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August 10, 2006
Notes from Ferdy - Chaos Reigns in Wake of Terror Plot, Ben Franklin Nowhere to be Found
Yesterday the British government uncovered a plot to blow up numerous airplanes in mid-flight. The plot involved the use of explosive gels that were to be hidden in hand luggage. This new idea for sneaking deadly technology onto a plane has caused bedlam at airports as people have been forced to throw away bottles of hair gel and antibiotic cream just in case they may really be full of gelignite.
We are engaged in an arms race with an enemy that has all the advantages. Each time the bad guys come up with a new idea, our ability to travel takes another hit. Eventually, they'll come up with a bomb that looks like a laptop computer. Trust me on this one: if laptops become illegal on airplanes, most businessmen will choose to walk instead.
It's worth noting that nobody is quoting Ben Franklin about security and liberty today. The privacy we lose by having our luggage X-rayed is more palatable than the idea of the government knowing we've made a phone call to somebody in Pakistan because we can see it with our own eyes. Still, that is the very real tradeoff, and we need to have a discussion about how much hell we are willing to endure at airports in exchange for a reduction in monitoring of our private lives.
I suspect no politician would dare suggest such a conversation because it seems unprincipled. After all, there's always a possibility that a committee of smart people can come up with an answer that makes everyone happy. But that's not going to happen tomorrow, and while we're waiting for the perfect solution to arrive, we need a policy right now that balances liberty and safety, and we need to talk about it before carry-on luggage becomes completely illegal.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
# At Thu 3:18 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (0) | More Notes from Ferdy | Tags: air travel Ben Franklin conservative terrorism
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