Homeland Insecurity

I've been trying to locate time to address the many rhetorical failings of the Department of Homeland Security's Ready.gov site, but my former student Terri Weitz sent me the URL for this decidedly R-rated site that more or less says what I'd say. Except that it does so quickly. And it's really funny (in that sadly funny way we're becoming all too familiar with). This will be of special interest to technical communicators -- it's a veritable catalog of what not to do.

There is one thing I must add, though. The figures in the Ready.gov "visual guides" are all apparently caucasian. Thus the site fails to meet even the most basic standards for inclusiveness that most any contemporary business would ensure as a matter of course. Against the backdrop of a conflict that is, to say the least, racially charged, this site's representational blind spots are deeply troubling.