20 years after 9/11: Will we ever stop taking our shoes off at airports?

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

h2odragon wrote: post #374

EMM_386 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not? "eww this is propaganda" or "talking about terrorist makes me one?"' The actual answer is that the page, due to it's dynamic nature, at times consisted of specific details that were probably not relevant to the overall subject. It's not unreasonable in this day and age to be concerned about what you are linking to. In this case it's Wikipedia, so, "sue me".

thank you for the response, i was actually asking for information; apologies if the tone sounded sarcastic. This detail seems relevant: > Yousef smuggled the nitroglycerin on board by putting it inside a small container, reputedly containing contact lens cleaning solution. if that's the basis of "no liquids on planes" rules then its horseshit. make people shake the bottle at the security checkin. Almost all the secur…

Post by wing-_-nuts » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

bakuninsbart wrote: post #405

lexapro wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of 9/11 the most likely motive was retaliation. If you could ask the terrorists, they would tell you that America terrorized them first (I'm not saying that's accurate).

There's nothing hypothetical about it. I'm actually baffled at the fact that people here infer random motivations when Usama bin Laden gave interviews as far back as the early 90s and held multiple speeches after 9/11. The stated goal of the attacks was to show Americans that their continuous war and support for secular dictators in the Muslim world would come with high cost, and to force the American government to r…

Post by Arainach » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

ctrlp wrote: post #383

horsawlarway wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The unstated (and unacknowledged function) that has perpetuated the practice despite every traveler hating it (and its obvious futility), is to intimidate travelers and provide a convenient mechanism of crowd-control. I think you're misguided here. I certainly do understand the viewpoint that this security theater is harmful (and agree, actually). But lets be honest: The TSA has nothing to do with "Scaring the shee…

What percentage of TSA employees are former military?

Post by goto11 » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

bserge wrote: post #248

duxup wrote: post #222

So much security that not sense. I attend college football games. Everyone goes through security. Outside security we pack up in masses of humanity outside the gates waiting to get through the inevitably slow security. It would be far more effective to do something at the gates dude to the density of humanity there where there is no security ... than in the stadium where people are actually more spread out. If someon…

The goal of terrorism is to scare people into restricting their own freedoms. It has worked amazingly well so far. To any motivated anti-society organization or person, this is huge leverage. A few deaths leading to a noticeably more authoritarian state? What's not to love? It doesn't even matter if the authorities do their job and punish those responsible, the people will still choose to restrict their own freedoms…

Post by CydeWeys » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #263

titzer wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The parallels between COVID and our post-9/11 reaction are eerie. I don't see the same parallels. After 9/11 the US was extraordinarily united and committed to vengeance. Thousands joined the military. After COVID we're more divided than ever and people are not even willing put a piece of cloth on their faces. Widespread denial and resistance to anything inconveniencing them. Whereas after 9/11 people were willing…

Putting on cloth masks doesn't produce a statistically significant decrease in symptomatic infection rates. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-mask...