it's hard to know what to make of things when you hear about planes having to land because of security concerns. last week, a plane was escorted in because a lady bugged out. she didn't make any threats, have bombs or suspect materials. she did complain of claustrophobia, which i'm sure was really helped out when they tied her to a seat. i know that the flight crews have to react, and do their jobs.
so, today, i saw this story about a northwest airlines flight from amsterdam to mumbai, india that was called back and dutch authorities have arrested 12 on the plane.
what happened on the plane? "a couple of passengers displayed behaviour of concern". maybe they're not telling us everything yet, but are we going to flip out over every strange looking person now?
the other day, i saw another story about the t.s.a. employing people now to just eyeball people in line. basically, the criteria they were looking for was: stressed out people, profuse sweating, move away when approached. there was a fourth that i forgot. so, if i am nervous about flying, sweating because of that, and am shy about being hassled by tsa, i'm a possible terrorist? or, if you add in the fact that i'm brown does the danger get ratcheted up a few notches (btw, i'm not)? and this is in no way limited to the u.s. for all you conspiracy theorists. (remind me complain about our civil liberties being elimated another time.)
we all want to be safe, but at what cost?
3 comments:
Dude, Toothpaste for Dinner was right on topic for this one today.
As one who was flying two weeks ago at the height of this plot and with a good friend flying BA from London to Chicago on the day the plot was planned, I try to err on the side of safety. I know our civil liberties are being threatened and taken away, but in an international instance such as this I find it hard to blame the airlines. People were and will continue to complain about the hassle, but it's just part of the world we now live in.
but does it have to be? let's worry about legitimate risks. and that's sticky when dealing with these airline plots. i'm fine with them saying, alright, you can't bring this on, or that on. that's their right. especially if the airlines themselves decided what they would allow.
i also think that we're allowing ourselves to be terrrorized. not through actual attacks, but the fear of being. not that we shouldn't be vigilant, but are we overstepping that and becoming paranoid?
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