{"id":34653,"date":"2016-11-15T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=34653"},"modified":"2016-11-15T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T18:50:37","slug":"this-is-an-actual-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/this-is-an-actual-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is an Actual Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a child, I was afraid of tests of the Emergency Broadcasting System<\/a>. They were so shocking. One minute, I’d be enjoying Morgan Freeman’s performance as Vincent the Vegetable Vampire<\/a> on The Electric Company<\/a><\/em>. The next minute, my innocent eardrums would be assaulted by the ominous whine of the Attention Signal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"emergency\"<\/p>\n

Before remote controls became a standard part of television sets<\/a>, there were only two choices in this situation: Rush towards the terrifying sound to turn the TV off, or run to the nearest parent, shrieking, “It’s a test! It’s a test!” (I always chose the latter.)<\/p>\n

It wasn’t just the Attention Signal that scared me, but the frightening announcement that came with it. The wording changed over the years<\/a> but the version that sticks in my mind is, “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System … If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for news and official information.”<\/p>\n

I recalled this fear after reading a Washington Post story by Margaret Sullivan<\/a>, headlined, “Our First Amendment test is here. We can\u2019t afford to flunk it.<\/a>” In it, she shares the 45 words of the First Amendment to our Constitution:<\/p>\n

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sullivan then writes:<\/p>\n

“Everything we have \u2014 everything that makes us unlike any other nation \u2014 flows from those words and the protections they offer for free expression … These are rights that allow us to march in the streets, to worship freely, to publish tough stories about the government. First Amendment rights are not just for journalists but for everyone \u2014 they are so core to our democracy, so much a part of everyday America, that we take them for granted.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Sullivan points out, Donald Trump is already threatening those rights. <\/p>\n