Nedd Willard’s logbook

Bullied, browbeaten and badgered, or why we are obliged to play the security game.

So here we on standing on the shaky steps of the 21 century and feeling, or made to feel, very anxious about what will give way and when. However, there are positive sides and money to be made for some people, since our insecurity has spawned a huge industry to protect us and make us feel secure.

Each time we book a flight and present ourselves at an airport we are quickly confronted by the security wall. Our goods are X rayed and so may we be. Swiss army knives are taken from us and secured, as are all such dangerous tools as handsaws, nail files or anything that has a cutting edge, by the trained uniformed guards stationed at the machines. They are there to discover any such weapons that might allow suspect persons to hijack our aircraft in full flight.

Now the non-joking rule applies right away. People have been and will be arrested for trying to minimize the danger they represent as perceived by those in uniform. A man went to jail for refusing to take his shoes off. So we are being taught, no fooling, uniforms rule. What are uniforms for? To make people uniform of course. And those who wear them automatically possess the right to dominate those who do not.

Customs officers wear uniforms and are not notorious for their easy slip into hilarity. Increasingly, new personnel, such as Army recruits armed and in full camouflage supplement airport security personnel and the local police and customs staff.

“Step over here!” has become a common request in airport terminals and in many other places, where instant body searches or urine tests may be imposed on anyone if an official thinks they are needed. This represents a giant step forward in the control of individuals from simply asking them to open their suitcases and handbags.

Recently, almost all major enterprises have engaged professionals to ensure security. This extends to international. and supposedly benevolent organizations, in fact almost any place where people are obliged to work for wages. However one outstanding feature of the security virus phenomenon seems to have been overlooked. The public has never been allowed to read feasibility study by trained consultants of how necessary such security measures are, or how effective they have proved to be or their overall cost.

Tighter security today means we must wear badges displaying our faces to authority. But is it too outrageous to believe that persons with evil intent might wear forged badges with their photos in order to gain entry to where they should not be?

Recently, an armed group burst into a democratic parliament and fired their guns at those present to discuss affairs of national interest. The intruders had secured entry simply by pasting false badges on the windscreen of the automobile they used. They probably had a supply of other documents on hand to be shown if challenged. And these are some considerations of the practical side of things.

Perhaps the purpose in having people searched, identified and badgered is to control them by intimidation; this is probably their most important function. The lesson for ordinary citizens is clear. When confronted with a uniform of any sort, police, customs, or private security, they are expected to obey whatever order they receive from such persons. To challenge this in any way, such as by questioning or lacking in submissive speech will result in sure punishment administered on the spot. Humour, as mentioned earlier, is not tolerated easily and may be sufficient reason to require punishment.

By now it should be clear that such obedience limits personal freedom considerably. And the trend is increasing. A recent photograph showed an American teenager holding aloft a sign that read, “Protesters equal Terrorists”. This young person proclaimed what, by now, should be obvious. In almost every major nation the public is being forced to learn not to challenge authority, and especially not when it wears a uniform.

This is why we should begin to question seriously just what the security game that we are forced to play is really about. Compared to the death and mayhem on the roads we drive on the number of those who die in “terrorist” attacks is almost insignificant. In the year 2000 alone more than 8,000 men, women and children were killed in road accidents in France. Thousands more were permanently maimed and injured.

Moreover, it has yet to be proven that preventative and punitive police and military measures actually deter or prevent violent people from doing violent things to other people they don’t like. Perhaps this may continue a vicious circle.

And, if we don’t wake up soon we will find ourselves voice-printed, badged, and under permanent personal and electronic surveillance. Resisting won’t be easy but average people need to recover their autonomy and some of their lost freedoms, especially the right to question authority. “1984” may not have happened on schedule but perhaps only the date may have been wrong. Those who are willing to exchange freedom for security often lose both.

Annex: People who know no history are like those who have lost their memory of what happened yesterday or an hour ago. But it is also impossible for such people to feel guilty for what they did before noon on any given day.

The new U .S. motto is “Speak loudly and use a big stick!”

The irony of national fervor today is that it has increased with the impotency of individual nations.

Nedd Willard is a former editor in chief of UN Special.