"Caturday" Isn't on the List

Recently the DHS (or, Department of Homeland Security to see the list go , to page 20) released it's updated social media monitoring manual.

Now, some of those words are worthy of a looksie just to double check what people are talking about when they're conversing with their friends and acquintances over social media. You know, words like anthrax, pipe-bomb, ebola and car-bomb. But some of the words are just crazy to assume people are secretly talking about performing terrorist acts. You know, words like: interstate, sleet, southwest and smart.

And then there are the rest of them. Does the DHS think everyone is a terrorist? Half of the words on the list are found in nearly every government press release, the other half in most tech blogs or news articles. Not to mention people talking about perfectly benign subjects such as sharing their experience about going to Target to pick up some flu medicine, some pork or because there was a recall on something you already bought. That would warrant an extra look by DHS.

And according to the DHS, you might be a terrorist if you posted to social media:

A complaint about your flight being cancelled due to a blackout. Or, perhaps you're letting everyone know the airline is just experiencing delays.

I mean, is it unreasonable to believe someone was mad at the tsunami warning center that resulted in getting stranded by a flood and posted to Facebook about it?

Or maybe you witnessed a brush fire near Sand Diego and wanted to tell your friends on Twitter.

What about posting about your friend who's a little too metro? Did you know that could make you a terrorist?

Or gods forbid you go to a Pirate themed party and share your pictures!
And as we all know, anyone who complains about the TSA's body scanner is automatically on some watch list.

So yes, according to the DHS, you, me, we're all terrorists!

Yet, I noticed Caturday isn't on the list. Weird. Apparently, anything people post without substance, is fair game. You can post about your kids, as long as your not talking about buying them something at Target. You can post about your dog as long as he's not sick and you can post about re-arranging the furniture in your house until you mention being smart about it.

But if you want to post and discuss politics, religion or some other discussion, you might as well accept the fact that you are allegedly a terrorist waiting for your moment.

Hey, maybe this post will get flagged because I mentioned the Department of Homeland Security.

I mean, it's not like actual terrorists are using code words or anything.