Well, Hugh - that is indeed the pragmatic approach.

Post #110,967 by Ashton 7/22/03 6:34:11 PM Reply	Well, Hugh - that is indeed the pragmatic approach. It's the decent, the honourable, the Murican Thing to do. And if everyone behaves that way and with those priorities, indefinitely.. why - [already said too variously and too often to take YAN stab] Let's (not-)vote for perfect efficiency in all things - homogenized beats Pasteurized. One Size of conformity Fits All. Don't Rock the Boat. Gestures are Futile. It's All Been Decided and There's Nothing You Can Do. ..in 3/4 time with syncopation. {No arpeggios allowed} Ashton
Post #111,148 by hnick 7/23/03 1:23:28 PM Reply	Seems sort of boolean to come from you Fight every for any and every cause fearlessly and ferociously until success or death, or become one of the sheep? What? No sense of proportion? No picking of battles, people, or places? As others have pointed out, this appears to be primarily one person\ufffds egocentric crusade. The end result, travel without government tyranny, is admirable. The means are questionable. Suing in court seems reasonable, more so if it works. Irritating the drones is pointless, unless the intent is to get molested, providing more grist for the court, in which case few want to sit next to a doof with a martyrdom complex. If the point is to air his opinion, he could have taken the badge off, having made his point. It seems to me that enough of the populace supports the stupidity of this ineffectual \ufffdsecurity\ufffd to make it difficult to get rid of it anytime soon. Check Nightowl\ufffds views on the subject. She is probably not unique. Most of the population has not yet figured out that the chances of being killed on the highway getting to the airport are much greater than the chances of being killed in the air, either by terrorists or accident. So I submit that it is better to pick the time, place, and targets that make sense. To be sure, it may be more personally satisfying to get a plane turned around. Hell, blow a couple planes up in protest; that\ufffdll really get you talked about. It won\ufffdt, however, do the cause any good. Letters to the editor can change minds over time. Likewise letters to beltway denizens. Figure out who is the worst offenders and organize boycotts. The downside is that it will take time and people. If the vast majority want stupid security measures, badges and personal protest are not going to be effective. It may be counterproductive. Of the 300 people on that plane, probably ~300 think the doof with the badge is a total asshole. Had he been a little more politic, a fraction of those might have considered point of the badge and been a little more receptive to the next overture elsewhere. Just my .02 Hugh _{who no longer feels you have to use a brick all the time}
Post #111,167 by Ashton 7/23/03 5:11:22 PM Reply	OW!___rilly know how to Hurt a Guy :( Boolean non-thought.. Moi? Ummm mea culpa, but only a tad. On further reflection on this guy's personality and the perspective you are raising: I have to mostly agree about the "choosing your venue". I don't buy the "self-promotion of some cockamamie article featuring The Pin and The Guy" as a straw-man to impugn his character. Hey, call him a Promoter and it's == SOB. Cheap Rush-type quip. I suspect (too) that he may well be the sort of Me-Me-Me narcissist who will countenance no rebuttal to WTF he deems Important. Accent on the suspect... But re your 300/300 I might imagine 275/300 - for tarring & feathering him: The 25 (I can write my own stats too) may well be as fed up with the juvenile antics of petty 'guard' satraps as is Mr. Pin, but lack the guts to either do or say anything, ever. Of the 275 though: how many are Pissed 100% for the simple (identical-Me-Me-Me) reason: I Am Being Inconvenienced! [This should Never happen To Me!] Hindsight then.. yes, had he (even ceremoniously) simply removed The Pin and sat down - the 25 might have been heartened towards some similar consequence-free display in future. The Pin does indeed go to the core of the matter - We ARE all "assumed to be Terrorists til we sorta PROVE we aren't" ..by exhibiting docility in the face of massive encroachment upon ordinary Citizen Rights - by purely ceremonial confiscation of trivial things, as would be laughable in any piece of fiction. So I conclude that he was 'RIGHT' -- right up-to some debatable point where an honorable cave would demonstrate a modicum of perspective, that er so-rare "scale and relativity" Thing. 20/20, as always. I hope his suit is semi-effective. Today I guess that means -- garners a bit of yes! Publicity, so as to awaken a few more of the snoozing consumers of Airline & Admin Arrogance.. the ones who pay for this 'service'. That's the best I can culpa on this one ;-) Ashton

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