Thirteen days after the big alert in the UK about a terrorist plot that hurdled all European airports into a huge chaos, it is now Holland’s turn: Dutch police have arrested 12 passengers after a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Mumbai (Bombay), India, returned to Schiphol airport, because several people on board aroused “suspicion”. Unlike the incident on August the 10th, this one did not lead to chaos; no extra security measures are in place and the threat level at Schiphol had returned to normal – whatever that may be. Also there was no reason to upgrade our country’s terror alert level, which is currently at “substantial”, the second-highest of four levels. Thank God we Dutch are still acting (a bit) rational!
Off course the matter has gotten plenty of exposure by all Dutch (and international) media. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment, but according to some eye witnesses who got interviewed on the Dutch radiostation Business News Radio (BNR) the people that got arrested ‘looked like arabs but probably were from India’. Also, one person sitting close to some people that got arrested declared: “I didn’t think they looked or acted suspicious at all; as far as I could tell one of them had accidentally left his cell phone on and it started to ring during take-off. He tried to turn it off, obviously feeling embarassed he left it on. Some others sitting close to him were just sleeping and even needed to be awakened.” Subsequently no formal charges have been laid against the passengers – or so I understand from some Dutch media.
Folks: this mass-hysteria about terrorism is getting on my nerves. Are we going to give in to this kind of paranoia, or are we going to decide to accept the fact that terrorism has – sadly – become a fact of life? So far I got through the first 39 years of my life without all this crap, and I would like it to stay like that – ffs! The only thing we are accomplishing so far is that flying is getting ridiculously expensive and it is putting airlines out of business because of the astronomical security costs.
Furthermore: I firmly believe that the problem exists in our – and politicians – minds mainly, and that all the media attention that these incidents are getting, is actually what fuels the kind of sick minds that think blowing up people is a good way to get attention for their sick causes: in that sense we empower them and their ideas.
“A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world.”
– “V” (“V for Vendetta”)