This is my virgin diary, so all gentleness, patience and pointers would be greatly appreciated. If this is a duplicate, please let me know and I will delete. I checked the aptly named "firehose" of kos diaries and didn't find anything, but, alas, I am imperfect.
In an interesting development of wanting to have it both ways, per the LA Times, Disney has joined up with other tourism-based entities to tell this administration that the U.S.'s draconian "welcome" to tourists is hurting . . . guess what??? . . . the tourism industry! Turns out, people no longer want to visit here.
Per the September 13, 2006 Los Angeles Times (may require free subscription):
WASHINGTON -- Democrats and liberal academics have been complaining for years that President Bush's foreign policy has turned the United States into an international pariah.
Now they have an unexpected ally: Disneyland.
The article goes on to explain that tourism in the U.S. has dropped, although tourism world wide has increased.
The nation's tourism industry says hostility toward the U.S. role in Iraq has kept foreigners out of the United States in droves, and security restrictions designed to keep the United States safe from terrorists are unnecessarily restrictive and stoking anti-Americanism worldwide.
There's even a quote from Disney:
"Tourism is booming around the world, and we're not participating in it," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He also heads the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, a group of 14 industry executives that works closely with the Commerce Department.
The board told the department last week that the United States had lost billions of dollars and millions of jobs as its overall share of foreign travel fell from 9% to 6% from 2000 to 2005.
The article goes on to describe Los Angeles' drop in tourism since 2000.
Hmmmmm. Interesting dilemma, n'est ce pas? Just how much sense exists in the Disney executive offices if they, on one hand, present a multi-million dollar administration propaganda piece when Disney itself has been losing out because of administration airport security policies?
Admittedly, one of my biggest pet peeves (understatement) is airport security. I knew that we had already yielded up a significant amount of our personal selves as soon as we allowed ourselves to be spread eagled in airports after 9/11. To me, what has happened in airport security is a metaphor for all the other invasions into our personal lives, pocketbooks, and civil liberties for a false sense of security. I knew that the "enhanced airport measures" could only provide the illusion of safety and offered up no real protections. Indeed, there are risks in this world.
The tourism dilemma for Disney, etc., intrigued me, however. I now refuse to fly, not out of fear of "terror," which I labeled "kaka" in another post but because of the aggravation and insult. Having a history of flying 2300 miles for a 36 hours visit to attend a social event and return, I no longer consider that an option. So if the tourism industry is worried about the drop in international tourists, what about the drop in Americans traveling?
We know this administration is choking the airlines. We know this administration is choking the tourism industry. We also know that this administration is choking the Constitution too, but let's stick with money, because that's what this administration cares about.
We have an opportunity here, folks. We can write all the airlines and tell them we won't travel on airplanes because of the invasive searches (not because we're scared), we can let our senators and representatives know the same thing.
Coming full circle to Disney, another hmmmmm. Perhaps we should let Disney know that we won't go there for many reasons, but one of them is the draconian airport treatment. If Disney is paying to lobby Washington against the draconian airport processes on behalf of international tourism, why not let them also do it for us -- and we can still boycott Disney locations?