The Age of Man

Airports, violence, etc. 26 December 2009

Well, I’ll be honest: right now I don’t know what to make of the latest terror plot, attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound jet. A wide range of first takes (none of which are especially insightful) can be found here.

Just a couple days ago, on our Christmas Eve flight from Chicago to Seattle, I was cursing the airport security pantomime, in which I removed my shoes and belt to enjoy the privilege of travel in a free society. I don’t think today’s attempt, apparently thwarted by quick-thinking passengers, changes the basic reality of airport security: there are nearly infinite ways to cause an airplane disaster. If anything, this event should remind us that airport security measures are an ineffective, expensive way to combat terrorism, but an effective way of tricking the public into thinking that the government is doing something.But what else? Certainly the threat of terrorism remains real, and the US has to punish (and destroy) the networks of people who are bent on killing Americans. Whether the Afghanistan operation is the best way to do that can be debated (I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that it is), though the bad guys seem to have more bases than we can count. Any serious person, even a peace laureate, will recognize the need for military action here. (For the record, I consider myself a realist-pacifist on these issues.)

Because it happened in full view of the public, this event will capture more attention than other recent events which resulted in arrests before the terrorist attempts occurred. But those other, quieter events may have been just as serious.