People as Arms

In light of the recent bomb threat in the UK, airlines the world over have tightened security measures. United Airlines has issued the new measures here.

Yes, aircraft passengers can no longer bring cologne, alcohol, even toothpaste and lip balm, for crying out loud. I heard there was one particularly stringent occasion when a book wasn't allowed. Now I hear carry-on luggage might not be allowed, as well. What about passenger rights--people who pay to ride, mind you? What if our teeth form cavities, or our lips crack from the cold, stale air? The consequences of those mayhem-lovers go on and on. Admittedly, these airline measures are safety precautions for our betterment. But in protecting us, they are stifling us more.

It seems to me that in causing these measures to be effected against us civilians, these mayhem-loving terrorists are now using us as their weapons against the dominant institution/s, in this case, the First World countries, more specifically the US. It's sort of becoming an attempt at parricide, brother against brother, only different ideologies form a gulf between them, between us and the radicals.

I can't help but link this to the war in Iraq. And this tension now sort of feels like a prequel, a last step before Cambodia in the throes of Pol Pot's regime, or because of this seeming stand-off, the Vietnam War (with the US, which though the latter had superior fire-power and wealth, the former won) The US has no proof that the Iraq war should continue. Perhaps this is the bone of contention the fundamentalists want to settle [with the US]. For innocent lives are being continually lost--as in the Lebanese-Israeli war right now, as well. So they fight back, using innocent civilians, as well, thus my quasi-analogizing this to the Pol Pot regime.

In the meantime, it is us civilians who suffer, who bear the brunt of their actions--of both opposing sides. Then again, that's why it's a matter of concern: because many are affected. And that's how it always seems to be. Now I feel it to be a chicken-and-egg argument: this will never end, because this already seems to be part of the human psyche.

Nevertheless, I do wish it'd stop. In spite of this seeming futility, I still believe in hope--for a better tomorrow, for a change in psyche, of not seeing people as objects/pawns--the more, the merrier, but instead see them as different and unique individuals.

How I wish that morrow would come in my lifetime.