« Memory Lapses on General Westmoreland | Main | Toronto Bans Beauty »
July 21, 2005
Political Correctness Trumps Security in NYC
Posted by Dave Blount at July 21, 2005 8:05 PM
The New York Times reports that, in the wake of today's attempted second wave of public transit attacks in London, New York City will begin checking bags on a random basis at subway and commuter railway stations, and on buses and ferries.
New York takes the threat of another terrorist attack quite seriously — but unfortunately nowhere near as seriously as it takes political correctness.
"No racial profiling will be allowed," announced Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "It's against our policies."
NYC's subways alone carry 4.5 million passengers on an average weekday. For every unshaven Middle Easterner clutching a Koran and wearing an "I Love Osama" t-shirt that the police search, they need to do the same to about 10,000 nuns, schoolgirls, and stockbrokers to convince the ACLU they aren't indulging in sensible behavior by targeting the people who are targeting us. In the extremely unlikely event that a Muslim-looking person gets stopped and happens to have a nail bomb in his backpack, all he has to do is refuse to be searched. The cops will send him on to the next subway station to try his luck again.
But no matter how many advantages you give to the terrorists who are trying to maim and kill us, the ACLU will never quite be satisfied.
"Random police searches of people without any suspicion of wrongdoing are contrary to our most basic constitutional values," screeched Christopher Dunn, associate legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
So Mr. Dunn, are you saying that the searches shouldn't be random? That we should start focusing on the sort of people who are likely to be terrorists? No? Didn't think so.
Boston tried random baggage checks at rail stations during the Democrats' convention in 2004. The ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee objected to the point of going to court over it. Passengers were selected based on random numbers using clicker-counts of riders, so that no one could accuse authorities of picking on likely terrorists. Since Arabs were in no way singled out, why was the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee involved? Perhaps they were concerned about the thin chance that this strategy would actually thwart a terrorist attack, thus preventing a young Arab from celebrating his cultural heritage by blowing some innocent women and children to bits, and thereby contributing to the rich tapestry of diversity.
Eventually we are going to have to chose between the bizarre anti-religion known as political correctness and simple survival. I wish I had more faith that we will chose wisely.
Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.
Cross-posted at The Wide Awakes.
