Natasha's completely random thoughts, opinions and memories
Latest entry:
This past summer while sitting in an open-air café by a beautiful lake in Maine I was recollecting an episode that happen to me in 2002. I was at a local airport waiting in line to go through a security check. It was my first time flying after the 911 tragedy and since I’m not a hypocrite I can admit that I became a bit uneasy when I saw a few dark haired young men in front of me. To my surprise they passed the check in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, was sent into a separate line to be checked further. While waiting I started looking at people in line with me. In front of the line there stood a woman with two kids and a little chihuahua that she held in her hand while one of the security officers was waving some magnetic wand in front of the dog’s belly. Although, I found it rather comical I decided to abstain from smiling and instead focused my attention on a woman right in front of me. She was a tiny African-American lady, no taller than five feet. I turned my head and behind me I saw a large tattooed man with a long red beard, a red bandana on his head and a leather vest, obviously a biker.
When it was the African-American lady’s turn to be scrutinized as being a possible terrorist she opened her suitcase and watched without saying a word as one of the officers went through her belongings. However, once the inspecting officer got a jar of something out of her suitcase and after opening it started repeatedly poking its contents with some stick, the woman turned to me and said almost in a whisper, “I can’t believe she is inspecting my jam. I made it for my granddaughter…” At that moment I realized that the little woman in front of me was at least seventy-five years old…
As you can imagine I was telling this story to my friends as an example of political correctness turning into ridiculous random searches that should’ve been a bit less random. I mentioned that I thought that a bunch of young men should’ve been searched rather than the old lady, since there was never a precedent of older African-American ladies committing acts of terrorism. To which one of my friends reprimanded me by declaring that it would’ve been ‘profiling’. It made me think about a way in which one can make people understand why profiling is not something racist and horrible, but rather a way to focus government workers’ energies on actual prevention of possible terror acts instead of searching for God knows what in home-made jams and chihuahua bellies.
I became interested in profiling years ago after reading John Douglas’ “Mindhunter”. Douglas, being one of the people to develop the science of profiling, describes profiling in such detail that it becomes easy for his readers to understand the logic behind the science. Profiling pioneers like Douglas insured that the FBI is now better equipped to solve crimes and that millions of people, who might be appalled by the idea of employing profiling techniques at the airports can enjoy movies like “The Silence of the Lamb” and TV shows like “Criminal Minds”.
Somehow in my own mind I understood why profiling is the right way to go when looking for terrorists (both international and domestic), but I wanted to find an example that would explain the logic that makes me believe what I believe. So here it goes: Imagine that you’re a mother (or a father) of a kid who has a terrible allergy to strawberries. In fact, every time your kid had accidently ingested strawberries he ended up in a hospital and almost died. Now, imagine that your child is about to eat fruit salad at a neighbor’s BBQ. Would you:
a) Start checking salad for strawberries, as well as papaya and cantaloupe at an off chance that your kid might suddenly become allergic to papaya and cantaloupe as well as strawberries.
b) Tell you kid to randomly pick out and then get rid of 15 % of the fruit in his salad in hope that he’ll get all the strawberries (if there are any) right out?
c) Actually check the salad for strawberries.
Archives:
Natasha's unsent letter to the editor written after the 912 Rally in Washinton DC
On diversity and what it seems to mean in modern Western society
Completely random observations about Neckline Slimmer website
A century in a lifetime - what Natasha learned about 20th century from her life
Solutions for personal matters on a global scale
How Natasha figured out that appeasement doesn't work
One painting style? - Natasha's attempt to classify her work
Global warming: Self-righteousness or self-interest?
About Bob - a story about tolerance
On censorship and the importance of reading
