A Different Perspective On Security

In this day and age, if a red-blooded "Born in the U.S.A." patriot that loves his/her country were to pass through HS at the airport and say they noticed he was wearing a pocket knife, or (God forbid) a nail clipper, perhaps even some funny looking bottle of water -- this American Citizen could ( or likely would) be detained and grilled by Homeland Security, maybe even locked up in a jail cell without trial or jury.

Now let's say this same person passed through undetected. The plane leaves the ground without a hitch. People, even the skittish travelers, begin to calm down as tiny silver bags with peanuts and drinks are passed slowly, yet courteously, down the isle. Suddenly, a man leaps out of his seat and grabs one of the flight attendants -- the pretty one, the one you were trying to work up the courage to talk to, but will probably just say thank you to and then utter something stupid that she didn't find funny -- then the stewardess shrieks as her attacker puts his other hand around her throat and threatens to snap her neck! What's worse yet, is this strange man claims to have a bomb.

Unfortunately for this terrorist, he picked a spot just in front of our stealthy, shall we call him Captain America? Let's consider that nothing upsets this homegrown American street punk, than to see someone invading his territory and then holding such a pretty lady hostage. Nope, not much else could boil his blood like a good ol' fashioned villain threatening to do harm to some poor miss. Too bad for Mr. Terrorist, Captain America was raised not to back down to such threats.

A hush. A hulking shadow leaping into the isle. The dangerous man turning too... A shriek as the crunch of bone is heard! Feinting as the blood pours out of the hole in the back of Mister Bad Guy's neck. Captain America's blade making a sucking sound and then an audible pop as he pulls his blade from the attacker's skull. A few more shrieks, a couple more passengers feint, but ultimately there is an audible sigh, a great relief of tension as the passengers realize that another crisis has been averted. A sudden realization brings the plane to an astounding round of applause for their hero.

Only that is not what happened. While Captain America was on the ground being detained, a terrorist did slip on to the plane unnoticed. A terrorist did manage to take a young girl hostage. And even though the terrorist did not have a bomb, no one knew that when he threatened it. They were afraid. Of course they believed him! He was a terrorist!

You just turned on the evening news. What you see is that, although "The Authorities" managed to detain one terrorist at the airport, another slipped on board the plane unnoticed. In a monotone voice void of emotion, the news reporter continues to say that this plane "happened" to crash into a government building. The overall point-of-view being expressed is that "We" need to invest even more into "protecting our security."

Morale of the story? Fear of terrorism is giving in to terrorism.