Hello loyal readers.
Sorry about the week-long hiatus. I was in Washington D.C. for a while for the closing of my internship. It was a great time, but I was so busy that there was no opportunity to write. I have some great ideas for entries though, and I’ll ease back in with a short one.
In the course of my travels to and from D.C., I spent some time in four different airports: Sky Harbor (Arizona), JFK (New York), Atlanta, and Reagan (D.C.). In several, I remember hearing an announcement about the current TSA threat level: orange. No context was given for why it’s orange, why orange is bad, or what we should be doing differently than if it were one color lower (yellow?) or higher. So in my opinion, here’s what the announcement should actually say:
“Attention passengers, the TSA would like you to know that today’s threat level is orange. We really don’t know what that means, and neither do you, but it sounds sufficiently menacing ennough to make you wonder if you are in danger. But despite the apprehension you might feel at the moment, we certainly would not want you to change your behavior in any way, and for God’s sake don’t stop flying. Ceasing to do that would be helping the terrorists destroy the freedoms that they hate about us. Therefore, go on with your lives as usual, but with the nagging fear of a catastrophic attack and the certainty that only the government can save you from it. (Oh, and to do so, we’re going to need more money and more control over your life.)”
What are the chances the TSA steals this post and uses it for their next script?
You don’t love TSA? That’s un-American!
I agree that the color system is pretty silly and I like your new idea. Very few people pay attention to the colors (and even fewer understand what it means.) At any rate, I don’t notice a difference in security procedures between them. It makes people feel better though, that something is being done and that TSA is on top of things. It’s like a “safety placebo.” Kind of frightening, really. TSA only responds with new measures AFTER something happens… we didn’t have to take our shoes off until the shoe-bomber. Do we really think the terrorists are so dumb that they would try a shoe bomb again? Or that they can’t mix 10 3-oz bottles together? What they SHOULD do is arm everyone on the planes
i could not agree with you any more especially the last couple lines. keep it up jeff
Did you seriously come up with that announcement on your own? That was dang funny and spot on. Those threat levels are meaningless, especially now that we know the Bush Administration manipulated them to their own ends. I say you just make the announcements.