Oh, for crying out loud (rant ahead)
I've been killing time by reading the Chiff & Fipple forums (For the uninformed, C&F is a gathering place for 40+ year-old should-know-better-by-now wankers, and more occassionally Irish traditional music discussion), and a recent topic concerned a board member who was stopped by airport security and forced to check his wooden Irish flute, as it could potentially be used as a bludgeon.
Now, I have the same make and model of flute as this poster. It comes in three pieces which much be painstakingly assembled, and would probably not hold up very well to any sort of bludgeoning blow. (Not to mention the fact that the temperatures and lack of humidity in the check-in areas of planes are an anathema to the health of wooden instruments; likely more important from the owner's point of view.)
Anyway, one of the board's resident conservative wackos (himself a flautist), not only agrees with the airport monkey's check-in decision, but thinks that security in American airports is "too lax."
Now, my bit. I agree that American airport security is "too lax." Furthermore, I believe that in most cases it can also be classified as "arbitrary," "bullying," "frequently mishandled," "prone to abuse," "poorly regulated and enforced," "unhelpful," and "meant to intimidate."
But let's get back to this jointed-flute-as-bludgeon issue. My take? Bitch, please. Of course a flute can be used as a bludgeon (although likely only once before the instrument's destroyed). But you know what else? My ten-pound Japanese kanji dictionary, swung about in my carry-on bag would make a pretty deadly bludgeon, as would a laptop in its laptop case. The straps on a purse or even a backpack would be a pretty effective garrotte, I think. What about baby powder or other cosmetics, which could be thrown into somebody's eyes to capacitate them before a physical attack? And let's not forget that the airlines themselves distribute glass bottles of wine during international flights - glass bottles being one of the oldest bar room weapons known to mankind.
These are all examples I've come up with off of the top of my head; it isn't as if I've spent a lot of time contemplating how to transform mundane objects into weapons of deadly force (or perhaps I just watched too much MacGyver during my youth). My point is that while I certainly agree that firearms, explosives and bladed instruments have no place onboard an airplane, banning other objects is pointless, because it takes very little mental power to transform any object at hand into a weapon. In my experience airport monkeys cause trouble because they're uneducated, stuck in shitty dead end jobs, and enjoy hasseling and intimidating people whose life prospects are most likely better than their own. I believe this is tolerated because 1) people who need to travel have no choice but to tolerate it, and 2) a little artificially manufactured fear never hurt any totalitarian-leaning government's chances to better control its populace.
In other news, (which may be apocryphal, but hopefully you guys can help me out on this one) a US domestic flight was recently diverted because a Japanese passenger, while researching unfamiliar vocabulary in the English-language newspaper he was reading, wrote 'suicide bomb' down on a notepad along with the other words he was looking up in his dictionary. The passenger in the seat next to him raised the alarm, the plane was sent back to its port of departure, and the man was questioned by the authorities, who then determined he posed no threat. The flight set off again and arrived three hours behind schedule.
If this is true, again I say, bitch, please. This is like all the recent arrests of people who have been taking pictures in public on suspected terrorist charges. Someone saw this man (and perhaps thought, Ooh, darkie! as well) write 'suicide bomb,' and thought it was a threat, as if any well-trained and serious suicide bomber is going to give the game away. It would be as if terrorist forces in Iraq or Israel suddenly started painting 'This is a car bomb' on their vehicles before a mission. Not. Bloody. Likely.
It's as if the 'War on Terror' has given Americans carte blanche to be fecking idiots - and most of my countrymen are only too happy to use this opportunity to its fullest.
That will be all.
Now, I have the same make and model of flute as this poster. It comes in three pieces which much be painstakingly assembled, and would probably not hold up very well to any sort of bludgeoning blow. (Not to mention the fact that the temperatures and lack of humidity in the check-in areas of planes are an anathema to the health of wooden instruments; likely more important from the owner's point of view.)
Anyway, one of the board's resident conservative wackos (himself a flautist), not only agrees with the airport monkey's check-in decision, but thinks that security in American airports is "too lax."
Now, my bit. I agree that American airport security is "too lax." Furthermore, I believe that in most cases it can also be classified as "arbitrary," "bullying," "frequently mishandled," "prone to abuse," "poorly regulated and enforced," "unhelpful," and "meant to intimidate."
But let's get back to this jointed-flute-as-bludgeon issue. My take? Bitch, please. Of course a flute can be used as a bludgeon (although likely only once before the instrument's destroyed). But you know what else? My ten-pound Japanese kanji dictionary, swung about in my carry-on bag would make a pretty deadly bludgeon, as would a laptop in its laptop case. The straps on a purse or even a backpack would be a pretty effective garrotte, I think. What about baby powder or other cosmetics, which could be thrown into somebody's eyes to capacitate them before a physical attack? And let's not forget that the airlines themselves distribute glass bottles of wine during international flights - glass bottles being one of the oldest bar room weapons known to mankind.
These are all examples I've come up with off of the top of my head; it isn't as if I've spent a lot of time contemplating how to transform mundane objects into weapons of deadly force (or perhaps I just watched too much MacGyver during my youth). My point is that while I certainly agree that firearms, explosives and bladed instruments have no place onboard an airplane, banning other objects is pointless, because it takes very little mental power to transform any object at hand into a weapon. In my experience airport monkeys cause trouble because they're uneducated, stuck in shitty dead end jobs, and enjoy hasseling and intimidating people whose life prospects are most likely better than their own. I believe this is tolerated because 1) people who need to travel have no choice but to tolerate it, and 2) a little artificially manufactured fear never hurt any totalitarian-leaning government's chances to better control its populace.
In other news, (which may be apocryphal, but hopefully you guys can help me out on this one) a US domestic flight was recently diverted because a Japanese passenger, while researching unfamiliar vocabulary in the English-language newspaper he was reading, wrote 'suicide bomb' down on a notepad along with the other words he was looking up in his dictionary. The passenger in the seat next to him raised the alarm, the plane was sent back to its port of departure, and the man was questioned by the authorities, who then determined he posed no threat. The flight set off again and arrived three hours behind schedule.
If this is true, again I say, bitch, please. This is like all the recent arrests of people who have been taking pictures in public on suspected terrorist charges. Someone saw this man (and perhaps thought, Ooh, darkie! as well) write 'suicide bomb,' and thought it was a threat, as if any well-trained and serious suicide bomber is going to give the game away. It would be as if terrorist forces in Iraq or Israel suddenly started painting 'This is a car bomb' on their vehicles before a mission. Not. Bloody. Likely.
It's as if the 'War on Terror' has given Americans carte blanche to be fecking idiots - and most of my countrymen are only too happy to use this opportunity to its fullest.
That will be all.