What do you think?
Thinking, for ourselves, not just critically, but at all, is not quite dead, but it certainly does seem to be discouraged – especially regarding “security”. Few, if any, “security” measures result in ANY increased “safety”. They mainly just create inconvenience – and greater control by a few over the majority who were never a “threat” to begin with. Few REAL “threats” by the determined are “stopped” or “deterred”. The average person and “system” is in many respects probably more, rather than less, vulnerable and “at risk” than ever before – despite what many may “think”.
Emphasizing WHAT to think rather than HOW seems especially ironic (and potentially dangerous) when those we are being told and taught to fear do NOT think at all like those who seek to “think” for the rest of us – if we allow them to. It is not only WHAT and HOW people think that differs, but WHY, WHEN and WHERE. Context and perspective need to be considered (as do most assumptions and expectations) for things to make sense.
As emotions increase, the ability to think (clearly) inevitably tends to decrease. The primary characteristic of “terrorism” is FEAR rather than actual attacks or other acts resulting in death and destruction. Far more disruptive and harmful than taking direct action is simply manipulating others’ imaginations – and allowing them to scare themselves (and those around them) as our government agencies (and their policies and procedures) so often do. “Theirs is not to reason why, but to do and die.”
Don’t blame the TSA, the President (current or former), or any “terrorists” (foreign or domestic) for what happens at airports (or anywhere else). Check your premise. Passenger acceptance and compliance allow and perpetuate much of the thinking and behavior associated with air travel – and “homeland security”.
© 2009 – 2010, Oren Pardes. All rights reserved.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Interesting article here Oren. You make some great points.
I really like your last point about “passenger acceptance” in regards to air travel.
Thanks for the share!
December 29th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Glenn Arcaro. Glenn Arcaro said: RT @tweetmeme What do you think? http://bit.ly/7gyIKL […]
December 30th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
We sometimes get what we desire, though seldom what we “deserve”; but we almost always get what we accept. People, including (potential) passengers, usually have far more power and choice than than they either realize or exercise – especially when they are paying (customers, clients, or “consumers”).
December 30th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
This post was originally written as a comment to a blog post I read about the death of critical thinking by Randy Gage – which is why I added him to my blogroll.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
In what some in the White House are calling a “win/win” solution to the nation’s airport security and health care reform problems, starting next month U. S. airports will begin conducting full body scans that will double as annual physical checkups.
President Obama announced the breakthrough solution, telling reporters, “With this all-purpose exam, we will be able to find everything from a hidden weapon to a spot on your lung.”
After scanning a passenger, Mr. Obama said, “We will either give you a clean bill of health or wrestle you to the ground.”
The President added that instituting the body scan/checkup could ward off some terrorists right from the start, “because a lot of them will balk at the $25 co-pay.”
But according to Davis Logsdon, who studies terrorism and health care reform at the University of Minnesota, the body scans may attract more terrorists than they deter: “If there’s one complaint that terrorists have about al-Qaeda it’s that they have lousy benefits.”
~ Andy Borowitz (The Borowitz Report)