Here’s a theory: The purpose behind terrorism is to - class, anyone? - strike terror in the hearts of the victims. When a terrorist plot is discovered, foiled or not, our nation’s security attenae shoot right up and the lockdown begins. The stock market takes a temporary dive, lines at the airport grow four times in size delaying travel and wildly inconveniencing travellers. As my wife pointed out upon hearing that all carry-on items were being banned on UK-US flights, that 13-hour flight across the ocean can get awfully boring awfully fast when your sole entertainment is the nut sitting next to you. When we panic and cause this wild inconvenience, the terrorists have succeeded. They don’t need to bomb an airplane or kill thousands to strike terror, they just need to pop out of their spider hole every once in a while.
So, here’s your counter argument: If we don’t do something about it and prevent people from taking on their carry-ons, the chances are good something will slip through and thousands could die. Do you want that on your hands?
Well, let me ask you this - what harm does a book do? What about a magazine? If you X-Ray them like your’re supposed to, you’ll be able to see whether there’s something hidden in a cutout section inside of them, so the threat is diminished. What about bottled water? Tellya what, let’s pass a rule that drinks brought on board must be sealed upon entry and their labels removed to show that they don’t have some kind of false bottom. Sound like a plan? That seems far simpler to me than banning them altogether or pouring their contents into a community trash can.
Just to prove the inanity of the current laws, let’s take a look at the current list of banned items:
Gel deodorants (solid stick is permitted): The current gel fear is truly insane. I’m certain it doesn’t take a chemistry doctorate to figure out a way to take some kind of explosive chemical, add some scent and provide it in cake form so that it looks like a normal stick of deodorant. I used to used a half-empty stick of such deodorant to store money in when I was in hotels - there’s no telling what else a person could hide in there.
Gel shoe inserts: Again with the gel. Notice on the TSA page that “Shoes with gel heels are allowed but must to removed and screened”. Screened for what? My understanding is that the explosive ingrediants these terrorists were suspected of potentially using didn’t contain any of the chemical traces usually associated with explosives. Given that, what’s keeping someone from cutting the gel out of their shoes and replacing it with something else? While we’re all so focused on gel products and liquids, these guys are going to figure out a way to sneak something else in.
Baby teethers (with gel or liquid inside): Seriously? So, not only do I get trapped on a flight with a teething baby, now there’s nothing the parents can do to keep her from crying the whole way? Keep in mind that analgesic gels are prohibited as well. Enjoy your flight!
I won’t be flying for any serious distance until these bans are lifted. I enjoy flying in general, but am bored the moment we hit altitude. To sit on a plane for more than an hour with nothing but my thoughts and my seat neighbor is just torture (even when it’s my beautiful, intelligent and witty wife - I love her, but we spend a lot of time together and can quickly run out of conversational topics). I’m not alone in this opinion. After 9/11, the number of folks flying for pleasure dropped immensely. It took a long time to recover. Even though business travellers make up the bulk of air travel - and nothing short of a bomb strapped sirectly to the nose of the plane will keep them from getting where they need to go - the gravy that is the casual traveller will no doubt dry up as air travel becomes less pleasurable.
And, in all honesty, the terrorists have then won. They set out to strike fear into our hearts and disrupt our lives. They’ve done a great job. They pop up somewhere and we run in fear, passing ridiculous bans and creating our own havoc, all while they remain in their holes, laughing at the stupid Americans. So good job TSA and the Bush administration. Your panic supports terrorism.
