Security theater
Matt Stoller has a great post about something called "Security Theater." It sums up well how frustrated most Americans are with so-called security measures that don't do anything meaningful to protect citizens but increase the power of government.
Of course, the ultimate in security theater is the color-coded terrorist alert system. I defy anyone to offer a meaningnful definition of the difference between "guarded" and "elevated." This isn't blood pressure, for crying out loud.
We don't live in a police state (mostly) but we do live in a "hassle" state. Every time you turn around someone has to hassle you in the name of "security," and as with most situations any behavior that could be construed as objection is risky, so we just shrug it off. Some months ago I was ordered to throw away a half-empty bottle of water on my way into the Rose Garden, children in tow.
Not that big of a deal, but still stupid since I could then walk about 100 feet and purchase a nearly identical bottle of water for only $4.
Apparently staying hydrated is a monstrous threat to public safety, as airline passengers found out last year.
Security theater is at heart state-sponsored tyranny. For instance, not having liquids on planes doesn't appreciably change the risk of terrorist attacks, but it prevents you from having liquids on planes. Making grass illegal doesn't reduce drug dependency, but it does increase the ability of the government to imprison substantial parts of the population using arbitrary methods. There is a direct trade-off between security theater and freedom, but our risk is not reduced through security theater. The war in Iraq has reduced our freedom of action dramatically, and it did for a time make us feel safer. But it is costly and has increased risk for all of us in many ways.Stoller gives credit for the term to a cryptographer and blogger named Bruce Schneier. Americans are not stupid. They understand useful and reasonable efforts to keep public spaces safe. But they also understand that when some guy is confiscating Grandma's hand gel, things have gone too far.
As progressives, we aren't against security measures or authority, but we are offended by Security Theater. We are reality-based in orientation and find, say, stupid stories on cyber-terrorism insulting. We believe that individuals have a role to play in statecraft, and find the lies necessary to sustain the perception of risk in Security Theater insulting and destructive.
Of course, the ultimate in security theater is the color-coded terrorist alert system. I defy anyone to offer a meaningnful definition of the difference between "guarded" and "elevated." This isn't blood pressure, for crying out loud.
We don't live in a police state (mostly) but we do live in a "hassle" state. Every time you turn around someone has to hassle you in the name of "security," and as with most situations any behavior that could be construed as objection is risky, so we just shrug it off. Some months ago I was ordered to throw away a half-empty bottle of water on my way into the Rose Garden, children in tow.
Not that big of a deal, but still stupid since I could then walk about 100 feet and purchase a nearly identical bottle of water for only $4.
Apparently staying hydrated is a monstrous threat to public safety, as airline passengers found out last year.
