Once again, let me quote a recent Bruce Schneier blog post:
The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over the past few years, is a study in alarmism and incompetence: on the part of the terrorists, our government and the press.
Terrorism is a real threat, and one that needs to be addressed by appropriate means. But allowing ourselves to be terrorized by wannabe terrorists and unrealistic plots — and worse, allowing our essential freedoms to be lost by using them as an excuse — is wrong.
Apparently someone was thinking about maybe, possibly blowing up some fuel tanks at JFK Airport. Never mind that they are well-protected tanks, and that blowing them up would do basically nothing (the pipelines shut off automatically in the event of fire), or that the tanks couldn’t be really “blown up” because they are enclosed and there’s no oxygen to fuel a fire. I mean, the person in question didn’t even have a map of the freakin’ airport.
You couldn’t tell that from the press reports, though. “The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable,” U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it “one of the most chilling plots imaginable.” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) added, “It had the potential to be another 9/11.”
Thanks for scaring the crap out of people, guys. Real reassuring.
The only voice of reason out there seemed to be New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said: “There are lots of threats to you in the world. There’s the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can’t sit there and worry about everything. Get a life…. You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist.”
And he was widely excoriated for it.
This is the world we live in. As I have said before, with this kind of attitude, the terrorists have basically already won – we’ve been terrorized and are now living in fear, which is exactly what they wanted. And if you don’t think that this is something you should be very concerned about, just consider this:
Arresting people before they’ve carried out their plans means trying to prove intent, which rapidly slips into the province of thought crime.
Big Brother is watching you.
I refuse to be terrorized, and I won’t have this country evolve into a “Big Brother” society. Will you?
