Hello,
I am not a racist, but, after seeing the probable terrorist name list on
the news, I will have to do one racist thing in the (at least near) future,
in order to, quite and simple, save my ass, and I am posting this so that
others here may consider this too. However, a name is easier for a person
to change than the face.
When I board a plane, I will carefully look at other passengers - either at
the gate or in the plane as they come in after me. I think the best thing
to do is to wait near the gate until the lat possible moment, then look in
the plane as they come in - if people come in after you and seat in front,
walk up to them.
If I see any suspicious faces (you know what I mean by "suspicious" here -
people from a particular part of the world, and this is I am afraid a
racist behaviour), especially if I see more than one, I am getting the hell
out of there while the door is still open. I will not fly with them on one
plane - I am sorry, this is quite terrible what I wrote and no doubt I will
hear for it.
I think that a repeat of Sep 11 is unlikely - if a hijacking begins, other
passengers will probably immediately start fighting the attackers. However,
I do not want to rely on the terrorists vision to see that and change the
modus operandi.
-------------------
On another note, I observe there is a discussion on this list on the merits
of privacy vs. security. This is a difficult dilemma. However, I hope
that this will be left to good ol' market forces of capitalism. That is,
some american airlines will offer, at least on some flights, enhanced
security in exchange for reduced privacy (like Israeli El Al). That is,
hand searches of cabin, all passengers, by the person of same sex, all cabin
luggage, and all check-in luggage. You can see that this will prevent all
hijackings and bombings (if you have hijackers attacking with bare hands,
the passengers and armed crew will easily take care of them, rather than
wait for suicide). Then we can see whether sufficient number of customers
would subject to that in exchange for greater security, and market forces
would produce equilibrium between safety and security. Myself, I will
gladly diminish my privacy in order to be safe. If you don't like that, you
can go to a competitor and die with your privacy intact. Let the market
decide, we don't have to duke this one out.
Mark Galecki
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