Lesson from WTC: Question Authority

[Dr. Evil]

> The moral: look out for yourself, and maybe a few others, friends or 
> even strangers. But don't trust "authority"--trusting the soothing 
> voices over the PA got a lot of people killed.

That is a good point.  I'm sure the passengers on the hijacked planes
were doing the same thing: waiting for the "authorities" to rescue
them.  The standard advice is "comply with their demands and let the
authorities handle the problem".  It's part of the "dial 911"
mentality that is common in America, which basically says, "You are
not responsible for your own personal safety; the authorities are."
Unfortunately, in the long history of the world, it has been proven
time and time again that the only person you can really count on for
your safety is your own self, and America has not discovered some
magic formula that makes that no longer true.

Obviously, the passengers on the one plane that didn't hit its target
knew from information from the other planes that if they didn't take
their own action to solve the problem, they would end up slamming into
some target, and they heroicly decided to take matters into their own
hands.

One good thing to come out of this is that people will question that
old advice.  Gun sales are up apparently.