Anthony: I <3 Terurists!

Terrorism. One word.
But the fear and change that this word inspires in our modern world will never cease to amaze me.

Before 9/11, terrorists were funny little Middle Eastern men with turbans who got lost on the way to bombing the post office.
Afther the incident, they are now tall, dark-clad Middle-Eastern men who seek nothing more than the senseless murder of innocents.

While I do say that it is closer to the mark that before, it's blown way out of proportion. I can imagine many terrorists would be scared out of their wits, bribed, guilted or threatened into carrying out the crime. They are human beings, just like most of the rest of us.

However, that neither reduces the sentence or the effect of the crime, and nor should it. What they do is not a good thing. Duh. (This bit is really just a disclamer)

What I find most alarming about this is the small fact of security.
Now, I do say that there is a case of before/after prejudice here.

If some security official had decided to install reinforced and locked doors on all commercial flights before 9/11, he would have been regarded as a paranoid official seeking to make life harder for us.

If he installed it AFTER, he is lauded as a hero for his valient efforts to protect the nation. You see how this goes, and there's little we can do about that. It's probably a good thing though, because if people were praised for pre-emptive measures all the time, we would have to come to the airport a week in advance, take drug tests, undergo strenuous physical and mental tests, run through simulations of plane flights (complete with all the discomfort of waiting for the loo), have full body cavity searches every other day and have all of our posessions burned to be on the safe side.

As things go now, that's not too far in the future. After the recent (failed) attack, the govnernment is considering installing full body scanners as well as metal detectors. Also, for airports that do not have these devices, apparently 'mandatory pat-downs' are reccomended.

My problem with these scanners is partly because they are capable of capturing images of people in the nude. I would feel just a little uneasy about this, but not overmuch, because I highly doubt anyone would want pictures of that.
But imagine what it could be used for, and despite the facts that it is 'intentionally blurred', and the person who views these images never sees the actual person, the possibilities are... less than ethical.

There is also apparently cheaper, less revealing software out there that is just as good at detecting any anomalies. Not sure why they're passing that one up. o.O

My overall prediction is that we will eventually be fired from giant cannons into trampolines, but they will remove the trampolines for fear they will be tampered with.

Problem solved.