--- paul childs <npchilds at shaw.ca> wrote:
> they hit the street in uniforms, cars, and
> carrying a gun. The net for who you can kill with
> impunity has been opened wide,
> and all you have to do is invoke words like '9-11',
> 'national security' and 'suspected terrorist'
> and most critics will retreat into a reverential
> silence and stop asking awkward questions of
> authority.
I do not know what world you live in, Paul, but I've traveled a bit around the world, and what I see is highly professional airline and security dealing usually courteiusly and always firmly with not always reasonable people. If anyone is panicking or blowing a gasket - it is the passengers.
Just to give you an example, on one of my more recent flight my travel companion was told by the flight attendant to move her carry on luggage to the overhead bin, because we were sitting in th eemergency exit row. She got pissed like a little child and started throwing fits - first arguing with the attendant, and then lying in the floor next to the exit. The attendants handled the situation very professionally (after all, they were British :)), and finaly my travel companion came to her senses, but that is not always the case. I've seen departures being delayed because some idiot refused to leave the bathroom, cops being called to calm irate passengers, or people being kicked out of trains for not having proper travel documents.
Most of the problems arise from the fact that some people act like spoiled brats when told to follow the rules and orders of the airline personnel. They do not understand that they implicitly consent to follow them when they buy the ticket and board the plane, just as they implicitly consent to sobriety tests when signing for a driver license.
So if someone is unable or unwilling to follow these rules, he can either refrain from flying or otherwise accept the consequences of his behavior that may vary from being fined, to being "deplaned" in some remote location (like St.Johns' in New Foundland if you are on on trans-atlantic flight), to being shot if you appear to pose a security threat. Most reasonable people accept and even demand that, because it makes air travel more secure. Only crackpots and loonies who are paranoid about their "rights" may feel constrained by that.
One shoul dalways demand and enforce professional conduct by security and law enforcement personnel, but that should not be an excuse for unreasonable demands of omniscience and perfect judgment in every situation, let alone for juvenile bitching each time the rules are being enforced. And if someobody gets accidentally hurt in the process? Shit happens, we do not live in a perfect world. Live with it or do not leave your home.
Wojtek _______________________ DISCLAIMER: Opinions posted by this writer to this forum are solely forms of literary criticism exercised as the First Amendment right, and do not necessarily reflect the author's views or attitudes toward real-life people, including other writers posting to this forum, groups of people, institutions, or events to which the critiqued texts may refer, either explicitly or implicitly. Any statement asserting or implying such views or attitudes on the basis of this writer's opinions posted to this forum is thus unfounded, and may be libelous. ________________________
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