AMERICAN SPIRIT

There is no need to put this cleverly: nothing makes me gag harder than American chest-thumping. That said, it is hard not to be at least a little proud of the first few comments dropped under this morning's Newser article about the latest Al-Qaeda eThreat.

The threat, which comes on the heels on reports that many (most? all?) Mideast Al-Qaeda propaganda sites have been inexplicably shut down for weeks. Currently unsupported rumors that this could be the work of a Western hackivism group like Anonymous initially captured the public imagination positively. If the intent was to disrupt Al-Qaeda's ability to reach out, we can infer that it is somewhat successful. However, some fear that down sites exacerbate the challenge of the intelligence community to monitor the terrorist activity. Either way you look at it, the threat itself, which intriguingly calls to mind a print ad for a Hollywood blockbuster, was weird turn. Nearly a week after the sites were taken down, this image was posted in many of their places:

The timing of the sites going down to their replacement by these images suggests to me that the former was not an altogether deliberate move on Al-Qaeda's part. The word from the intelligence community is that "there is no specific or credible threat to New York at this time." At any rate the image, a little cheesy, and its message are somewhat chilling, even to we Americans who don't reside in The Big City. So please partake in my pleasant surprise at knee-jerk response from the Newser community, many of whom I have very familiar with over the few months on the site:

JackNelsonSteward: Do we have here the modern, social media equivalent of, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US "? ... or is it al Qaeda's attempt to elicit the "Sky is Falling!!" response from our Security State, y'know, giving DHS and the NSA and ... God only knows WHO else ... some exercise?

04052063: "no specific or credible threat to New York at this time." The NYPD later added that in response to the alleged threat they will now be tailing more Muslim men without credible evidence."

Jingo: "With any luck, they will get mugged in NYC

Ivan: I am extremely scared and terrified. I'm gonna lock my self inside and only come out to work and SHOPPING! I will never question anything media or my government tells me.

Starvethedead: "Coming soon again in New York." They can infiltrate security and fly planes but they can't use proper grammar?

Ifbit replies: The War on Errors is rife with casualties.

Finkster: These bunch of creeps need to be annihilated off the face of this Earth

This is a job for Green Lantern....:-)

Oh, you're all heroes in my book! In short, we seem to have replied first with the same nonplussed and sarcastic wit expected of us. Call me jaded, but I for one find that incredibly reassuring.