Lawnmower Racing Mania 2007 (2006)

Am I the only one moderately distubed about there being a video game about racing on lawnmowers? I can already picture it…

“Nothing like the smell of, err, grass in the morning… At blistering speeds of roughly 5MPH, nothing beats racing in a lawnmower. Choose from over 5 different brands, including Black & Decker, and pick dozens different accessories to customize your chick magnet, from magnesium razor blades to candy paint to a leather seat. Why get a car when you can cruise through the lawn and smoke the competition?”

Really… Would anyone in their right mind buy this game? What the hell are these people even wearing a helmet for? Are you going to fly off your mighty ride going at less than running speed?

 Just… Wow.

I love how the two guys they detained played it. They spoke about hair during the press conference, and had the media very annoyed, saying how they were not “taking this seriously”. Are you kidding me? The absurdity of it all must have Bin Laden laughing out loud inside his cave! If this is not an indication of how successful the terrorists were, I don’t know what is. You can’t be lax about security, like the US was before 9/11… But this is the extreme opposite.

The media has played a huge role in creating this paranoia, by becoming the masters of “what if”. The duty of the news media should be to inform, not to create collective panic. That’s the government’s job (at least in this Administration). “What if terrorists launched a rocket from a street close to the airport?” “What if terrorists used a sniper rifle to shoot at planes in the air?” “What if terrorists came through the border?” The media is more creative at finding loopholes in security than the terrorists, or so it seems.

Here’s a shocker: If terrorists want to strike, they’ll find a way. Why? Because no matter how paranoid we are, there will always be loopholes. There could be an attack anytime, anywhere. Instead of freaking out and asking specialists how intense and hardcore it could be, maybe the news media should focus on whether the city is prepared to deal with it, and make sure that it denounces when that isn’t the case. Proper emergency response is as important as prevention.