So guess what? The "Terror in the Skies" story I wrote about a few days ago turns out to be not nearly as big a deal as some would like it to be.
The story, by a writer for WomensWallStreet.com, details the panic Annie Jacobsen felt while watching 14 Middle Eastern men talk to each other and use the bathroom onboard her flight from Detroit to Los Angeles.
As it turns out, the Syrian men's stories checked out. In fact, federal authorities and air marshals were more concerned about Jacobsen's behavior than they were about the "terrorist/musicians." By nearly causing a panic, she had put the flight in more danger by potentially exposing the identities of the air marshals on board.
As Patrick Smith writes in Salon, Jacobsen's fears while on the plane were somewhat understandable, though we could question many of the assumptions she made. She's on a plane; she's watching a group of young Arab men do things she regards as suspicious. Flying is scary for many people, particularly these days.
The real problem is the existence and tone of the account itself. What point is she trying to make by relating to us that she experienced what turned out to be groundless panic? She recounts the behavior of the 14 men in great detail but fails to ever turn her gaze toward herself in any real way. When the plane landed safely, did she ever question whether her fears had been justified? Apparently she didn't, as she rhetorically asks if she "thinks these men were musicians?," clearly indicating that she does not. The point is that nothing happened, and that air marshals on the plane were monitoring the situation and it all worked as it should.
Jacobsen focuses entirely on her own fear, as if our security policy should be to eradicate fear and panic rather than to handle threats in a professional and effective way. She doesn't care if the system worked, because the system didn't pacify her by providing a planeload of people she could trust -- you know, white people. They never kill anybody.
It's added irony that the people on the plane designated to protect it were at least as worried about her behavior as they were about the 14 men. I wonder how she'll like it when they decide to profile her.
