"The world has always had it's crazies".... This could not be any more true. There are always going to be people that feel that they have to let everyone else in on their cause and disrupt the lives of innocent people. Obviously, this is why I have to be "randomly" searched at an airport and show my ID 3 different times to get on the plane (Why 3 though? why not 5 or 10?). Terrorism is not solely air based. The story about the Jewish organization that got the package of anthrax.... wow, I mean, wow. There are people that will do anything to harm others that have "wronged" them in the past. 15 years ago, this chapter would seem like a fantasy. Even as few as 7 years ago this would have seemed like hogwash. But after the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, Americans are more aware of terrorism than ever before.
The story of the Salmonella poisoning was kinda interesting to me. There were many questions that I came up with after reading that part, the main one being, "Why in the world would a biomedical supply firm send out this bacteria to some kooks in The Dalles, Oregon?" That makes not sense to me. I for one would have thrown up a HUGE red flag when the order came in. And imagine if someone would have been killed from dehydration do to the bacteria. Talk about a law suit. That company would be bankrupted in a minute. It is beyond my imagination as to why anyone would want to intentionally hurt someone else (I guess these guys really wanted to be politicians).
Another thing that I found interesting about this chapter was the fact that it showed the progression of terrorism. The last part about brain-tapping.... Come on. Really? There is no way to read peoples minds and I cannot see there EVER being a way. I'm starting to think that this guy should start writing Sci-Fi books.
1 comment:
Never say never, Patrick. It wasn’t too many years ago people were saying man wasn’t meant to fly and it would never happen; or that it wasn’t possible for man to dream of getting to the moon, or Mars… or any number of things. One thing you can always expect is that things will change. The human race continues to “progress” and if we can dream it, think it and believe it, someday someone will find a way… Not that I think brain-tapping is necessarily a good thing. I would like my private thoughts to stay private, thank you.
I agree with you that companies involved in certain things like chemical or biological products should certainly have checks in place that would send up a “red flag” about possible abuses of their products. It only makes sense in the world we live in. There should be serious repercussions to companies who are found “at fault” if they are responsible for something like that.
Although Garfinkel tends to come across as paranoid, it is apparent some of the things he discusses have actually come to pass. Is he really too far off base? Although he is a bit fanatical about personal privacy, I think he makes some very valid points. The U.S. is way behind other countries in respecting personal privacy. I agree with Garfinkel, we need to focus on this and get the legislation in place now. Significant change continues to be only “moments” away.
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