I hate the omnipresent announcements and signs in most areas of major travel, such as airports and trains, about making sure we pay attention to our luggage or report any suspicious activity. They sow fear and paranoia while enforcing stereotypes, and do so in the name of preventing a possible act which is so unlikely to happen that it should be laughable.

An article in the NY Times took a look at one such sign posted on the MTA. More specifically, it was the second run of the "keep your eyes open" MTA sign. The sequel. Part II: "The Search For More Terror."

After 9/11, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority coined the slogan, “If you see something, say something,” and put it on posters encouraging subway and bus riders to call a police counterterrorism hot line if they encountered anything suspicious. Then, last July, the authority trumpeted results on new posters and in television ads: “Last year, 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something.”

But the new posters, also placed in the commuter railroad trains, left out two things: What, exactly, did those 1,944 New Yorkers see, and what did they say? Presumably, no active terror plots were interrupted, or that would have been announced by the authorities.

Now, an overview of police data relating to calls to the hot line over the past two years reveals the answer and provides a unique snapshot of post-9/11 New York, part paranoia and part well-founded caution. Indeed, no terrorists were arrested, but a wide spectrum of other activity was reported.

The vast majority of calls had nothing to do with the transit system.

Great article. Even better, the article inspired a t-shirt mocking the sign. Buy it here. My favorite, of course, is the MF Doom version.