How silly can it possibly get?
Running club members face felony charges
By CARA RUBINSKY, Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge.
Can we blame it on news as infotainment leading us to conclude the sensational over the rational or have we just lost our nerve?
I think the mayoral spokeswoman as quoted in the AP story said it all:
"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know. It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious."
A terrorist? Something more serious? Seriously?? The fact is, it could also be chalk lines for a race put down by ordinary citizens in a free and open society. I think it's obvious but I'll say it anyway. We are overdue for an infusion of clear thinking and rational analysis in these situations.
Responding to chalk lines by assuming it could be terrorist activity is not erring on the side of caution. It's erring on the side of paranoia. Powder connected by arrows and chalk. Let's stop and think about this. I can just imagine (ok, fantasize) the evil-doers: 'Yoo-Hoo! Infidels.. Please follow the arrows to meet your agonizing deaths...' It seems silly when you think of it that way because it is silly. As an athlete if I saw that happening my first thought would be that it was for a race. I see it all the time. If your aware of it, you can see markings like that in a lot of places. There must have been someone in the chain of command shaking their head at this. People need to start standing up and say: "Wait a minute. Before we go off the deep end, let's think about this". And frankly, the idea of recovering 'damages' from these perfectly innocent people is nauseating. What happened to the idea that you have nothing to fear if you've done nothing wrong? What are we doing to our society? I strongly suspect that a rational analysis would find fault in this case with the 'over-responders' not those people innocently setting up for a race.
There is not a terrorist under every bed and around every corner and frankly we all know this. At the end of the day the 'terrorists' are just single-minded idealogical extremists. They may hate us and want to kill us but we're smarter than they are (at least that person that was shaking their head is). We're more professional, better funded, fed, sheltered, better everything. Hell, a lot of them are probably driven as much by envy as ideology. We can beat them and we don't need to sacrifice our ideals of a free and open society to do it. How many pair of underwear do we go through before we stop acting like rabbits and stand up? Life is risky. Live it anyway and on your own terms.
In the Civil War, admiral David Farragut saw a high risk, seemingly suicidal task at hand and famously ordered: "Damn the torpedoes! full speed ahead!". At the battle of Midway all but one of the fearless and dedicated members of Torpedo Squadron 8, USS Hornet, was killed attacking without fighter cover in the most decisive US Naval battle of World War Two. This was chalked lines in a parking lot. Imagine explaining this event to Admiral Farragut or those carrier pilots. Imagine explaining it to a GI whose been slogging around Baghdad 12 hours a day in a Humvee wearing body armor in 120 degree heat for the last year. Imagine what their response might be. The only thing I can imagine is that they would give you a look like you were either nuts or pulling their leg.
To those at the public affairs office in New Haven: If someone from the Daily Show comes to interview you, I'd turn it down if I were you.
Better safe than sorry.