Ever see the 1958 movie The Blob? Commenter George V, at this Neptunus Lex post, watched it during Halloween, and wrote a pretty funny comment.
In the movie, quick-thinking citizens use CO2 fire extinguishers to freeze the outer-space blob which is threatening humanity, after which the USAF flies it to the arctic and drops it on an ice floe, where it will stay forever…”As long as the Artic doesn’t melt” says Steve McQueen’s character.
Today, of course, citizens would never be allowed to react to the threat in such a direct and immediate fashion. Either OSHA or CPSIA..probably both..would object to the use of fire extinguishers in a way not specifically authorized…amateur blob-suppressors would also get in trouble with several unions which would assert blog-freezing as their exclusive territory. Not to mention EPA issues with all that CO2 release.
People would be told to leave the matter in the hands of the authorities, namely Homeland Security…which would tell Congress they needed more money if they were to be expected to add blob-fighting to their mission. Congress would still be debating the matter (especially which extinguishing/freezing agent should be used instead of CO2 and which companies get the enormous fire-extinguisher contracts) when the blob reached Washington DC.
In a related story, John J. Miller posted this at NRO: Horror Is Conservative.
Come to think of it, when was the last time Hollywood ever did any kind of film where a massive bureaucracy saves the day? I mean, other than in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, when the Vogons process the paperwork just in time to save Trillian from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal?