The False Alarm of Epic Proportions and the Blame Game That Followed

So, the other day there was an epic false alarm in the state of Hawaii.

Can you imagine picking up your phone to check your notifications and seeing that bit of horror?! I would assume this was the brown note struck in Hawaii. But really, what do you do? You're on an island. The missile was apparently only something like 20 minutes out. No message came for at least 30 minutes saying this was a mistake. What kind of shelter does one take against a ballistic missile? It's sort of like the drills during the Cold War where the kids practiced getting under their desks in case of a nuclear missile. It isn't really going to do any good. 

Everyone was reeling from that one when the threat was found to be false. I'm sure the people of Hawaii had to collectively change their shorts, but the rest of the country was left sitting here wondering how such an epic screw up could actually happen. Speculation began, with some even claiming it was actually a drill after all. 

Then, as you guessed, began the blame game. Who was at fault? Why did this happen? Blame Trump at all costs. 

A lot of this went on, but we're going to use Jamie Lee Curtis' excuse for why Trump was at fault as the example, because it was one of the first to get picked up across the world. 

First, let's talk about where this came from. This is stemming from the back and forth between Trump and Kim Jong Un of North Korea. This is one of those interactions where Trump will never be right. If he responds, he's egging him on. If he doesn't respond, he's ignoring a major security threat to the USA. Now, I'll be honest. I have my own ideas on how to handle Little Rocket Man, but not being former military or having an inside view of exactly how it works in reality, I'm not sure my own idea is feasible. I would not, however, be talking to him over Twitter. I'm not saying that Trump is wrong, but I'm not saying he's right, either. He can't be ignored, but I'm not sure tweets are helping the situation.

However, North Korea isn't exactly a new threat. This hasn't been a new thing as of 2017. As many of you already know, we had a "police action" in North Korea. Many of you also probably know that it never really came to an official end. North Korea has been threatening to blow up the USA since before I was born, and since before Kim Jong Un took over. Responses have been different from president to president. But I think the recent reaction should fall somewhere between the reactions of Obama and Trump. And if that fails, my personal plan, which again, I'm not 100% sure is feasible. 

​Anyway, the missile threat blame game stems from this interaction between Trump and Kim Jong Un. 

The only problem is that that warning wouldn't have been any less terrifying even if we had an alliance with North Korea. We could be at a period of total peace and that warning would have struck the brown note. 

Hawaii has something that is a prime target, and the people there know it.

Pearl Harbor. 

Pearl Harbor isn't just a monument. It's still an active base. If I am remembering correctly, even the Navy SEALs work out of Pearl Harbor. For a country that wants to cause damage to the USA, start a war, or anything else, Pearl Harbor is a prime target. Just ask the Japanese. 

Now a days, people assume a missile strike or any other attack will happen in large cities and financial districts, and they are correct. Those are prime targets if your goal is to disrupt our economy or cause maximum casualties. But Pearl Harbor is a target if you want to disable the Naval fleet and cause tactical damage that makes defense difficult. Where North Korea would lob a missile - if they ever did - would depend on what Kim Jong Un wanted to damage. Terrorists tend to go for large cities because they want to damage the economy and cause mass death. But North Korea might set it's sights on our military bases instead to establish power and cut our defense. And let's face it, the Navy is important for that. 

Kim Jong Un is not exactly a stable and reasonable person. He desires power to extreme levels, he desires powerful optics even if he has nothing to back up those optics, and he wants to be historically immortal. He's power posturing right now. I have no idea if he is as dangerous as he wants the world to believe or not. The problem is, Trump doesn't want to be cowed, either. He's not going to let Kim get the upper hand, even in optics. So yes, they are going to have a tough time not poking each other. 

Kim, however, would not be more stable depending on who our president was. The possible threat would be there no matter what. He was doing similar crap during Obama's presidency. Obama didn't poke him on Twitter, but he did his fair share of poking. Obama, however, had a track record of drawing lines and then walking them back. As far as Kim was concerned, he had Obama, he wasn't a threat. Now, we have a new president, so Kim has to get him under his thumb, and it isn't proving successful. Trump hasn't developed a record of advancing or walking back lines yet, so Kim doesn't really know yet where he stands. But he does known Trump is willing to poke back. Now he's got to test him to see where the line is. He's watching to see if Trump will make good on the strong words or walk it back like Obama did. 

Kim would react negatively either way. If he gets poked, he's going to ramp it up for those optics, whether he can back it up or not. If we ignore him, he's still going to ramp it up, because he desires power and immortality, so he won't allow himself to be ignored. 

So no, this isn't 100% Trump's fault. What this was was a failure of the system. Although I have to say, the video linked above makes a great case for why it may have actually been done on purpose and why it was actually a success. The people of Hawaii are well aware of the threat to themselves. It has happened before. And if they are scared of imminent doom because of the back and forth between Trump and Kim, they managed to react well to their doom the other day. That could have been real horror down there with people panicking and getting hurt, but it wasn't. So no, I'm not convinced the masses are as worried about that back and forth as Hollywood and the media wants us to believe. Sure, it's worrying. It always is. But we're not in the state of mass panic being portrayed. It's not even really an everyday thought. I think most people get what is actually happening there.