Recently, as most or all should know, England disrupted a major terrorist plot. For this I applaud them, however it has raised some concerns in my mind. We seem, here in America I cannot speak for other countries, to be overreacting and forbidding liquids on a plane.
I know that this seems like a small sacrifice to make for safety but what's the point? The security measures in place prevented the attack from happening. Will this really make a difference? How much are we going to allow terrorists to reshape our lives and change the way in which we think, act and feel? Should somebody be concerned that an eighty year old woman is bringing on some soda to drink? No, of course not, yet she is now banned from doing so. Should my three year old be allowed to bring some juice boxes on board so she can have one of her favorite drinks? Well she might be a terrorist, right?!?!
These measures are moderately absurd in their design. It's coming back to the old rule that one person ruins it for the rest of us. Recently I have read some of Ann Coulter's writtings and I really do agree with her on many points.
For example, Ann proposes some fairly simple solutions to solving some of the airline threats.
1. Make the cockpit like unto Fort Knox. Ensure that the pilots are the first people on the plane and lock the cockpit and then make certain they are the last to leave. Nobody is getting into the cockpit so no more highjacking of planes.
2. Arm every pilot with a gun and give them training on how and when to use it. If I were a terrorist, I would be less likely to choose an airplane as a target if I couldn't get into the cockpit and the pilot was packing a gun.
3. Every flight has a mandatory air marshall on board who, of course, is loaded with a minimum hand gun with armor piercing rounds. Again a great deterrant if the would be highjacker knows that an air marshall will be on this flight, yet he doesn't know who it will be.
4. Enough already with 'random' searches and having restrictions upon who can be searched and how many Muslim's are allowed to be searched per flight. It is ludicrious to assume that you are doing any good by stopping poor old granny smith and letting a Muslim man go clear. The simple fact is this: The majority of terrorist this country has and will face are ALL Muslim men. If you really want to play the odds, stop every single one of them every time.
Our airways need to be safer but stopping a family from bringing on cheaper drinks as opposed to paying high for high cost airport drinks is not the way to do it. We are restricting our freedoms to give us a false sense of safety.
I know that this seems like a small sacrifice to make for safety but what's the point? The security measures in place prevented the attack from happening. Will this really make a difference? How much are we going to allow terrorists to reshape our lives and change the way in which we think, act and feel? Should somebody be concerned that an eighty year old woman is bringing on some soda to drink? No, of course not, yet she is now banned from doing so. Should my three year old be allowed to bring some juice boxes on board so she can have one of her favorite drinks? Well she might be a terrorist, right?!?!
These measures are moderately absurd in their design. It's coming back to the old rule that one person ruins it for the rest of us. Recently I have read some of Ann Coulter's writtings and I really do agree with her on many points.
For example, Ann proposes some fairly simple solutions to solving some of the airline threats.
1. Make the cockpit like unto Fort Knox. Ensure that the pilots are the first people on the plane and lock the cockpit and then make certain they are the last to leave. Nobody is getting into the cockpit so no more highjacking of planes.
2. Arm every pilot with a gun and give them training on how and when to use it. If I were a terrorist, I would be less likely to choose an airplane as a target if I couldn't get into the cockpit and the pilot was packing a gun.
3. Every flight has a mandatory air marshall on board who, of course, is loaded with a minimum hand gun with armor piercing rounds. Again a great deterrant if the would be highjacker knows that an air marshall will be on this flight, yet he doesn't know who it will be.
4. Enough already with 'random' searches and having restrictions upon who can be searched and how many Muslim's are allowed to be searched per flight. It is ludicrious to assume that you are doing any good by stopping poor old granny smith and letting a Muslim man go clear. The simple fact is this: The majority of terrorist this country has and will face are ALL Muslim men. If you really want to play the odds, stop every single one of them every time.
Our airways need to be safer but stopping a family from bringing on cheaper drinks as opposed to paying high for high cost airport drinks is not the way to do it. We are restricting our freedoms to give us a false sense of safety.
posted by Mormegil at 21:49
4 Comments:
These are pretty good ideas. I know everyone was in a panic recently, but some absurd conclusions were reached. One woman was travelling by bus from up here in Scotland down to London and was not allowed to take a drink with her. Such events would not have happened in the old days. The modern world is so hectic and governed by rigid legislation. Reminds me of the Shire after the downfall of Sauron. It took Frodo et al to come back and stop the madness with some good old-fashioned common-sense.
I'd say that arming pilots and securing the cockpit like you said are very good ideas, but perhaps armor-piercing rounds aren't. One shot and you'll punch a good-sized hole throught the wall and cause the plane to start depressurizing.
Heya mormy, I didn't know you had a blog! How exciting.
Anyway, I agree with your cockpit idea but I have a couple of things to raise about point 4, which is perhaps particularly stinging to a brown person.
1) Not all terrorists are men. One of the people stopped here was a woman travelling with a baby.
2) While all Islamic terrorists are Muslim, you cannot tell a Muslim by sight. There are converts to Islam from all races. Some of our most influential right wing Islam nuts are black. So racial profiling just wont work. If there are to be searches, they should be for all.
I really found myself agreeing with you throughout the beginning of this post. The liquid restrictions are stupid. However, I disagree with everything you said after, "Ann Coulter".
If we make the cockpit like Fort Knox, we also need to train the pilots to be able to watch people die in front of them. If I were a terrorist, I would kill people right in front of the window (see the movie Air Force One).
Second, the air marshalls and all of the other measures really aren't going to do any more good that people can do for themselves. The terrorists have revealed themselves: people can no longer expect to make it out of a hostage situation alive. Therefore, people will no longer tolerate the kinds of acts that occurred on Sept. 11. If someone tries to take over the plane, people will stop them. The same goes for buses, buildings, anything.
The government can make all the restrictions and protections they want, but terrorists will always find a way. The only sure way to stop terrorism is for people to stop tolerating it. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as victims and start empowering ourselves. The more we react to the terrorists, the more power they have.
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