I absolutely refuse to think in the new way, that my knitting needles or anything else I may have, lip balm for instance, are weapons. Every time I fly, someone makes a comment about how surprising it is that I can get on a plane with knitting needles in my handbag. Take into account this craft blogger, who discusses how she could potentially strangle someone with her knitting needles. The comments, oy, are even worse suggestions about wearing slip-on shoes and the like. I'm supposed to make it easier for others to treat me like a potential killer? Am I the only one who hates it that people think this way? Like I'm not supposed to pack socks because I could potentially shove my sock balls up someone's asshole? This is how our decline starts, first one thing then the other, then we censor ourselves, then we have almost no rights at all.
When I taught high school, my students became infuriated if they remotely thought I punished the entire class instead of the few people who deserved it. They're so right. Why should travelers be punished for what American foreign policy and intelligence agencies should be preventing? Keep in mind tourism is all most of our local economies have going since most of American industry is overseas.
While I slept last night, President Obama delivered a very moving speech about peace in the Middle East. I'm not sure how Obama plans to get extremists to agree with him, but couldn't we tackle some of our own extremism, hmm? So how about it, may I bring water with me on airplanes? I like peace too.
