[Ads-l] Origin and evolution of "crisis actor"

Wed Feb 21 01:17:56 UTC 2018

They're ba-ack!:

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/374734-aid-to-florida-state-lawmaker-shooting-survivors-are-actors-not-students

JL

On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 7:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Fascinating, Bonnie.
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Jun 17, 2017 at 3:57 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <
> b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> In a thread from early 2013 on uses of "staged," Jonathan Lighter picked
>> up
>> on the use of "crisis actor."
>>
>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-January/124705.html
>>
>> That's an interesting one, I think. Am I missing a good review of how
>> "crisis actor" came to be?
>>
>> Municipalities, county governments, and the like have long looked for and
>> used volunteers from the community to portray victims in mock disasters
>> (e.g., as victims in an airplane crash) to test response times and skills
>> of first-responders (paramedics, police, firefighters, etc.).  While the
>> concept of a volunteer, non-professional "actor" in these drills has long
>> existed, I can't find that there ever was or has been an accepted name for
>> this kind of drill participant.
>>
>> "Crisis actor" would be a nice shorthand for such a volunteer, but at
>> present the term seems entirely negative and nefarious.
>>
>> Current usage seems to be applied to persons involved in a tragedy who
>> are,
>> as the conspiracy-theorists would tell us, only actors and not true
>> victims
>> of said tragedies (not actual gunshot victims, not grieving parents, not
>> horrified witnesses, etc.); further, these actors are not participating in
>> a true tragedy, but instead are players in a conspiracy, usually organized
>> by the government, to fake a tragedy, the ultimate goal of which is, for
>> example, only known to the organizer (for example, to remove or limit the
>> citizenry's access to firearms).  See also Wikipedia's description,
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_actor.
>>
>> The term seemed to blossom after the Sandy Hook Massacre, which took place
>> on 14 December 2012.
>>
>> The earliest usage of "crisis actor" I've found in the mainstream press
>> comes from an article in the 25 December 2012 issue of The Washington [DC]
>> Examiner
>>
>> ---------------------------
>>
>> With thousands or even millions of people questioning the inconsistencies
>> of the event that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it appears
>> that nobody is looking at possible motives for the murder of Nancy Lanza.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> Here is a partial list of interesting questions being raised all over the
>> internet:
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> [bullet point] Was the school part of the shooting spree an emergency
>> response exercise using paid crisis actors funded by a grant from our
>> federal government?
>>
>> [From "The Only Plausible Motive: the Murder of Nancy Lanza," accessed via
>> Newsbank's America's News database.]
>>
>> ---------------------------
>>
>> In January, 2013, the term really took off, in part because it was
>> popularized by James Tracy, then a professor at Florida Atlantic
>> University, who had apparently been using it for some time; presumably it
>> had also been in use on internet discussion boards and similar.
>>
>> ---------------------------
>>
>> Moreover, James Tracy asserts in radio interviews and on his [
>> memoryholeblog.com] that trained "crisis actors" may have been employed
>> by
>> the Obama administration in an effort to shape public opinion in favor of
>> the event's true purpose: gun control.
>>
>> [From Mike Clary, "Prof. doubts Sandy Hook massacre," The South Florida
>> Sun
>> Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), 8 January 2013, p. A1.]
>>
>> ---------------------------
>>
>> As far as I can tell, the term "crisis actor" derives from an effort
>> reported at, well, crisisactors.org (see
>> https://web.archive.org/web/20121223001335/http://crisisactors.org/; this
>> page was captured on 23 December 2012), a site registered on 17 August
>> 2012
>> and last updated on 16 September 2016. (I also found this press release
>> via
>> Newsbank's America's News database; it's presented in full far below.)
>>  @crisisactors first tweeted on 19 August 2012.
>>
>> Notably, the press release mentions that "Crisis Actors is a project of
>> the
>> Colorado Safety Task Force established by Colorado State Senator Steve
>> King," which perhaps was organized in response to the 20 July 2012
>> shooting
>> massacre in Aurora, Colorado.
>>
>> I suspect, then, that "crisis actors" was coined during the development of
>> this project, later acquiring its more sinister meaning a few months
>> later,
>> post-Sandy Hook. This link to an effort of the State of Colorado perhaps
>> explains a suspicion that the "crisis actor" is involved on behalf of the
>> government or even "funded by a grant from our federal government."
>>
>> I'd be happy to hear from anyone else who has looked into the origin and
>> evolution of this term.  Anything before the Aurora shooting in July,
>> 2012?  I should note the older usage of "crisis actor" within the
>> international-affairs/political-science communities to describe
>> participants (e.g., superpowers or countries) in international crises
>> (e.g., an escalation to war), but I find no evidence that this particular
>> usage led to today's more common and disturbing meaning.
>>
>> -- Bonnie
>>
>>
>> Active Shooter Crisis Actors Target Mall Shootings via Visionbox
>> Market Wire (USA) - October 31, 2012
>>
>> A new group of actors is now available nationwide for active shooter
>> drills
>> and mall shooting full-scale exercises, announced Visionbox, Denver's
>> leading professional actors studio.
>>
>> Visionbox Crisis Actors are trained in criminal and victim behavior, and
>> bring intense realism to simulated mass casualty incidents in public
>> places.
>>
>> The actors' stage acting experience, ranging from Shakespeare to
>> contemporary American theater, enables them to "stay in character"
>> throughout an exercise, and improvise scenes of extreme stress while
>> strictly following official exercise scenarios.
>>
>> The actors regularly rehearse scenarios involving the Incident Command
>> System and crisis communications, and appear in interactive training films
>> produced in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D.
>>
>> Producers Jennifer McCray-Rincon and John Simmons formed the group to
>> demonstrate emerging security technologies, help first responders
>> visualize
>> life-saving procedures, and assist trainers in delivering superior
>> hands-on
>> crisis response training.
>>
>> For example, with a large shopping center, the producers review all
>> security camera views and design dramatic scenes specifically for existing
>> camera angles, robotic camera sweeps, and manually-controlled camera
>> moves.
>>
>> The producers then work with the trainers to create a "prompt book" for
>> the
>> actors so that key scenario developments can be triggered throughout the
>> mall shooting simulation, and caught on tape.
>>
>> The actors can play the part of the shooters, mall employees, shoppers in
>> the mall, shoppers who continue to arrive at the mall, media reporters and
>> others rushing to the mall, and persons in motor vehicles around the mall.
>>
>> Visionbox Crisis Actors can also play the role of citizens calling 911 or
>> mall management, or posting comments on social media websites.
>>
>> During the exercise, the producers use two-way radio to co-direct the
>> Crisis Actors team from the mall dispatch center and at actors' locations.
>>
>> Within this framework, the exercise can test the mall's monitoring and
>> communications systems, the mall's safety plan including lockdown and
>> evacuation procedures, the ability of first responders and the mall to
>> coordinate an effective response, and their joint ability to respond to
>> the
>> media and information posted on the Internet.
>>
>> Security camera footage is edited for after-action reports and future
>> training.
>>
>> For more information visit www.Visionbox.org and www.CrisisActors.org.
>>
>> Visionbox is a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center.
>>
>> Crisis Actors is a project of the Colorado Safety Task Force established
>> by
>> Colorado State Senator Steve King.
>>
>> Contact:
>>
>> Nathan Bock
>>
>> Amanda Brown
>>
>> (720) 810-1641
>>
>> Email Contact
>>
>> SOURCE: Visionbox
>>
>> http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=92D2E5BC3DC45ED5
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org