Useless Security Measures

Now that terrorism has become an everyday occurance in some parts of the world and just another ordinary topic of conversation for politicians and news commentators, we are also seeing subtle differences in our usual, daily routine. Differences that, quite frankly, I don´t think make us any safer and make life just a tad more stressful and unnerving.

After 9/11 there were the airports. Show up five hours ahead of time because security is going to make you take out every single thing you have in your suitcase in front of dozens of waiting strangers and then strip search you to complete the humiliation. Correct me if I´m wrong, but isn´t x-raying every suitcase and carry-on bag and loads of bomb-sniffing dogs enough to find suspicious items. And if I remember correctly, bombs and guns weren´t the problem during 9/11. The terrorists used box cutters and magically made their way onto the planes by passing for airport/airline employees and forgoing security checks. So of course it makes sense to make everyone take of their shoes and put them on the x-ray conveyor and only serve in-flight meals with plastic butter knives instead of metal ones.

After the Madrid bombing there were random checks of peoples bags on commuter trains and in commuter stations. Ok, this makes more sense since the bombs found on commuter trains had been placed in back packs and left on board, but these randoms checks might have made more sense if they´d not been so random. Guards would pick and choose different people to go up to and ask to open their bags. I must look particularly suspicious because I was always being asked to open my bag, while others weren´t. Plus I noticed that the majority male guards would generally only ask women to show them what items they were hiding. Hmmmmm....

I ride the commuter train to work everyday and there was one guard who consistently asked me to open my bag. Finally I got sick of it and said to him, "You see me every day, do you really think that today I´m going to be carrying a bomb?" He made his usual excuses (it´s my job, it´s for your protection, blah, blah, blah), but he hasn´t asked me to open my bag since.

What would these guys do if they actually did find someone with a bomb in someone´s bag? I´d love to see these lame-os with nightsticks take out a psycho with a bomb that can be set off at any second. I think commuter train guards are better off letting your average Spanish citizen keep what´s in his or her bag private and trolling the trains for suspicious bags left alone on board.

And now the London bombings have prompted Italy to beef up security at cultural sites "to protect its artistic treasures from terrorist attacks." Although there is a certain lack of congruence (London Bombings = Italian Museum Secuirty), I think it´s a great idea. Art should be protected, and I don´t mind the extra metal detectors. Don´t all super famous museums have metal detectors already?

However, I don´t think longer lines and the possibility of pat downs are really going to protect art from terrorism. Not to give psychos any ideas here, but a lot of damage can be done to a historical building or to the interior of a museum from the outside. Yes sir, the terrorist doesn´t have to be looking at what he´s going to destroy in order to destroy it. Just look at how successful car bombs have been in Iraq.

And to be honest, I think terrorists are probably more interested in political and military institutions, and, unfortunately, public transportation. Lets look at some of the past few major blasts:

9/11 - Airplanes, the pentagon (American military HQ) and the twin towers (symbols of American capitalism)
Madrid Bombings - Commuter Trains
London Bombings - The Tube and a bus
USS Cole Bombing - American Military Ship
Various US Embassy and Consulate Bombings - Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
Bombings of British Consulate and HSBC Bank in Turkey

None of that has to do with art. However, some wack-job did attack "Nudes in Mirror" a painting by American Pop Art legend Roy Lichtenstein. She got in four 12 inch cuts with a jack-knife before people were able to stop her.

"The Austrian news agency APA reported that the woman said the painting in the Kunsthaus Bregenz museum was not authentic."

No, this wasn´t terrorism, but I ask, where were the metal detectors when Roy needed them?

Sources: "Woman slashes Lichtenstein painting with knife," www.reuters.com, Sept. 6, 2005
"Italy Ups Security on Artistic Treasures," http://news.yahoo.com, Sept. 6, 2005