Civil Defense symbol "replaced"
Dec. 28th, 2006 06:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyIf this had happened on 1 April, I'd believe it was an April Fools joke.
However, the disaster management bureaucrats have decided to "retire" the Civil Defense symbol and replace it with an "EM" symbol saying "Public Safety, Public Trust"
I am amazed at the arrogance and stupidity. The CD symbol already has strong recognition and legal authority. Civil Defense is something that makes intuitive sense, that millions of people have grown up with.
Especially after the horrendously poor response that didn't take place after Hurricane Katrina, How Dare They?
EM is supposed to stand for Emergency Management, already an outmoded concept. Emergency Managers stood in the way of both professional and ad-hoc disaster relief efforts in Katrina. "Emergency Management" is a top-down concept which is dismissive of the factor that constitutes from 50% to 80% of disaster relief in real disasters -- citizens helping other citizens. It's like "Quality Management." Let's not have too much quality, so we need to manage how much quality we have.
From the press release at: http://www.nemaweb.org/?1754
"Public safety is one mandate. And so is Public Trust. When people see that symbol on web sites, on the sides of government vehicles, on crates of emergency relief supplies and on preparedness material, they'll more easily recognize the efforts to make their lives safer and more secure and hopefully become more involved in the process."
If I ever see this logo on the side of anything, I will take it as fair warning that the agency has nothing to do with either public safety or public trust. Fortunately, the logo itself (lopsided, three stars, tiny print "safety" and "trust") effectively conveys this sense of distrust of government.
The entire tone of the press release is insufferably arrogant and dismissive of "citizens."
"When people see this icon or symbol, they should . . . most people don’t really know very
much about emergency management. Citizens should know that there are professionals . . . more easily recognize the efforts to make their lives safer and more secure . . . remind people that Emergency Management is a true profession . . . remind citizens of their own responsibilities to be prepared and informed . . . inspire citizens to protect emergency management as an institution . . . inspire young people to seek careers in emergency management . . . hopefully remind people to question their Local, State and Federal government’s readiness and demand that
they be strong, capable and always ready for any emergency from nature or from our enemies."
So since we as citizens are clearly not capable of doing our own disaster preparedness, we should put our trust in the "experts" to do it for us.
Just like Hurricane Katrina.
If you don't like the logo, the press release, or the message sent by either, send an E-mail to Morrie Goodman, cc'd to your Congressperson.
For a discussion and side-by-side comparison of old and new logos:
http://www.conelrad.com/newswire_m.php?id=257_0_4_0
However, the disaster management bureaucrats have decided to "retire" the Civil Defense symbol and replace it with an "EM" symbol saying "Public Safety, Public Trust"
I am amazed at the arrogance and stupidity. The CD symbol already has strong recognition and legal authority. Civil Defense is something that makes intuitive sense, that millions of people have grown up with.
Especially after the horrendously poor response that didn't take place after Hurricane Katrina, How Dare They?
EM is supposed to stand for Emergency Management, already an outmoded concept. Emergency Managers stood in the way of both professional and ad-hoc disaster relief efforts in Katrina. "Emergency Management" is a top-down concept which is dismissive of the factor that constitutes from 50% to 80% of disaster relief in real disasters -- citizens helping other citizens. It's like "Quality Management." Let's not have too much quality, so we need to manage how much quality we have.
From the press release at: http://www.nemaweb.org/?1754
"Public safety is one mandate. And so is Public Trust. When people see that symbol on web sites, on the sides of government vehicles, on crates of emergency relief supplies and on preparedness material, they'll more easily recognize the efforts to make their lives safer and more secure and hopefully become more involved in the process."
If I ever see this logo on the side of anything, I will take it as fair warning that the agency has nothing to do with either public safety or public trust. Fortunately, the logo itself (lopsided, three stars, tiny print "safety" and "trust") effectively conveys this sense of distrust of government.
The entire tone of the press release is insufferably arrogant and dismissive of "citizens."
"When people see this icon or symbol, they should . . . most people don’t really know very
much about emergency management. Citizens should know that there are professionals . . . more easily recognize the efforts to make their lives safer and more secure . . . remind people that Emergency Management is a true profession . . . remind citizens of their own responsibilities to be prepared and informed . . . inspire citizens to protect emergency management as an institution . . . inspire young people to seek careers in emergency management . . . hopefully remind people to question their Local, State and Federal government’s readiness and demand that
they be strong, capable and always ready for any emergency from nature or from our enemies."
So since we as citizens are clearly not capable of doing our own disaster preparedness, we should put our trust in the "experts" to do it for us.
Just like Hurricane Katrina.
If you don't like the logo, the press release, or the message sent by either, send an E-mail to Morrie Goodman, cc'd to your Congressperson.
For a discussion and side-by-side comparison of old and new logos:
http://www.conelrad.com/newswire_m.php?id=257_0_4_0
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
an E-mail to the logo's author, CC'd to NEMA and senators
Date: 2006-12-28 03:29 pm (UTC)I am writing to you regarding NEMA's new Emergency Management logo and
associated press release.
In short, both logo and release are horrible.
The logo itself (lopsided, three stars, tiny print "safety" and "trust")
effectively conveys a sense of distrust of government. The entire tone of
the press release is insufferably arrogant and dismissive of "citizens."
Your message seems to be that since we are clearly not capable of doing our
own disaster preparedness, we should put our trust in the career "experts"
to do it for us.
In the aftermath of what can only be called the disastrous response to
Hurricane Katrine, I am amazed at the insufferable arrogance of throwing
together a new logo which says on its face (in small print) "Public Safety,
Public Trust" rather than fixing the very real problems with Homeland
Security's hijack of what was once a proud agency, FEMA.
"Emergency Management" is a top-down concept which is dismissive of the
factor that constitutes from 50% to 80% of disaster relief in real
disasters -- citizens helping other citizens. It's much like "Quality
Management" in that regard.
The CD symbol already has strong recognition and legal authority. Civil
Defense is something that makes intuitive sense, that millions of people
have grown up with. The only benefit of FEMA's abandonment of the CD
symbol is that it now enters the public domain so that responsible agencies
can use it freely.
I put my money where my mouth is. I am involved in disaster preparedness as
a volunteer, first aid instructor and EMT-Basic, and in my employment as a
trainer.
We here in California are resigned to the idea that Federal disaster
bureaucrats will not help us in a timely fashion, and have prepared
accordingly.
The rest of the country is not so lucky.
Regards.
-- [drewkitty]
Boulder Creek, CA