Re:Refuse to be terrorized (2006)
by huhtenberg on Sunday July 17, 2011 @04:37PM
(#2774138)
Of course it all depends on many factors, location included. I thought it was obvious, but apparently judging by the down-voting frenzy it is not.
Ironically enough the only time I walked out of public place over a left behind bag was in Vancouver. A hippy-looking Jesus person marched into a Starbucks, dropped his canvas bag on an empty chair, paused for a second and marched out. He was completely spaced out, not focusing on anything, and it all looked as odd as it sounds. It was on Robson street around lunch time. So I got up and left, and do tell me that it was not reasonable thing to do. The guy was outside, just outside the entrance, yelling at someone over a cellphone, and that explained his behavior. But without knowing that it could've been something else.
And, yes, I am familiar with the term "security theater".
The idea isn't to shrug off what you perceive to be dangerous situations. The recent attempts at US attacks were thwarted because people were correctly suspicious. Level of suspicion also depends on where you're at. In your second instance with the coffee shop, if I'm in Vancouver, Canada I'd think "He probably just forgot it, I should go after him." If I'm in London, then yeah, I'd probably be suspicious since from my perspective there seem to be a lot more successful attacks there.
The idea is in how you respond to those sorts of things. Do you really consider the plane scenario a strong possibility for you, with the guy actually carrying a bomb? If you do, that shows two things. One, you're (statistically) over-paranoid and have been "terrorized". Two, you've basically admitted that you think all the current security measures designed to make you feel safer are basically crap, in which case you should agree with removing them and potentially designing better methods that actually work.