Critical Amber Alert

[GordonBlue]

why should anyone care about a different type of sound/notice for a civilization ending meteorite or nuclear strike? If life as we know it is coming to an end, I don't think that the extra 15 minutes of notice is going to do anyone much good.

not if we're talking a different notification for a realistic regional emergency, like forest fires or flooding that requires evacuation. there is a discussion to be had there.


We're just over 5 months into the year and I believe I've had two alerts come through my phone. only one of which woke me up. it's not enough of an issue for me to worry too much about changing it.

and as for Kim Mitchell, I like Lager & Ale era Kim Mitchell, or Max Webster.

[Coach]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I heard on the Radio this AM that that the kids were found as a direct result of a tip from the Amber Alert.


So...yeah, don't really care about people's complaints about being disturbed.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Coach

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I heard on the Radio this AM that that the kids were found as a direct result of a tip from the Amber Alert.


So...yeah, don't really care about people's complaints about being disturbed.

Another hot take from the Coach. Why have constructive debate when you can declare victory?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Another hot take from the Coach. Why have constructive debate when you can declare victory?

What sort of constructive debate are you expecting. There is a system. It is proven to be effective thus far. People want to improve hypothetical problems that haven’t actually been problems, and only exist in the hypothetical.

How constructive could a debate like that possibly be? And why does it have to be “a victory” with you?

In the end, people are just trying to solve problems that either don’t exist, or don’t matter. It’s a tough slog to enact change when those things are the basis for change.

[Canadianman]

Originally Posted by Coach

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I heard on the Radio this AM that that the kids were found as a direct result of a tip from the Amber Alert.





So...yeah, don't really care about people's complaints about being disturbed.

Was the tip from someone who was sleeping when it came in?

[Coach]

I never disputed constructive points like having all the info in the alert itself, or different buttons to use.

Just the people trying to dance their way around some reasoning that ultimately means "but....me and I and my things and my time."

Do-not-disturb should not be an option for these. Full stop. It completely defeats the purpose.

Why do we need emergency sirens on emergency cars? They are loud, can startle people, cause their own problems due to a car ripping through traffic unbound by traffic laws. What if I have my headphones in? What if I have somewhere to be? Why can't I just drive right behind the emergency vehicle? The path is clear anyways.

No, it's an emergency vehicle and there's an emergency. Get out of the way.

It's an emergency alert because there's an emergency. Do your part, even if that's checking an alert for 5 seconds and going back to sleep. Maybe even take some time to think about whether or not you DO know the people or saw something suspicious. What a wild idea.

[Sliver]

Have you guys read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? Basically, the main dude is a fireman that burns illegally held books and the homes of the people who own them. He starts to question his job and the world. Everyone in the book just sits around popping tranquilizers and watching TV with the state's message blaring. From what I recall of the book, you can't not accept the state's communication. You have to allow it into your home. These alerts slightly remind me of that.

I'm uneasy that government can so easily force us to receive a message. I want to opt out during certain hours. If I wake up in the night I can't go back to sleep. Yeah, TS for me and I know a lot of you don't care because a child's life is on the line, but there is a very low probability that I'll be able to help and maybe I'm an a-hole, but I should be able to opt out if I want to. I don't like that the government can wake me up to force me to receive a message 24/7. I'm not on call for the government or for any police agencies. When I put DND on, it's because I don't want to be disturbed. If you don't mind being disturbed, then you can feel free to whitelist these messages, but an abducted kid in Cold Lake doesn't register on my long list of things I need to be thinking about at 3:30 a.m. and I should be able to blacklist them.

I don't read these messages at night, anyway. I silence my phone and carry on with my sleep if I can get back to sleep.

I want my daughter who tends to be a little anxious to be able to opt out completely. She's 13 and doesn't need to be worrying about an abduction 100 miles away. She'll be afraid to walk home from school that day.

I see a lot of people in this thread more than willing to wake up at night, read government messages and take action if needed. Good for you (not even saying that sarcastically). I'm happy to do this 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That makes me a reasonably good citizen, I think. Those 8 hours I have DND on, though, I don't want the government to be able to wake me up with a message that is not nearly targeted enough. Once they can focus the alert, then yeah, hit me up if something is going down in my area. Please allow me to not be disturbed with your shotgun approach, though.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Canadianman

Was the tip from someone who was sleeping when it came in?

So you want the alert to only work if it knows someone is awake?


I wasn't aware that technology existed. I'm pretty sure people used DND even when they're not sleeping sometimes.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Have you guys read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? Basically, the main dude is a fireman that burns illegally held books and the homes of the people who own them. He starts to question his job and the world. Everyone in the book just sits around popping tranquilizers and watching TV with the state's message blaring. From what I recall of the book, you can't not accept the state's communication. You have to allow it into your home. These alerts slightly remind me of that.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

What have you found confusing about the point I'm making? I just googled "Amber alert fahrenheit 541" and found an article making the same comparison. It's not much of a leap, tbh.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Once they can focus the alert, then yeah, hit me up if something is going down in my area. Please allow me to not be disturbed with your shotgun approach, though.

Here's the thing though, the Amber Alert that was issued this weekend, was potentially in your area. 1:30am they were reported missing, 5ish AM (can't remember the time) the alert goes out, so they're potentially in your area by that time via vehicular travel. At that point it comes back to you not wanting your sleep disturbed, does it not?

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by woob

Here's the thing though, the Amber Alert that was issued this weekend, was potentially in your area. 1:30am they were reported missing, 5ish AM (can't remember the time) the alert goes out, so they're potentially in your area by that time via vehicular travel. At that point it comes back to you not wanting your sleep disturbed, does it not?

https://www.660citynews.com/2019/06/...g-amber-alert/

According to the article they were found in Sylvan lake, about 3.5 hours away from Sylvan lake. In another hour they are in Calgary.

The charges also sound very serious so to me a province wide amber alert is justified here.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/cri...er-the-weekend

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Maybe if the world is going to end, you might as well go for soda so that nobody drowns and nobody dies.

Bravo 👏

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by woob

Here's the thing though, the Amber Alert that was issued this weekend, was potentially in your area. 1:30am they were reported missing, 5ish AM (can't remember the time) the alert goes out, so they're potentially in your area by that time via vehicular travel. At that point it comes back to you not wanting your sleep disturbed, does it not?

I don't think I even need a reason. If I don't want the government to be able to communicate directly with me at anytime of the day or night, I should have that right.

[Canadianman]

Originally Posted by Coach

I never disputed constructive points like having all the info in the alert itself, or different buttons to use.

Just the people trying to dance their way around some reasoning that ultimately means "but....me and I and my things and my time."

Do-not-disturb should not be an option for these. Full stop. It completely defeats the purpose.

Why do we need emergency sirens on emergency cars? They are loud, can startle people, cause their own problems due to a car ripping through traffic unbound by traffic laws. What if I have my headphones in? What if I have somewhere to be? Why can't I just drive right behind the emergency vehicle? The path is clear anyways.

No, it's an emergency vehicle and there's an emergency. Get out of the way.

It's an emergency alert because there's an emergency. Do your part, even if that's checking an alert for 5 seconds and going back to sleep. Maybe even take some time to think about whether or not you DO know the people or saw something suspicious. What a wild idea.

Do you think the siren on police cars would be improved if it set the siren through the phone to every Albertan and not just those in proximity who may be able to affect the emergency?

Or do you think it might be 'crying wolf' and teaching people to ignore their phone siren?

[Wormius]

This went tin foil hat pretty quickly.

[woob]

To me it's about making a sacrifice for the good of society.

Coach's siren analogy is a good one, in my opinion. Sirens tell us that there's something going on that's important and we need to react accordingly;
- On the road? We check for sirens to see where they're coming from and move our vehicles if needed.
- Walking on the sidewalks? We check for sirens to see where they're coming from and don't cross the street, etc if we see one coming down the street.
- Sleeping due to day shift? We can choose to look outside and see if something's happening near us or we can roll over and go back to sleep.
We as a society have agreed that sirens are important and we also have agreed that we accept some level of discomfort if the sirens do not directly affect us in that instance. I'm not going to call the police and complain that some sirens woke me up or interrupted my 10th viewing of Titanic, as I know they'll laugh at me.

I think Amber Alert follows under the same principle. We should recognize that the system is there for the good of society and we accept that there is some level of discomfort involved, but that the positive results of the system outweigh the negative.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by jayswin

His point is valid - we do need to listen to both sides and improve the system if possible, his delivery was so poor though, just too dramatic and polarizing. Online discussion needs to evolve from this.

It’s intentionally stupid because it’s the exact counter argument people like corporatejay and Pepsi have been using. Instead of arguing merits they’ve been using insults to taint the discussion.

I’m glad you recognized how dumb those arguments are. Some people, not all, have been associating the idiots we see on the news calling 911 to complain with people in this thread who have been trying to have a level headed discussion. Not all of their ideas are good ones but they certainly don’t equate with being called ####ing idiots like we have been.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Have you guys read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? Basically, the main dude is a fireman that burns illegally held books and the homes of the people who own them. He starts to question his job and the world. Everyone in the book just sits around popping tranquilizers and watching TV with the state's message blaring. From what I recall of the book, you can't not accept the state's communication. You have to allow it into your home. These alerts slightly remind me of that.

I'm uneasy that government can so easily force us to receive a message. I want to opt out during certain hours. If I wake up in the night I can't go back to sleep. Yeah, TS for me and I know a lot of you don't care because a child's life is on the line, but there is a very low probability that I'll be able to help and maybe I'm an a-hole, but I should be able to opt out if I want to. I don't like that the government can wake me up to force me to receive a message 24/7. I'm not on call for the government or for any police agencies. When I put DND on, it's because I don't want to be disturbed. If you don't mind being disturbed, then you can feel free to whitelist these messages, but an abducted kid in Cold Lake doesn't register on my long list of things I need to be thinking about at 3:30 a.m. and I should be able to blacklist them.

I don't read these messages at night, anyway. I silence my phone and carry on with my sleep if I can get back to sleep.

I want my daughter who tends to be a little anxious to be able to opt out completely. She's 13 and doesn't need to be worrying about an abduction 100 miles away. She'll be afraid to walk home from school that day.

I see a lot of people in this thread more than willing to wake up at night, read government messages and take action if needed. Good for you (not even saying that sarcastically). I'm happy to do this 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That makes me a reasonably good citizen, I think. Those 8 hours I have DND on, though, I don't want the government to be able to wake me up with a message that is not nearly targeted enough. Once they can focus the alert, then yeah, hit me up if something is going down in my area. Please allow me to not be disturbed with your shotgun approach, though.

Turn off your phone, but if I remember correctly you can’t becuase you need to be able to be contacted by people for emergencies. That’s just selfish, your emergencies are important and others aren’t. That’s fine, just don’t create some weird government intrusion to justify your opinion.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I don't think I even need a reason. If I don't want the government to be able to communicate directly with me at anytime of the day or night, I should have that right.

Ok freeman on the land.