MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST BAN PASSENGERS ON ALL FLIGHTS
Reuters reports that a British airliner, on route from Heathrow to JFK, "was turned back [] because of a security scare over a ringing mobile phone that did not belong to any of the 217 passengers" (emphasis added). Fer crissakes, didn't the captain announce that all cellphones and other devises needed to be turned off?
Oh, and the happy (or sad) postscript? "The phone was later found to be safe." Now there's a surprise.
Not much to add here, other than to note that Americans, apparently, don't own a monopoly on paranoia, fear, & borderline lunacy. I'm not making light of any real danger that exists in the skies, but this is an example of that sort of . . . well, Terror, that renders us (and the Brits) paralyzed and frankly ridiculous. I don't know where the line is, where it should be drawn. But turning around jetliners because of ringing cellphones, or bans on shampoo & perfume strikes me as absurd.
Last week ringing cellphones and shampoo were fine, and now they represent a threat? On 9/10/01 metal forks & knives were acceptable on planes, but on 9/12/01 the knives had to be plastic (while the forks remained metal?). This is anti-terrorism . . . or pro-fearism?
I know the difference between Conspiracy & Opportunism. There's a lot at stake for the status quo come November. We'll see no shortage of Opportunism between now and then. And in the big picture, terrorism's serious & needs to be addressed as such. But common sense & perspective are just as important as vigilence. We're gonna be dealing with this for a long time. We need to find a balance.
---------------------------------------------
Update #1 (Just a feeling I'll need to number these), 1:59 PM, EDT: According to AP, an Alaska Airlines flight out of Guadalajara landed "without incident" at LAX before police evacuated the plane. Why? Someone found a "suspicious item" on-board the plane.
Apparently, "the crew became alarmed when no one claimed the item," following one of the attendents asking all the passengers, "'Is this yours?'"
Despite determining -- through the use of bomb-sniffing dogs -- that the unidentified "object" didn't contain explosives, the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad and the FBI still planned to search the plane.
What are they looking for? They haven't quite said.
Once again . . . I don't blame the crew for being frightened. But without the hyper-vigilance in the air, without the sense of over-blown paranoia, there's no reason to be frightened.
-----------------------------------------------
Update #2, 4:16 PM, EDT: According to AP, the FBI determined there are no terror-related links to the three "Palestinian-Americans [from] Texas," arrested in Michigan for the three-pronged crime of (a) photographing bridges, (b) with too many cell phones in the car, while (c) being Palestinian.
Apparently, the three fellas bought approximately 80 cellphones. That fact accounts for the police deciding to stop them.
Apparently, one of the guys had a picture of the Mackinac Bridge on his digital camera. That fact accounts for local prosecuters charging them "with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes."
Apparently, no one but one of their wives has made the connection between being of Palestinian descent and the gravity of the charges. That fact accounts for everything else.
Once again, perspective. I suppose some American Muslims who photograph bridges are terrorists. But I'm betting juuuuuuust a few of them aren't. I'll even go out on a limb and guess that if you research it carefully, maybe one or two of the thousands of Japanese Americans interned during WWII sympathized with the Empire and wished the US harm. And the rest . . . ?
Perspective.
Oh, and the happy (or sad) postscript? "The phone was later found to be safe." Now there's a surprise.
Not much to add here, other than to note that Americans, apparently, don't own a monopoly on paranoia, fear, & borderline lunacy. I'm not making light of any real danger that exists in the skies, but this is an example of that sort of . . . well, Terror, that renders us (and the Brits) paralyzed and frankly ridiculous. I don't know where the line is, where it should be drawn. But turning around jetliners because of ringing cellphones, or bans on shampoo & perfume strikes me as absurd.
Last week ringing cellphones and shampoo were fine, and now they represent a threat? On 9/10/01 metal forks & knives were acceptable on planes, but on 9/12/01 the knives had to be plastic (while the forks remained metal?). This is anti-terrorism . . . or pro-fearism?
I know the difference between Conspiracy & Opportunism. There's a lot at stake for the status quo come November. We'll see no shortage of Opportunism between now and then. And in the big picture, terrorism's serious & needs to be addressed as such. But common sense & perspective are just as important as vigilence. We're gonna be dealing with this for a long time. We need to find a balance.
---------------------------------------------
Update #1 (Just a feeling I'll need to number these), 1:59 PM, EDT: According to AP, an Alaska Airlines flight out of Guadalajara landed "without incident" at LAX before police evacuated the plane. Why? Someone found a "suspicious item" on-board the plane.
Apparently, "the crew became alarmed when no one claimed the item," following one of the attendents asking all the passengers, "'Is this yours?'"
Despite determining -- through the use of bomb-sniffing dogs -- that the unidentified "object" didn't contain explosives, the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad and the FBI still planned to search the plane.
What are they looking for? They haven't quite said.
Once again . . . I don't blame the crew for being frightened. But without the hyper-vigilance in the air, without the sense of over-blown paranoia, there's no reason to be frightened.
-----------------------------------------------
Update #2, 4:16 PM, EDT: According to AP, the FBI determined there are no terror-related links to the three "Palestinian-Americans [from] Texas," arrested in Michigan for the three-pronged crime of (a) photographing bridges, (b) with too many cell phones in the car, while (c) being Palestinian.
Apparently, the three fellas bought approximately 80 cellphones. That fact accounts for the police deciding to stop them.
Apparently, one of the guys had a picture of the Mackinac Bridge on his digital camera. That fact accounts for local prosecuters charging them "with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes."
Apparently, no one but one of their wives has made the connection between being of Palestinian descent and the gravity of the charges. That fact accounts for everything else.
Once again, perspective. I suppose some American Muslims who photograph bridges are terrorists. But I'm betting juuuuuuust a few of them aren't. I'll even go out on a limb and guess that if you research it carefully, maybe one or two of the thousands of Japanese Americans interned during WWII sympathized with the Empire and wished the US harm. And the rest . . . ?
Perspective.
posted by Mike at 8:13 AM
4 Comments:
I've always thought requiring all passengers to fly naked would make things much simpler.
But they still need to wear shoes.
I mean, what are we gonna remove at the magntic scanner otherwise? No belts, no buttons, no zippers. So shoes in the check-in area, shoes on the plane.
Our government agencies need make-work, otherwise they can't justify budget increases every year.
If they want to justify a bigger budget why don't they just buy a bunch of rectal probes? That's what they're good at. They scrutinize their own citizens under a magnifying glass but look the other way from 15 million illegal immigrants who come and go as they please. Yeah, they're real concerned about homeland security. (not)
(whistling noises)
Post a Comment
<< Home