Ok. Let's role-play for a second here. You're an employee at Boston's Logan International Airport. A young woman comes up to your counter and asks about a flight. The front of her shirt has a circuit board and battery attached to it, and a lump of an unknown substance is in her hand. You answer her question, and then ask her what that is strapped to her chest. She doesn't answer, and turns to walk away.
You: A)Wave politely and tell her to enjoy the flight.
B)Do nothing.
C)Mention her suspicious behavior to security.
I don't know about you, but I think I'd pick C. And that's exactly what happened yesterday. Star Simpson, age 19, was arrested Friday after the above scenario unfolded. Already, there are some coming to her defense. "It was an art project/shirt she wore all the time/clearly not a bomb" and so on. Frankly, I don't care. Wearing anything that even remotely could be confused with a bomb to an airport is STUPID. Let's face it. Airport security folks aren't always the best-trained or the most patient. This was asking for trouble-especially remembering that one of the 9/11 flights was hijacked at...hmm...what was it...oh yeah. LOGAN INTERNATIONAL. Frankly, she's lucky she didn't get tasered or worse.
I don't care if she "wore that all the time". I might enjoy walking around the house with a bandolier of .50 cal ammo hanging over my shoulder, but I know that it might not go over well in public. And if it turns out that this dingbat wanted to call this some kind of "performance art?" Give me a break. Save it for somewhere else. And as for the most common argument I've heard-"real bombs don't look like that...", HOW DO YOU KNOW? Which bomb squad did you train with? Did Richard Reid's shoes "look like a real bomb?" Doubtful, but they sure as hell were. It's a different world we live in, folks. I'm all for civil liberties, freedom, the whole ball of wax. But one thing I don't support is people who check their common sense at the door.
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