Are We Safe Yet?
“Feeling safe” is a thought.
Am I safe? Is this airport secure? Is this person next to me a threat?
All of these are thoughts, and unfortunately they are thoughts that all too many of us have been having all too frequently these days.
Although I am getting more and more intolerant of the constant 9-11 reference that seems to be in most political speeches and pieces of writing, I will make just one here. When flights resumed the week after, I was on one of the first flights leaving Philadelphia heading back to San Francisco. There were about a dozen of us on that flight. The entire flight crew was on the jetway (minus the co-pilot who was pulling levers and switching switches in the cockpit). They shook our hands and thanked each of us personally for flying. I “felt” safe.
And then I began to fly regularly again across country. The flights were not quite as empty after that, but it took a while for them to fill up. One thing I noticed, though, was that every time I boarded a plane, I found myself looking around at the passengers, especially the men. How fit are they? Do they appear strong enough to overpower someone on the plane? Are they sitting on the aisle, or near the window? Lots of these questions came to mind.
One day I was speaking with a friend, a woman, who also travels regularly. She said that she noticed the same thing. She would scan the plane for men who seemed strong and maybe even tough. And then she would find herself worrying the whole time that maybe some of these men might try to overpower the flight crew and take over the plane.
I told her I did the same sort of scan, only for me it was a matter of looking for who I could count on if something happened. And as often as not, I found those same men looking at me, and giving a quick nod, as if to say, I know where you are in case I need help. She responded, I never thought of it that way.
Two inquiries that seem the same on the surface, yet led to completely different ways of thinking.
To me thinking about security is different than feeling safe. I “feel safe” in airplanes because I know that they are designed to fly and that it takes extraordinary effort to keep them from flying. Planes don’t fall out of the sky. I “feel at risk” when I am alone walking in a darkened part of a strange city because predators very often do come out of the shadows. In the dark alley scenario “likelihood” becomes an intervening thought that can generate an emotion (like fear) that can lead to effective action (like running). In the flying scenario the “likelihood” intervening thought can generate an emotion (like boredom) that can lead to an effective action (like adjusting the volume on my CD player).
Extrapolating this kind of thinking/feeling disconnect to more global situations we can begin to see just how ineffective many of the government’s security procedures and initiatives actually are. And it may well be that the highly controversial data mining protocols that the NSA is apparently using may be the most ineffective of them all. Not only because they take so many much needed human resources off-line, but also because they just flat out don’t work.
Bruce Schneier, in a recent article originally in Wired magazine, Data Mining for Terrorists, presents one of the most cogent explanations for why this won’t work as a deterrent to terrorism, and why it may actually increase the likelihood of another attack. It is well worth a read.
I recall once hearing an interview with a terrorist expert in the UK (back when it was “their problem”). He said something that is probably more important today than when he first mentioned it. He said, When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, the first thing you have to do is create the smallest possible haystack.
This leads me to my final question here: If we have leaders who are becoming more paranoid each day – as they appear to be - can these very thoughts (e.g., danger is everywhere”) generate emotions (e.g. panic, feeling very vulnerable, etc) that lead to ineffective actions (creating larger needlestacks instead of smaller haystacks)? Obviously, I think the answer is yes.
We humans can “feel safe” in a dangerous world. We have been doing it since we showed up on the planet and began to think.