Well, there you go. The terrorists are officially winning.
Oh, sure, they haven't actually managed to blow up any aircraft recently, but they don't have to. I doubt it was ever really their intention.
What they have done, and done quite successfully, is prompt the US to create a world where people are less likely to go anywhere near North America.
I've completely crossed the USA and Canada off my list of places I'm likely to visit any time soon.
Note that, I said "and Canada". Why? Because I'm likely to need to change planes on US soil, and I'm just not going to do that. Oh, and any other country that would require changing planes in Hawaii? Yeah, I'm not going there either.
Mexico's off the list as well. I don't know if I have to stop over in the US to get there, but I'm pretty darn sure the US will be having a strong say in Mexico's security protocols.
South America, I don't know. It depends on whether or not the US bullies them into having similar security measures.
Now, there is, of course, the argument that I shouldn't worry about the security measures if I've got nothing to hide. I've heard that over and over again with the vox pops on the news: "Yeah, it's inconvenient, but you know, I've got nothing to hide so I've got nothing to worry about".
That's not the point. The point is, most of the security measures we already have are stupid, pointless, unlikely to make a true difference to our security AND strangely profitable to people selling stuff at airports. The new measures America is trying to bring in will just make it worse.
A full body scan that shows every detail of your body to whoever happens to be looking at the screen at the time? I wouldn't consent to a strip search without good reason and controlled conditions. Why should I consent to that?
And you will never - and I mean never - be able to convince me that the liquids thing isn't some money making scheme by airports. A 600ml, clear plastic bottle of water is not a threat. I can buy a 600ml bottle of water outside the airport for $2. Better than that, I can fill such a water bottle with water from my tap at home for next to nothing. However, I can't take that water bottle into the departure lounge. Once in the departure lounge, I can buy a new bottle of water for twice the price... but then I can't take it on the plane, which means I have to buy another, hideously expensive bottle of water at the next airport. If I'm catching a connecting flight, I won't be able to take that water bottle with me either...
There's a question everyone asks in those crime shows that clutter the TV schedules: "Who benefits?" It's not the travelling people of the world. It's not the countries which are now, thankfully, safe from water kept in clear plastic containers. It's the shops in the airport that sell the stuff we can't take with us any more.
And the thing is, the things they let us take onto the planes are no safer than the things they refuse. A laptop battery is a greater threat than a water bottle. The chain I wear around my neck, which never sets off the metal detectors, is a more useful weapon than the nail clippers I can't take with me... there's no real rhyme or reason to what you can and cannot do for "security purposes".
The fact of the matter is, anyone who actually wants to hurt people can and will, regardless of what conditions are placed on us all. These security measures are inconveniencing us for no good reason, and now they are completely invading our privacy for no good reason. Oh, these "security measures" look good on paper. You can hold them up and say "see what we are doing to ensure your safety?" But my safety is not ensured. It never can be. You are taking away my liberties and privacy to give me false promises in their place.
In its infinite wisdom, the US government has decided to punish the whole world for the actions of a few people. That's all this amounts to.
Now, I've been a teacher, and I've tried the "keep the whole class in" technique. In theory, the bad kids should realise they're hurting their friends, and their friends should beat them up in the car park for revenge, thus encouraging them to improve their behaviour. It never works. The bad kids don't change their ways for the sake of the others in the class, and the good kids realise they're trapped in a hopeless situation and start hating the person who is punishing them for being in the same room as the people who deserve the punishment.
That's where the US is heading with this. Eventually, more and more people are just going to say "stuff this, America has made travelling miserable and I hate them."
Thus, the terrorist have accomplished their goal of making the whole world hate America as much as they do. Rather ingenious, really.
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