a reason for keeping all of it: the laws had to be ever more harsh, alcohol itself had to be demonized, to justify keeping that budget and political capital.
So now, the Amber Alert people are putting out an ad that talks about that "cold, frightening moment at the playground when you don't know where your child is." It goes on to praise the Amber Alert system
The National Crime Information Center shows that in 2002, the last year for which we have statistics, there were 115 off-the-street abductions and 58,200 child abductions by a non-family member with whom the victim or the victim's family already have some close knowledge. There were 1,547 suicides within the same cohort (2006 data). The vast majority of abductions were of teenage girls, not toddlers at the playground, and in many cases those teenage girls initially got into that car knowing her abductor was about to drive her away from her "old life."
This needless and ill-informing ad campaign by the Amber Alert group isn't helpful. It doesn't do the parents any good; it doesn't tell them what to watch for or whom to really vet. It's irresponsible and nasty: it doesn't tell you what you should really do to protect your children, it only encourages you to participate in ways that justify the Amber Alert's ever-growing budget.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-04 07:35 pm (UTC)Just as well I was home and able to explain to the cops that, no the young lady was in no danger, yes she was free to leave at any time, and yes she had come here of her own free will.
She hadn't been answering her phone because she turned it off because the ex-boyfriend was calling repeatedly.