Dean wrote:
> Something that's been bothering me lately is how you
> can be immediately detained in an airport for saying a
> single word in jest. You can see it on the faces of
> your fellow Americans when you'e going through the
> x-ray/magnetic detector - 'all i have to do is say
> *bomb* and i'll get arrested' - they're stunned. In a
> way it's heartening for me, it makes people think
> about how good they have it- because for those brief
> moments they're being oppressed. The Secret Service
> has much more sweeping powers. How is it that we've
> let these bypass the 1st and 4th? And no, it's not
> like yelling 'fire'- you're not harming anyone.
Yelling "Fire" in a theatre doesn't directly harm anyone, either, but the
resulting panic can.
I'd hardly say that anyone is being "oppressed" when, for the few hours
they're at the airport or riding in a plane, they can't talk about blowing
things up. It's the responsibility of security guards and police to take
stuff like that seriously, so if someone in a line at the airport says
something like, "I'm gonna blow this place up" or even something that could
reasonably be interpreted to mean that, it should be checked out. It's one
of those situations where everyone accepts a small, temporary restriction of
their rights in order to allow more effective protection of the lives and
safety of themselves and everyone around them. To touch back to another
thread, it's a cost/benefit analysis that everyone performs. If you don't
like not being able to say "Bomb" in a crowded airport, don't travel by
plane. There are still trains, buses, bicycles and cars.
Adam C. Lipscomb
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ# 32384792
