Taking advantage of tragedy to make a buck

Wow, it sure didn't take people long to try to take advantage of the tragic bombings in London this morning.

I visited Fresh Politics (a blog edited by Penn sophomore and fellow Nicolet-alum Taylor Buley) this afternoon and found an ad for the book "The Personal Security Handbook".

The description of the book on Amazon.com begins:

"The duct-tape-and-plastic-sheeting mania of early 2003 shows that most Americans need clear-headed information about how to stay safe in the post-9/11 world. This book is a practical resource in that effort."

The book itself seems fairly harmless. Buy it, don't buy it, whatever. But the headline for the ad read "Bombs in London - Storms in the Gulf". Not even 24 hours have passed since the bombings in London and already someone is trying to play upon our fears to sell a book. Pretty shady if you ask me.

It seems as though it's a handbook in how to deal with the fear created after 9/11 by the exaggeration of threats in the government (the Bush administration - remember WMD's?) and the media (Fox News ALERTS for Michael Jackson being seen in a Toys 'R Us).

Frankly, even with today's attacks in London, I'm really no more afraid for my life than I was four years ago. And I definitely don't need a guide book to tell me how to stay safe.

"The Personal Security Handbook" is Silver Lake publishing, which also published Taylor's blog-related book, The Fresh Politics Reader: Making Current Events And Public Affairs Relevant to Young Americans.