Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker: Difference between revisions

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== Literature ==

* The telescreens from ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four]]'', which double as [[Sinister Surveillance|surveillance devices]].

* The telescreens from ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', which double as [[Sinister Surveillance|surveillance devices]].

* ''[[Brave New World (Literature)|Brave New World]]'' has the standard version. The author's later ''Island'' (a [[Utopia|positive counterpart]]) features a variant--trained parrots, which recite uplifting slogans.

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* The first [[STALKER]] game had these shouted in a military roadblock that led into the Zone, where a drunken officer would yell official warnings and scream at his troops. The other factions - namely, the militaristic Duty and the anarchistic Freedom - spewed propaganda and encouraged neutral Stalkers to join.

* In ''[[Half-Life]] 2'', the usual orders from Overwatch to the Civil Protection troops (which are transmitted over loudspeakers for everyone else to hear) are often mixed up with short motivational speeches.

** [[Les Collaborateurs|Doctor Breen's]] "Breencasts" certainly fit as well, since they praise the regime of "Our Benefactors". Sure enough, [[La Résistance]] hacks them at one point, and [[Absent Minded Professor|Dr. Kleiner]] begins broadcasting a message of hope, rebellion, and whatever else happens to come to mind at the moment of recording, including a very [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|sesquipedalian]] recap of events thus far in the storyline and urgings to take advantage of the collapse of the Combine suppression field to, ahem, do your part for the re-population of humanity. Which is unfortunate, since it's supposed to be brief evacuation notice.

** [[Les Collaborateurs|Doctor Breen's]] "Breencasts" certainly fit as well, since they praise the regime of "Our Benefactors". Sure enough, [[La Résistance]] hacks them at one point, and [[Absent-Minded Professor|Dr. Kleiner]] begins broadcasting a message of hope, rebellion, and whatever else happens to come to mind at the moment of recording, including a very [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|sesquipedalian]] recap of events thus far in the storyline and urgings to take advantage of the collapse of the Combine suppression field to, ahem, do your part for the re-population of humanity. Which is unfortunate, since it's supposed to be brief evacuation notice.

* ''[[Bio Shock]]'' features corny "Rapture Reminder" [[Public Service Announcement|Public Service Announcements]] and messages like "Andrew Ryan asks: Are you a ''man'', or a ''slave''?" being broadcast over Rapture's PA system. The sequel has Sofia Lamb using the PA system to broadcast similar messages.

* In [[Sim Copter]], you can broadcast canned orders over your helicopter's loudspeaker by pressing the F-keys. These range from "Heavy traffic in this area. Use alternate routes." to "Get out of here now, before you all die. Or Worse!!" to "I'd like a room with a shower please"

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** It's not just in America; the PA system in most British train and [[London Underground|subway]] stations plays a canned message reminding passengers not leave cases or parcels unattended anywhere on the station -which nobody with any sense does anyway, because unattended luggage would be stolen long before the station staff bothered to notice it- [[Most Annoying Sound|every thirty seconds or so.]]

* Some modern fire alarm systems work this way. An alarm chime sounds, followed by a pre-recorded polite message along the lines of "[[This Is Not a Drill|A fire has been reported in your area. Please evacuate immediately.]]"

** Done after a number of incidents where people died because they didn't know the alarm they were hearing was a fire alarm. A study done for British television showed that most department store shoppers hearing a standard fire alarm assumed it had [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem|nothing to do with them]] - many thought it was a warning that a shoplifter had been caught, while for others the alarm didn't even register.

** Done after a number of incidents where people died because they didn't know the alarm they were hearing was a fire alarm. A study done for British television showed that most department store shoppers hearing a standard fire alarm assumed it had [[Somebody Else's Problem|nothing to do with them]] - many thought it was a warning that a shoplifter had been caught, while for others the alarm didn't even register.

** In some areas, such as the [[Flyover Country|American Midwest]], the loudspeakers won't even bother with the canned orders, but will instead blast out a deafening siren across the landscape. These typically serve a single purpose, which the local population will be familiar with. In the case of the American Midwest, that would most often be [[Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud|tornadoes]], with the siren warning the population to seek shelter immediately.

* Since the year 2000, this has been used in those parts of Israel that were bombarded almost daily by rockets launched from the Gaza strip. When a rocket is detected in the air, a recorded female voice comes on the loudspeaker and repeats in monotone: "Color Red. Color Red. Color Red", over and over. If you hear this, it means there's a missile heading for you. You have less than 15 seconds or so to get to the nearest shelter (if there is one), or risk being hit by the bomb or its shrapnel.