Public Health and Security Theater; Parallels Between Covid 19 and September 11
Posted 10-11-2020 at 06:14 AM by jbgusa
https://www.city-data.com/forum/curr...l#post59374767
Very apt point. I am starting a thread here because the discussion should not go too far on CU. In both the handling of security threats and Covid, we are too ready to make life unpleasant from citizens and not focused enough on narrowly targeted actions.
In the case of Covid, the early focus, in heavily stricken areas was "flattening the curve" so that hospitals wouldn't gel up and cease functioning. I get that. But when we padlocked outdoor tennis and basketball courts, something is wrong. Same with closing many businesses which can operate socially distanced.
We learned by mid-April that serious illness from Covid was largely, though not entirely, related to known risk factors. Yet governments persisted in tightening restrictions, until veritable rebellions in places such as Michigan and Wisconsin forced at least limited reopening.
In the area of security, the contrast between the way we handled terror back in the day and now is telling. During the late 1960's Richard Nixon's "special operatives" later known as the Plumbers, along with the FBI, destroyed the Weather Underground and Black Panthers from inside. Some of their tactics were unsavory. There were wiretaps, internal infiltration and probably some violence. But organizations that were indisputably targeting police offers, and general social order were destroyed. In Israel, to this day, terror leaders are targeted and killed.
In the U.S. our approach is security theater. We make people go through tangled lines at airports and lobby entrances to buildings, in the name of "security. This is political correctness, plain and simple. We are strangling critical parts of our cities rather than smashing the terrorists. We should have been disrupting cells, the way we infiltrated and disrupted Puerto Rican nationalist groups in the 1980's, Croatian separatist in the early 1990's and more recently radical Islamic cells. There is no "right" to organize a violent cell. Profile if necessary; the law abiding in profiled groups will feel safe, not "demeaned."
In short, productivity loss and public inconvenience should be minimized, not maximized for theatrical purposes....
I couldn't edit the post but I wanted to add that theatrical actions rarely have much relevance to the problem. The lockdowns for Covid occurred after the disease was peaking and beginning rapid descents everywhere. Similarly the airport and office security measures were similar to generals "fighting the last war." No terrorist in his or her right mind would attempt to do an attack exactly the same way since heightened vigilance would prevent it from working. The later attacks occurred when one terrorist attempt to hide explosives in his sneakers (leading to shoe removal at airports) and another hid explosives in his underwear. Thank G-d no one tried to make travelers fly naked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohio_peasant
JBG has a point here. Just as in the response to the 9/11 terrorism, so much of the present miasma is a theatrical exhibition, to signal that now, you see, we really are serious. I don't in the least mean to toy with human life! But please, let's likewise not toy with human freedom! One or another thing in isolation may be minor, or even frivolous. So what's the harm of setting it aside for a while? Not much, really - if it's just that one thing, that one thing in isolation. But a passel of minor things, taken in aggregate, is no longer so minor. There is a ultimately a trade-off, isn't there?
Assuredly, people are entitled to FEEL safe; to deny them this outright, is callous and uncivilized. We can compromise a bit, yes? But if we can, and if we do, can we not also compromise, to allow people a smattering of pleasure, social-connection, entertainment, and yes, that much-maligned "Free-duhm"?
Assuredly, people are entitled to FEEL safe; to deny them this outright, is callous and uncivilized. We can compromise a bit, yes? But if we can, and if we do, can we not also compromise, to allow people a smattering of pleasure, social-connection, entertainment, and yes, that much-maligned "Free-duhm"?
In the case of Covid, the early focus, in heavily stricken areas was "flattening the curve" so that hospitals wouldn't gel up and cease functioning. I get that. But when we padlocked outdoor tennis and basketball courts, something is wrong. Same with closing many businesses which can operate socially distanced.
We learned by mid-April that serious illness from Covid was largely, though not entirely, related to known risk factors. Yet governments persisted in tightening restrictions, until veritable rebellions in places such as Michigan and Wisconsin forced at least limited reopening.
In the area of security, the contrast between the way we handled terror back in the day and now is telling. During the late 1960's Richard Nixon's "special operatives" later known as the Plumbers, along with the FBI, destroyed the Weather Underground and Black Panthers from inside. Some of their tactics were unsavory. There were wiretaps, internal infiltration and probably some violence. But organizations that were indisputably targeting police offers, and general social order were destroyed. In Israel, to this day, terror leaders are targeted and killed.
In the U.S. our approach is security theater. We make people go through tangled lines at airports and lobby entrances to buildings, in the name of "security. This is political correctness, plain and simple. We are strangling critical parts of our cities rather than smashing the terrorists. We should have been disrupting cells, the way we infiltrated and disrupted Puerto Rican nationalist groups in the 1980's, Croatian separatist in the early 1990's and more recently radical Islamic cells. There is no "right" to organize a violent cell. Profile if necessary; the law abiding in profiled groups will feel safe, not "demeaned."
In short, productivity loss and public inconvenience should be minimized, not maximized for theatrical purposes....
I couldn't edit the post but I wanted to add that theatrical actions rarely have much relevance to the problem. The lockdowns for Covid occurred after the disease was peaking and beginning rapid descents everywhere. Similarly the airport and office security measures were similar to generals "fighting the last war." No terrorist in his or her right mind would attempt to do an attack exactly the same way since heightened vigilance would prevent it from working. The later attacks occurred when one terrorist attempt to hide explosives in his sneakers (leading to shoe removal at airports) and another hid explosives in his underwear. Thank G-d no one tried to make travelers fly naked.
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