The point of terrorism is to incite terror within whoever you’re terrorizing, and it seems to be working well. News today, is that you can no longer bring any liquid substances (shampoo, water, contact lens solution) onto airplanes in Canada, the US and the UK; nor can you bring electronics (laptops, iPods, alarm clocks) onto planes in the UK. The anal security checks in airports were already bothersome and ineffective, but I think this is surely restricting our freedoms and livelihood. So have the terrorists won?

The political line of course is that this is a temporary measure to prevent terrorists from bringing in separate chemicals, mixing them, and then igniting them with electrical current — causing planes to explode in mid air. Now this temporary measure is FUD, I mean don’t you think terrorists are patient enough to wait out the temporary period? The alternative is to make this a permanent ban, which I cannot forsee happening as it is a huge pain in the ass.

If this seems like the next escalation in terrorism, it’s not really. Authorities have known about plots to combine liquid compounds together for explosives since 1995. It hasn’t stopped 10 years worth of air travellers from carrying liquids on board, and it hasn’t resulted in any terrorist attacks. The sad fact, that you and I know, that most open-minded people know, is that the terrorists have won.

I sometimes wonder, looking back even 20-50 years, how people survived without the technology we have now (ooh digital camera); but in a few years, we will be looking back and wondering how it was to live without a police state.

Aside: Does electronics include watches? because not having a watch would mess a lot of people up at the airport.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: dumb, worldissues