by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

You know, I try to keep up with what's going on in the world. The events described in this WWS.com article happened about a month ago, and this is the first I'm hearing about it. The rest of this post will assume that you've read the article, so go read it now; I'll wait....

Back? OK. Now, it is probable that the men in question were perfectly innocent of any evil intent. It is also probable that they witnessed the growing concern of their fellow passengers about their presence, and, consequently, became more and more concerned for their own safety as the flight progressed. In other words, there are alternate, entirely reasonable explanations for their behavior which have nothing to do with the desire to do harm to the passengers upon that airplane. However, the suspicion still remains that the worst case scenario hypothesis was, and is, the correct one.

When I, a certified liberal, start thinking that it is justified to limit the civil liberties of a specific ethnic group, it becomes apparent that the enemy has already accomplished some of his goals. I took my daughter and friend to the airport last week. I had to have them there at 7:40am for a 9:40 flight so they would have enough time to go through security. It basically sucks that air travel has become something that is as enjoyable as a root canal, but, between the economics of deregulation and the needs of security, this is one of the sad facts of this decade. (Speaking of economics, I see that United is about to default on funding its pension program(s). There is something inherently wrong with the system when an ostensibly well run business, like United was during the 1990s, can be brought to the edge of insolvency. I think it is one of the effects of deregulation, and I think it sucks. But I digress.)

If I were a person of Middle Eastern descent, I would be pretty pissed off about now. I understand this, and, yet, I know that there are thousands...tens of thousands...of men and women in the world who would unhesitatingly sacrifice themselves to strike a blow against (as they see it) the US/Israeli/Jewish hegemony. So, even though I hold no particular animus towards these people as a whole, I do perceive a need to protect myself from those who might do me harm. Since those who would do me harm do not wear a uniform or any other sign that they are the enemy, it becomes necessary to screen all passengers (because it is not inconceivable for the enemy to recruit from other ethnic populations) while paying particular attention to those most likely to do us harm. It is a sad fact that, today, a cell of five people acting totally independently could do anything from turning an aircraft/car/truck etc. into a weapon to (potentially) building an atomic device which could be built in place in a population center. There is almost no way to protect ourselves against such a threat and still remain a free society. There will never be a way to protect society from those who are willing to exchange their own lives for a chance to lash out at the rest of humanity. As long as there is any difference between one person and another, the potential will exist for one of them to become violent and dangerous to everybody else.

As far as I can see, we have to accept the fact that perfect safety is a chimera, never to be found in this reality. Then we have to balance our need for prudent security with the need to remain a nation of sovereign individuals who have the greatest personal freedom possible. If this means that all passengers are searched completely (and I do mean completely), then sobeit. However, that means that I (an aging gentleman of Northern European descent) can expect to be searched as thoroughly as a 20-ish male of Middle Eastern descent. As long as we all, and I do mean all--regardless of age, wealth, position or anything else--are treated the same, and that the only search is for potential weapons and has nothing to do with one's politics or anything else in that vein, we will need to accept what has to be.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005