Downton Abbey interruption brought out the worst in people

A recent Amber Alert emergency television broadcast did a lot to expose the true nature of people.

It appears that interrupting Downton Abbey really brings out the worst in people.

This happened Sunday night while fans of the show were glued to their television screens for the series finale of the beloved British drama airing on PBS.

Waiting, on bated breath, hoping beyond hope that things would work out for the sour Mr. Barrow, and then… all of a sudden the screen turned red and there was the sound of an unintelligible computerized voice reading the words on the screen.

It was slightly alarming (which was obviously the goal) but most rational people, after accusing their spouse of sitting on the remote and changing the channel, would have realized it was an emergency broadcast and paid attention to the information.

The less-than-rational people were reported to have called police to complain.

Someone had witnessed a child between the ages of eight and 13 being pulled into a vehicle in Orillia.

Apparently, some television viewers took to social media to vent while others called 911.

The Orillia detachment commander said in a media release, numerous calls and social media postings that have expressed anger and frustration with the personal inconvenience caused by the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) system messages.

The only reason we can talk about this topic now in this manner is that it was a false alarm. It was reported the child had run away from home and it was his parents who retrieved him from the street.

The use of the NAAD system to broadcast the Amber Alert turned out to be a good test of the system and a chance to educate the public about its use. The broadcast is offered voluntarily by some broadcasters as a tool for alerting the public to extreme weather such as tornados, train derailments, industrial fires, water contamination, missing persons; the list is endless and is not limited to weather or environmental warnings. The OPP used the enhanced Amber Alert program for the first time Sunday.

The manner in which alerts will be broadcast is left to the discretion of the local television broadcaster, cable or satellite TV distributor. On other channels, the message scrolled at the bottom of the screen, highlighted in red and was much more legible.

We don’t think there would have been nearly as much public outcry if the Amber Alert had interrupted any other show on any other night. People went bonkers for Downton Abbey and viewers were caught off guard while in a high state of vulnerability.

It is surprising that the sound of the collective groan didn’t drown out the sound of the Amber Alert.

We can understand a moment of frustration but to call 911 is unacceptable behaviour.