Monday, November 04, 2002

One of the great cliches of movies (which may or may not predate Jaws ) is essentially the following. People see fins going through the water and feel a sense of unease. However, the police and other officials pooh pooh this. Then, one person is eaten by a shark. Rather than closing all the beaches, the major tries to hush the whole thing up, because he doesn't want to create panic, particularly during the tourist season. Then of course, when an even worse attack comes, the water is fully of people. Why does this remind me of this old cliche? The Australian government did in retrospect make a mistake in not being clearer about the warnings of imminent terrorist attacks that occurred before the Bali bombing. Thankfully though, it is having nothing of it now. For one thing, the Australian government simply doesn't want any more Australians killed if at all possible. Secondly, if it failed to warn Australians properly a second time, it probably wouldn't survive the reaction. That is a benefit of being a democracy.

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