--- N P Childs <npchilds at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Okay, I was talking about 2 groups here, the
> security apparatus that
> exists in every airport
> and elsewhere these days and the bunch of sheeple in
> the media who
> are cowed into submission
> by people like Bush et. al. who accuse anyone who
> questions them of
> being irresponsible or in league
> with terrorists. What world have you been living in
> since 9/11?
I do not think we are in disagreement about that. Beating up people into submission by the scare tactic of the 'war on terror' amounts in my mind to treason bordering on a coup d'etat, but it is a totally separate subject. What I am objecting to is the knee-jerk reaction against anything that the state and its functionaries do - which is one of th emost annoying features of the US political discourse, both on the left and on the right. In fact, I am amazed how much the lefties and the righties speak the same language in this regard.
One of the things that I really like about Hrvey's new book on history of neo-liberalism it that it connects the leberal/lefty anti-government individulaism to the success of the neo-liberal revolution. Harvey goes as far as saying that such attitudes was one of the key elements in selling and legitimizing the neoliberal ideology. I think the man is right on target.
With that in mind, I hope you can see why I react the way I do to the anti-government rants posted to this forum.
As far as your story about your problems with the airport security - I know what you mean. I've lost a few totally harmless items, laser pointers, flashlights, nail clippers etc. and on one occassion I was made to miss my connnecting flight (albeit it was provoked by calling them nazis). But try to look at this from the other side - these people are not some kinds of monsters but they ar emerely trying to do their jobs in very difficult and potentially confrontational environment. And given that situation, my impression is that they handle it much better than other types workers, say bus drivers or supermarket cashiers.
So one way someone with pro-worker leaninng might approach the situation is to think achead and avoid potentially confrontatioal situations, thus making the job of these workers easier. Before I travel, I go through all items in my bags and look if they may potentially cause problems and if I really need them. If not, I simply leave them home, if I do need them (like laser pointers) I simply screw them apart and put them in my check in luggage. You can do the same thing with your manual cameras - take out all the film, lenses, filters etc. before you leave for the airport and open the damn thing and wind and release the shutter so they see it moving, if they ask you to "turn it on."
I understand it causes some inconvenience, but all forms of modern travel involve inconvenience. Take for example cars - they are a major pain the ass - small space, seat belts, being stuck in traffic, finding parking and paying for it through the nose, breakage, towing, snow, etc. etc. Going through a metal detector or having to leave a laser pointer at home pales in comparison. Yet most US-sers are madly in love with their cars and do not mind their many inconvenineces, yet bitch loudly about minor inconveniences of air travel. Why? Because they are stupid spoiled "me, me, me, me" brats who've been bamboozled by the industry and the right wing and liberal propaganda that cars equal individual freedom while anythying regulated by government is slavery.
As far as the shooting incident is concerned, I think it was a tragic accident which is now being investigated. But what really gets on my nerves is Monday-morning-quarterbacking by jurnos and others, trying to second guess and moralize what the proper response in that situation should have been, based on fragmentary or secon- or third-hand accounts of the situation. To me, it is but bullshitting and babbling with little or no merits.
BTW, if that guy was indeed diagnosed bipolar, I take exception to your charcacterisation
> This man would likely have trouble telling you who
> he was, let alone
> understanding something like implicit consent. You
People with bipolar are usually highly intelligent and motivated individuals, including some of the most famous like Lincoln, VanGogh, Virginia Woolf or Sylvia Plath. They usually know exactly what they are doing - it is just that their condition impairs their judgment. In the manic phase they may be working like mad (which is seen as a sign of creativity), or go on a shopping spree (which is seen as irresponsible) or engage in promiscuous sexual relations (which is seen as good by those relations, but bad by most others), or do some other creative, foolish or outrageous things. In the depressive phase, the crash landing is terrible to the point that people off themselves (cf. VanGogh, Wolf, and Plath). So if the guy killed at the Miami Airport was indeed bipolar, it would not at all suprise me if this was a form of suicide by air marshalls. This is, of course, but pure speculation - all I am arguing here is that bipolar people are not zombies not knowing what they are doing.
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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