CUViper

Wedding #2: Dave and Amanda. This one was much more formal, which I think would make my mom happier. Me, I think I’ll want something in between. I’m definitely a casual guy, but for things like this I appreciate the tradition and rituals.

We flew up to Portland for this wedding, and I must say, if I may rant a little, I find the whole liquid ban on planes to be quite a sad thing. Sad because we’re all so willing to give up our freedoms, of course, but that’s not what I want to talk about. It’s sad because I can’t believe that it’s at all effective. No one searched my pockets for any hidden vials, and I pretty sure the security scanner can’t detect liquids.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Come with me sir — this here detector says that more than half of your body is water. Are you trying to blow something up?

It’s not protection or prevention — it’s pure reaction. It’s the addition of security so that some higher-ups can pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Or worse, it’s a desperate attempt to do something, because we don’t really know how to stop those who would do us harm.

I think terrorism is like cancer, and the only treatments we’ve figured out are chemotherapy and radiation therapy. We may be able to fight it off this way, but a lot will be damaged along the way. What we need, if it’s not too late, is to figure out a real strategy for prevention. A healthy lifestyle can greatly reduce your risk for cancer, and I’m willing to bet that the US wouldn’t be such a target of terrorism if we were better world citizens. Sometimes you get cancer anyway, and you have to be prepared to deal with that, but prevention goes a long way.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to look at it this way, but I hope that more people will realize that our current method is unmaintainable. And I believe that the folks at the TSA are genuinely trying to make our travels safer — they’re the doctors searching for the key to remission. It’s a monumental responsibility that I wouldn’t want on my shoulders. But the changes needed to actually solve the problem are much larger, and I hope that someday soon we can find that solution.

/rant