By Erich Vieth on November 20th, 2008
Worthless airport security
Is our airport security better than it was prior to 9/11? In “The Things He Carried,” Jeff Goldberg digs in deeply, going so far as to look and act suspicious to test the TSA and concludes that we’re getting nothing for most of the money we’ve spent on “improvements.” We now have a system designed to catch “stupid terrorists.”
There are only two things that really make us safer now than on 9/11. For this, Goldberg quotes security expert Bruce Schneier: “Only two things have made flying safer: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.”
How about this for a new national motto, starting in 2009: Doing only things that really work.
Worthless high school security:
Post Columbine, my daughter’s high school instituted a “no hoodies” rule on the assumption that a gun could be hidden in the hood of such sweatshirts. It is a ludicrous and completely ineffective rule since there are no body or book bag searches performed on the students, both places much more likely for a teen to conceal a gun.
Do you know how hard it is to find a nice comfortable, zippered sweatshirt WITHOUT a hood these days? Impossible! Trust me.
It is an example of the “we are doing something” syndrome. Even if that something is ineffective.
We, as a society, eternally confuse Motion with Action (Ben Franklin). “Change”.
Anti Spam Word: “Way” (think Tao).
I flew frequently before the tech bubble burst (Y2K). They regularly made me boot up my computer, swabbed my bag (Miami), and occasionally wanded me. I have only flown twice since then; grounded for economic reasons.
When I returned from Germany in 2003, I was asked by the nice agent in Frankfurt (on load from Mossad!) if I had anything that might be used as a weapon. I had plenty of time. I blinked in surprise, and said, “Of course.”
She (shorter and sturdier than Cote de Pablo, but still cute) got alert. “What?” she said sharply.
“I have sharp pencils, shoelaces, and this heavy, hard computer.” I blinked my biggest blues at her with a grin. She relaxed. Perhaps my father having just addressed her in Hebrew with his Tel Aviv accent was what got me off the hook.
But they really do take security more seriously over there.
Anti-spam word: “dan” How odd?