03.26.04

A Message From The George Herbert Walker Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport

They insist on calling the main airport in Houston "Bush Intercontinental", which sounds like a Texas-size case of overcompensation to me. Heaven forfend we should assume that planes from Houston only fly to Canada and Mexico, after all - they go to other continents, continents less fortunate then ours, since they don't have a Lone Star State.

So Bush Intercontinental it is, and it is a spacious and pleasant new airport, except for the following unsavory announcement that you will hear repeated every ten minutes or so, buried in among warnings about leaving baggage unsupervised. I paraphrase from memory - I'd be grateful if anyone can send me the verbatim text:

The Homeland Security Office advises you that anyone making jokes or inappropriate remarks about terrorism WILL be arrested.

Which is the most un-American thing I've heard in a long while. There is no conceivable way an announcement like this makes us safer; all it does is create the illusion of a stern and vigilant authority, and we had better not step out of line. To some people (third graders come to mind) that may be a comfort, to the rest of us it's noxious.

Sooner or later there's going to be another big terrorist attack in the United States - maybe by Al Qaeda, maybe by some completely different entity. We need to be adamant about resisting the temptations of authoritarianism now, because the momentum for curtailing our liberties right after the next Oklahoma City bombing or September 11 will be irresistible. The passengers at Bush Intercontinental display backbone every time they fly (who has forgotten the sight of those planes?). I wish the airport authorities would display the same level of backbone and refuse to participate in fearmongering.

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