“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

~ George Orwell

Everywhere you go today there is massive security. They say it is there to keep us safe, to free us from terror. I say that every time they impose their false security on us they are reminding us of the terror causing more fear and terror and therefore the terror is winning. I say false security because there is very little that any of these security measures can do to really stop someone who is determined to cause harm.

Let me talk about the highest level of security most people face, the airport. Flying is a business, and it is needed for many people to feel safe flying. When terror struck our nation many people stopped flying because they were afraid, so the government decided it would be good to increase the pre flight checking, because the more checking they do the more secure the people will feel and the more they will fly. Remember, most people are like sheep, they think small, and they are easy to control, I call them sheeple. Then some moron decided to put a bomb in his shoe, it was big news so the government decided to make people remove their shoes. They did NOT do this because people could put bombs there, they did this because people who fly now knew people could put bombs there and if they did not check for it many sheeple would not fly.  A few years later some other total idiots made a plan to use a binary liquid to make a bomb, and overnight all over the world you could not bring liquids on a plane.

Every time a new item pops up that the people think is a threat they ban it so that the sheeple will feel secure and keep flying.  But here is the truth, the real problem is that with the number of people traveling and the number of things they bring with them there is NO WAY to truly make your flight save and secure.  Everything in life has a small amount of risk, but the time, money and effort they are putting into creating this false does very little to make us more secure, it only wastes my time and my money when I travel.  I say this because the truth is that almost anything can be made into a weapon that is more damaging than the binary liquid or the shoe bomb yet these many other things are not in the mind of the public so they are not checked for.  The people in charge KNOW this fact, they know that what they are doing is a huge sham, but it pays them well so who wants to rock the boat.

To give some examples, a laptop is a very common item people fly with, it is important so that people can get their work done, but the battery of the common laptop can be turned into a bomb with ease.  The bottom of most laptops is a sheet of aluminum, you could easily precut a knife blade out of this and it will pass security.  So lets ban all laptops.  Well the typical PDA/Cell Phone/IPod also has a battery, with a few changes it can be used to build a charge and be turned into a taser.  It also could be used to disrupt flight communications.  So lets ban these also.  Next metal detectors can’t see objects that are not metal but are under your clothes.  It is easy to buy/make a knife made of plastic that is almost as strong, and easy to hide.  So it looks like we need to pat everyone down.  But wait the clothes people wear can be made of highly flamable things that could be used to make large fires.  It looks like we need to ban clothes, the airline would need to provide offical passanger clothes.  What about shoes, just beause we x-ray them does not mean they are safe, in fact I doubt an x-ray would have cause the bomb the shoe bomber was using.  Shoes are made of rubber, and many explosives look and act like rubber, so why could you not create a shoe sole made entirelly of an explosive material.  Looks like we need to provide offical passanger shoes also. People can hide things inside their body, we all have seen the shows of the crazy people doing things you never would expect.  I guess we need to ban people all together.  How about we just give up. (Look at the solution Ryan Air came up with as a joke.)

This list can go on and on.  So as you can clearly see that all of this checking at the airport does almost nothing to stop someone that really wants to cause harm, all it does is waste all of our time, and all of our money. It may do a little to make people not bring dumb things on the airplane, but it does nothing to stop a planned attack done by professionals.

So now that we know that physical security is NOT the solution, what is then.  Look HERE, HERE or HERE for more proof.  One solution is information security, you can know your customers, and know which ones are very likely to be safe.  But in our nation of political correctness people are afraid to stand up to the types of people who are most likely to be evil doers. The idea of having an armed Air Marshal is a VERY GOOD idea, and I am glad they are using it, the thought of a random Air Marshal puts every evildoer in their place.

But in reality the BEST solution is no solution at all, have an alert public and simply accept the small risk.  Before 9/11 no airplane in the US was attacked other than one thing in the 1970 that was targeted only after money that a bank was transporting.  No attacks have been made after this time.  And I think that no attack will be made, simply because the other people on the plane will stand up and fight.  During WWII one of the strongest forces was that every American was working together with our government to protect our nation.  Some where along the line the government started seeing the people as the enemy, the insecure hordes, and no longer as the strongest tool to combat terror.

So my plea is this.  Lets have an informed and alert public.  Lets stop all of the wasted time and money checking for things that will probably never happen.  Let me keep my shoes on, let me keep my laptop in the bag, let me bring my drinks on the plane.  All of this security is just for show and I think more and more people have figured it out, so lets just stop it already.