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You can wear the shirt, but you can't be surprised when they single you out for more security checks. (Recognition and response to specific potential threats i
by mturmon 14y ago
You can wear the shirt, but you can't be surprised when they single you out for more security checks. (Recognition and response to specific potential threats is what critics of "security theater" want, anyway.)
Once you get the check, which was not unexpected, you should expect that if you are perceived as smarting off, then the situation will get worse. Since they have all the power, it can get arbitrarily bad.
Given that this could have been foreseen, expressions of surprise and incredulity in the post don't make sense.
There is a place for this kind of protest. But if you want to advance the cause of freedom of expression, you have to be disciplined when the process you helped start starts unfolding. Do you have a strategy in this protest, or are you acting out feelings about authority figures?
If you're just acting out feelings, you're playing into their hands. The guard will be "stern daddy" (he took this job to play that role) and you will be "misunderstood child." Everyone cries in the end, but nothing changes.
*
I went to a how-to on public protests ran by an AIDS activist who was one of the key organizers of many ACT-UP protests in NYC in the late 80s. The particular protest that he discussed was the 1989 demonstration in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC, which made the national news, and has been a touchstone since (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_Coalition_to_Unleash_Power#.22Stop_the_Church.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_Coalition_to_Unleash_Power...).
According to the activist, this was a protest in which the personal feelings/animosity of many activists there towards the church, made the entire action not as productive as it should have been, and just generally a messy affair. (Protesters breaking communion wafers, etc. -- means nothing to me, but to a believer, it's a big deal.)
It's a complex topic. I came out of the workshop with a greater appreciation of how much focus and discipline it takes to really bring about change.
- mikeash 14y ago"You can wear the shirt, but you can't be surprised when they single you out for more security checks. (Recognition and response to specific potential threats is what critics of "security theater" want, anyway.)" What? No. No, no, no. What we want is recognition and response to actual threats, not knee-jerk responses to anything unusual or non-conformist. A shirt like this doesn't indicate a threat. Smart security would not single it out.
- awj 14y ago> A shirt like this doesn't indicate a threat. Smart security would not single it out. How, again, is the goal of smart security advanced by making a big scene in a way that gets everyone who doesn't already agree with him to say "well, what did you expect"?
- mikeash 14y agoWhy are you replying to me? I'm criticizing the response of the security people, not praising the actions of the guy with the shirt.
- mturmon 14y agoI said "specific potential threats". Not "threats". I agree, the man is not an actual threat, and the agents should have seen that as well, eventually. Their failure to move on is a problem, but they did not write a blog post asking for sympathy. A red shirt with the words, "bomb", "kill", and "blood" is something that will get you noticed. It is not just "unusual or non-conformist", it specifically references security concerns -- the agents would be derelict in their duty to not take an extra look. They tell you not to joke about bombs for a reason! It is almost literally waving a red flag in front of a bull. That's why he wore it, right? Why else would a person wear such a shirt? I'm just saying, if one does this, one has to think ahead. I enjoy your blog, by the way.
- mikeash 14y agoThanks for your comment on the blog. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but I thought you were pointing to the behavior of security people in this case as something that critics of "security theater" would prefer to see, when it's not at all the case.
- guelo 14y agoThis protest was extremely effective. His message has reached thousands of people and I wouldn't be surprised if Delta s actually looking into their policies.