What is it with people?
I mean, if you meet a person they tend to be intelligent, articulate and have at least a basic grasp of the real world.
However, stick a bunch of the together and you get a group of small-minded, petty, self centered assholes who have only a passing relationship with reality.
If you've watched the news this morning, you'll have heard of the foiled plot to blow up a bunch of planes travelling from the UK to the USA.
What are people doing? Counting their blessings? Congratulating the police who caught these guys? Just being glad that they're safe, instead of in a few hundred pieces , rapidly falling towards a major American city, surrounded by burning debris?
No, they're complaining that they're no longer allowed to bring electronics, liquids and other things onto the plane.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Let me give them a reality check.
While they're standing in line, complaining in a loud voice that the perfume they bought is completely harmless...maybe the guy behind them in line, who is also complaining in a loud voice, has a perfume bottle filled with nitro-glycerine.
Maybe the guy two places ahead in the line, complaining because he can't bring his iPod, is actually complaining because his iPod is just C4 explosives in an iPod case.
Maybe the guy complaining about the luggage checks is complaining because the base of his case is lined with TNT.
Look, they do this for a reason. The reason is that they just managed to narrowly avert a disaster on the scale of 9/11. Just because they caught these guys, doesn't mean there isn't a backup group waiting to do the same thing.
It's like "We want to make sure you're safe."
"Fuck safe! You expect me to fly for 8 hours without my laptop? Fuck you!"
Ask yourself a question. What do you want more? Your perfume or your life?
These people have no grip on reality. If the police hadn't been on the ball, this morning thousands of people would be dead instead of delayed. It's that simple.
However, the one thing that really pisses me off more than anything is that if these guys weren't caught, and this morning the news was showing the wreckage of 50 planes, burning buildings and grieving relatives... instead of long lines at the airport...these are the same people who would be shouting:
"Why wasn't anything done? Why wasn't this prevented? Why aren't we being protected?"
Look, you can have it one of two ways. You can either put up with the inconveniences and live...or be allowed to get on a plane with anything you damn well please and suffer a much greater chance of getting blown up.
You're asking the authorities for an omelette, without breaking any eggs. You can't be protected without going through the inconveniences. These are the same people who are against the new x-ray technology at airports, the one that allows security to see through clothes, exposing any weapons of explosives people might be hiding... because it's a 'human rights' issue.
"Sure, it might save millions of lives, but it means the security staff get a fleeting, blurry, black and white glimpse at my private parts! No way! It offends my fragile sensibilities and goes against my rights as a human!"
Here's what I say:
Fuck human rights and fuck your modesty! If a security officer gets to see a blurry x-ray image of my wedding tackle, and the payoff is I don't get blown up...hell, I'll get it out for them and do a table dance wearing a mauve football helmet and shocking pink leg-warmers.
Personally, I'd prefer having to arrive at the airport 8 hours early for a flight, go through a full strip search, have every piece of my luggage checked...than get on a plane and end up being blown up, or flown into the side of a building.
Here's the deal. Security measures are in place to keep you safe. If you don't like it, don't fly.
5 comments:
I agree! If I have to fly without my laptop and mp3 player, fine.
Convenience is not a human right. I'd much rather be safe than dead. If this means I read a book instead of play video games, so be it.
Plus, a lot of the aircraft now have screens for each individual seat, and music, and movies. What's to complain about?
Wait. It seems books are not allowed. Bastards!
One more thing - big kudos to the UK authorities for catching this before it got ugly! I don't know if U.S. security would have caught it.
You've hit the nail on the headthere etcher. people tend to think getting their own way and being able to do whatever they want is a 'right'. It's not, it's a privalege...and sometimes we have to lost the niceties in the persuit of safety.
As for the british authorites... Terrorism isn't a new thing in the UK. We've suffered bombings etc from the IRA for decades. We've just had more practice than america. We;ve got the intelligence network in place and one of the best counter-terrorism teams in the world.
I flew from Columbus, Ohio to Philly and had three opportunities to go through security. In each case I was singled out for the extended search ... not a strip search -- just a closer look.
I'm have such a non-terrorist look about me that I was satisfied that they picked me just to prove they weren't profiling.
But I didn't care. I was very polite and thanked security, each time, for taking the time to make sure we were safe.
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