The point is that policy and discourse around terrorism are dangerously lacking in perspective or any kind of reasonable cost-benefit analysis. People die of nut allergies every year, but we don’t enact a nationwide ban on nuts; it would be insane and incredibly annoying. But nobody in office seems interested in running the math on what kind of safety modern-day airport liquid bans and shoe-removal procedures are buying us or at what cost. No tradeoffs are discussed between fighting terrorism and fighting ordinary crime, or trying to reduce motorcycle accidents (which kill many more people than 9/11 each and every year), or simply the wealth and convenience gained by hassle-free air travel. But terrorism hurts us most not when it kills people, but when it uses our own clouded judgment as a force multiplier that inspires us to weaken ourselves in a thousand ways big and small.These fucking things, as I noted in a Things are Good post in 2006 that includes an awesome combination of Danny Glover and Donald Duck in my personality test, are as worthless as car alarms:
2) I’m glad they’ve let us know that we’re at our highest threat level right now; red I believe is the color. Now I know that if I go somewhere I should take my armored tank with cruise missiles in case some shit goes down. Probably need to find my anti-anthrax sweater, too. Thanks guys! Seriously, other than car alarms is there anything more worthless than these terror alerts? What do they expect me to do? Stop standing in airports handing missle launchers to any dude who shows up with a tablecloth on his head? What the fuck. Knock it off. Unless Tara Reid's titty is about to pop out again, quit fucking alerting me.Of course, in their defense they ARE more useful than car alarms when it comes to one thing: elections.
But seriously, car alarms are fucking horrible, as I wrote in this old post that also includes a great Paddy Mac story :)
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