Warning the American Public of Terrorist Attacks: A Changing Framework of Colors

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar VII

Abstract

This analysis advances the notion that the color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) is a tactic used by the United States Government to fear-monger the public. Symbolic inferences of colors are manifested to create fear and discomfort, simultaneously framing outsiders as the “enemy.” By contextualizing Glassner’s (2003) techniques for fear mongering, Terror Management Theory, and Information Systems Approach to Organization provides the framework for a critical approach to decoding the symbolic power of the HSAS.

Author

• Bryan Moe, California State University, Fullerton