Kibo …

Sitting at work, on a sunning spring Saturday morning, I read a response to a post on the Photo Answers forum that caught my eye. Although it’s an old thread (about three weeks old), I had to reply. There seems to be a lot of stupid, sheep-like fools in the world today.

Mary-Lou said:I totally agree with Pagan Star…. it is the world we live in & lets be honest a tripod in a bag (like mine is) could EASILY be mistaken as something much more sinister. How would we feel if some nasty person carried a tripod bag into a school & shot a load of kids & the police said that they thought he was a photographer & that he was carrying a tripod, so they didn’t stop & search him?

Oh, please! I thought I’d already read the most stupid comment, and then you posted that.

Where has this paranoia come from!? Should police be stopping old ladies with shopping carts, children with rucksacks, how about people who drive 4×4s - after all, the 4×4 might be laden with drums containing petrol connected to some sort of firing mechanism. What about my SporTube that I carry my skis in? It’s six feet long, 8 inches square and could quite easily be modified to carry and fire RPGs. Getting the RPGs and launcher would be the tricky part.

How many people in the UK are really afraid of terrorism? I’d pitch less that 0.5%. The “attacks” in London killed 50ish people - more people are killed on the roads every week yet we don’t propose banning cars. Put it in context - terrorism in the UK affects a tiny number of people. Alcohol abusers and drivers have a far greater impact.

In 1999 2 people were killed and 80 people injured at a bar in Soho, yet we’re not banning homosexuality or nails.

I agree with Benjamin Franklin - “Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.”