An interesting article, Michael. I think there's a great study yet to be made of the mob mentality that allows people to accept being herded like cattle and humiliated in U.S. airports these days. So I'll call Eva's rant, and raise her one.
Security initiatives and terrorism are both essentially about creating the illusion that we are perpetually at risk. A security firm will not put itself out of business by making everyone feel delightfully safe and secure; they will instead create the illusion that they are somehow in control of that risk. How people *feel* is almost more the issue than the realities of how safe we may be. Any rational person will admit that risk is an inherent part of life, so the only trick is to extend that idea into the ridiculous notion that we are all in real danger most of the time. More and bigger security guards are just another brand of terrorism, which is well understood by those who pull the strings of the suicide bombers. Terrorists and other sociopaths get more bang for the buck by getting other people to do a large part of the work for them. It's a brilliant (and sick) interaction design based on proven principles of human psychology. I agree it would be good for more people to see it for what it is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=24028 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
