Quindlen: Safety Is a Modern and Ultimately Vulnerable Illusion - Newsweek Anna Quindlen - MSNBC.com
This is in no way related to my academic life, and I don't generally do peronal or political screeds, but this is too important and resonant a piece to pass up.
We all want to feel "safe" and have given our government a blank check in the name of ensuring our "safety" from those who might do us harm. But it is an illusion. There is no such thing as really being "safe". You can take precautions to the best of one's abilities but nothing is an absolute. And we have been sold a program and a line about "absolutes". Witness the latest efforts at air travel safety...
Personally I think it is ludicruous that an explosive method that chemists have known of for years is only now a matter of concern and awareness regarding travel and screenings. And while I am not a chemist, I can feel fairly safe in saying that I don't think lipstick, mascara, hair gel or lip balm are means of bringing down a plane. So banning these items is an exercise in making us all feel "safer" even though we aren't. We can't ever really by "safe" and we need to just get used to that. Not used to acts of terror, but used to being aware, mindful, and respectful of the fact that no measure of security is 100% effective.
So let us reclaim our lives, and our civil liberties and stop trying to pretend that all that is being done is keeping us "safe".
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