Thus spake James A. Donald (jamesd@echeque.com)
[15/10/04 15:19]:
[laws making stupidity mandatory for gov't
officials]
I've had more than one comment about my ID photos
--- Damian Gerow wrote:
that amount to basically: "You look like you've just
left a terrorist training camp." For whatever reason,
pictures of me always come out looking like some
crazed religious fanatic. But that doesn't mean that
I'm going to bomb anything. And I sure hope that I'm
not going to be detained or denied entry because of
how I *look*, alone.
Way back when phrenology was all the rage they did not
have terrorists. Since it is evidently vital to the
security of the state for its officials to have the
capability of committing arbitrary civil rights
violations, I can see a need for the resurrection of
phrenology, suitably updated, as a screening tool.
The shape of your head; the cadence of your gait; the
way your eyes shift according to carefully structured
stimulae, and of course your spending patterns -- all
these things will help the cause of profiling.
Remember: petty inconveniences that make travel on
average less pleasant and more onerous are not at all
intended to facilitate tightened centralised control
of civilian life. That it may actually do so is an
unintended side-effect.
As for me, I have resigned myself to the current
lamentable state of world affairs. Until the world's
policeman finishes flushing the terrorists out into
the open for the purpose of apprehension, we will all
have to make sacrifices for the greater good.
Regards,
Steve
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