Warning: Something Bad May Happen Somewhere

Anne Applebaum on the  laughably vague "terror warnings" being issued by various countries for Europe:

Speaking as an American who lives in Europe, I feel it is incumbent upon me to describe what people like me do when we hear warnings like this one issued on Sunday: We do nothing.

We do nothing, first and foremost, because there is nothing that we can do. Unless the State Department gets specific -- e.g., "don't go to the Eiffel Tower tomorrow" -- information at that level of generality is meaningless. Unless we are talking about weapons of mass destruction, the chances of being hit by a car while crossing the street are still greater than the chances of being on that one plane or one subway car that comes under attack...

Second, we do nothing because if the language is that vague, then nobody is really sure why the warning has been issued in the first place. Obviously, if the American government knew who the terrorists were and what they were going to attack, it would arrest them and stop them. If it can't do any better than mentioning "tourist infrastructure" and public transportation, it doesn't really know anything at all.

The only rationale I can think of for these warnings is the hope that, by triggering heightened alertness among passengers, some sort of attack might be averted, or at least more quickly discovered. And perhaps it has to be so general because if The Terrorists figured out we were on to them, they'll change their plans. But everywhere you go in Europe, you're already told to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. And, as Applebaum points out, any attempt to avoid large public places in Europe will immediately cramp your style drastically.

So, like her, I plan to completely ignore this warning.

Comments

[M. Möhling]

Terror warnings are silly indeed, for many reasons. Besides, our import is much lower than our export, as we tend to send our rookies to Afghan camps and Pakistani madrassas for proper training. Seemingly, we can't handle that on our own anymore. However, quality home grown terror is available for those going to school, living in ethnically liberated zones (wait, did I spell that wrong?), or taking the A train. Make that C train. Terror--as German as apple pie.

[Andrew]

By loudspeaker announcements in English, French, German, and a few other languages as well. At least that's been my experience recently in airports and train stations in plenty of different places.

[Volker]

"But everywhere you go in Europe, you're already told to be on the lookout for suspicious activity."

By whom?