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Decoding Airplane Terrorism
By now, everyone has heard about the latest airline bombing threat which was “stopped” by the British government. If you’ve never considered the importance of threats to airplanes, you might do well to consider the recent line of questioning from a Cryptogon post:
We always hear about how smart, how cunning, “the terrorists” are. After all, according to legend, “the terrorists” are so smart and so cunning that they hijacked aircraft and flew them into buildings, and all the rest of that bullsh*t…
Yet, for some reason, “the terrorists” don’t seem interested in attacking the undefended support infrastructure of the U.S. National Security Agency?! “The terrorists” are, likewise, uninterested in taking out the undefended data infrastructures that undergird U.S. mega corporations.
If “the terrorists” hate the U.S. so much, why haven’t they attacked the undefended electrical and data infrastructures that animate the Great Satan? Why do “the terrorists” only carry out symbolic pinprick attacks that are MUCH more difficult to execute than strategic, decapitation strikes? Why not deliver a blow to the U.S. that would actually take it down?
Whatever you take away from that, you’ve got to admit that he asks some compelling questions. And the rest of that post is also well worth reading. The key point I take away from that post is that, clearly, attacking airlines (or threatening to do so) is a purely symbolic act. Attacking one airplane is bad and tragic, but it’s not - militarily speaking - as awful as it would be if they managed to take out an entire airport, power plant, factory, bridge, major highway, railroad hub, port area, etc. You know: real military targets, in other words. Things that are of clear strategic importance because they cripple infrastructure and inhibit your opponent’s ability to fight back. Putting a bomb on an airplane does not do this. It does one thing and one thing only.
It makes people afraid to travel.
The thing is though, that’s not where it ends. Getting somebody afraid of traveling is itself a much more loaded and interesting trick. Fear of travel decodes into increased provincialism and a reversion to local tribalism. Americans, increasingly so, are world travelers - at least the people who can afford to be. And the people who can afford to be are, by and large, also reasonably well educated. People who have money enough to be mobile and a decent education are thus able to be exposed to multiple viewpoints and perspectives by traveling. In short, they become more cosmopolitan.
An attack on an airplane then, is an attack on the rising cosmopolitanism and freedom of the middle class who can afford to travel by plane. It’s designed, even if you don’t fly, to make you subconsciously think that other nations and other nationalities are inherently dangerous. They are out to get you and it’s best not to “go there” mentally.
After all, in Western esotericism, the element of “air” tends to correspond with the intellect and with mental matters. A plane could be said to symbolize our ability to concretize our ideas and send them out as messengers all over the world. By association, if planes and air travel become dangerous, thoughts become dangerous, and letting your thoughts carry you to far off worlds becomes doubly dangerous. On the elemental note, it’s also interesting to look at the latest inane symbolic prohibition that airline passengers are now being forced to submit to:
Airline passengers around the country stood in line for hours and airport trash bins bulged with everything from mouthwash and shaving cream to maple syrup and fine wine Thursday in a security crackdown prompted by the discovery of a terror plot in Britain.
U.S. authorities banned the carrying of liquids onto flights after the arrest of 24 people in an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes using explosives disguised as drinks and other common products.
In tarot symbology, liquids or water stand for the emotions, which people are now being asked to symbolically empty out:
Represents the emotions. Best known for representing the Querent’s love life, but it also stands for emotional extremes, such as elation, depression or bliss, and the negatives that come with such emotions, like over-indulgence in food, drink, drugs. Likewise the positives like poetry or music. Also, psychic powers, visions, illusions. These are feelings that you surrender to, that you flow or sink into.
If you look also at the list of items people are being forced to dump, every single one of them is an item associated with personal comfort, with luxury. Mouthwash, shaving cream, wine, maple syrup. None of those are really essential at all (except for baby formula and medicine, which are both still allowed on). They are symbolic. People are asked to shed a very visceral level of personal comfort in exchange for being allowed the now restricted luxury of mental (air element) travel. But they are warned against getting emotionally too involved (water/liquids) in it, lest they explode (fire element - passion, energy) and fall back to earth (yet another element). So the thinking goes then, that it’s best just to stay tied into the earthly, physical realm and not stray too far away.
On a more technocratic note, reading through the quotes attributed to airline passengers in news articles comes across now as the most ridiculous kind of justifications. I believe it is a tactic similar to what I described in my letters to the editor article: where you get people to explicitly say in their own words what your message is, so that you don’t have to. Check these snippets out, in case you’re still wondering what they want you to think about these new security measures:
“That’s part of the price you pay for traveling during a time like this,” … “It’s better alive than dead,” … “It’s inconvenient, but we’ll make it.” … “Everyone was really calm,” said passenger Jim McConnell of Charlottesville, Va. “I think people have grown to accept the state of the world.” … “It’s better to feel safe. We thought it was going to be a lot worse,” … “It’s a slight inconvenience,” … “It’s a pain, but I still think getting across the country in six hours is pretty amazing. I don’t mind waiting an extra 15 minutes to check my luggage.”
Yeah, boy, he’s right. Getting across the country in six hours IS pretty amazing! If only that were all that was at stake here…
- A genuine Ronex watch
- Meteorite Causes “Mystery Illness” In Peru
- The Synthetic Terrorism Myth
- Throwing in the towel
- The New Face Of Home-Grown Terrorism
- Prev: Vritti
- Next: Santeria Reading Follow-Up
August 10th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
HA HA HA HA HA. How much money do you think Gatorade and some consortium of MP3 manufacturers paid to have this be the scenario? They pay to have their products placed in movies and TV, why not terrorism?
Who is planning these terrorist attacks? Wile E. Coyote?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/us.se...ty.1642/index.html?section=cnn_latest
August 11th, 2006 at 1:47 am
Here’s a totally straightfaced headline from Yahoo:
Sniveling pieces of shit… How can this be reported in the news without people puking their souls out?
August 11th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
9/11 took out the World Trade Center. It may not be a miltary target, but it sure did cripple us for a while. Not just lives, jobs and real estate were damaged that day: tax files, company records, payroll sheets, information on a large scale was irreplacably lost when the WTC came a-tumblin’ down.
I was working in radio at the time, and our New York office was shut down immediately. That meant shutting down ALL the offices, from Dallas to L.A. to Boston to Florida and anywhere else we had telecommunications tentacles (save for the satellites– those things remained running), even though only New York and D.C. were hit.
I remember thinking to myself, “You wanna take down America? Hit ‘em in the pocketbook.”
I also recall that no one around here was very interested in the Pentagon hit, because people expect the Pentagon to get hit– it’s a military target.
August 11th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
tim,
americans are already afraid to travel. They’ve always been.
I’ll always remember when I was in Mexico Yucatan, european people walking freely hand in hand enjoying the trip, and americans packed on buses followed by Jeeps with ARMED BODYGUARDS.
Armed bodyguards in Yucatan! Where the most dangerous guy around is a fat sweet maya sipping his Coke! We couldn’t believe our eyes.
Tricking americans into being afraid of foreign countries is a very very easy game.
August 11th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Sounds like a bonus for some companies as certain conspiracy theories have advanced…
August 11th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
a fascinating analysis of the absurd drama
August 11th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
“Tax files, company records, payroll sheets, information on a large scale was irreplacably lost… Sounds like a bonus for some companies as certain conspiracy theories have advanced…”
My thoughts exactly.
August 11th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Starting to get kind of ridiculous. Pretty soon they are going to start giving us terror alerts in the nonvisible colour spectrum… “Ok everyone, ‘Code Ultraviolet’, this is a critical alert, everyone put on your bee goggles!”
August 11th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
I need a pair of bee goggles. Anyone know where I can get one?
August 12th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Here’s another take on “dangerous” liquids. Any halfassed college freshman who’s taken a chemistry course knows not to mix together a variety of unknown possibly reactive and volatile substances in a public place — unless one already knows for sure that the substances are harmless and nonreactive.
Upon hearing about this I immediately suspected that this was a mass ritual. Congratulations, Tim, on a brilliant deconstruction of the ritual’s meaning.
August 12th, 2006 at 10:36 am
You nailed that one. When the story is “jump” they ask how high, not why.
August 12th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
[delurk]excellent analysis.[/delurk]
August 13th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
You just made my brain hurt… well done.
August 14th, 2006 at 9:54 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3BMDPKtnNQ
August 14th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
“Sniveling pieces of shit… How can this be reported in the news without people puking their souls out?”
ha ha…yeah, I’ve seen a few of these types of articles lately. Articles that seem to outright just fucking SAY what’s going on in terms of political chessboard moves. Have you noticed that now it’s just openly talked about by the close representatives of either camp, that “Oh we’re going to have to make such-and-such a move to get you people to do this or that…”
it’s like they’re openly discussing and pointing out the marionette strings used to push a political ideology. I always kind of laugh in disbelief at that. How can everyone just sit around and accept that there are two little fuck-wads blatantly TELLING us that they’re going to use this information to make themselves seem more appealing? Reviewing that article, all I see is that:
1. Someone else discovered a terrorist plot (supposedly) and foiled it. (also, a side note…wasn’t it actually Pakistani officials/agents that discovered this? that was reported like once and then never again, as far as I’ve seen)
2.Bush is so low that he’s now creaming in his jeans in anticipation of the anniversary of 9/11 to use this new story as “proof” his party should remain in power and that his administration isn’t a bumbling farce. This is like some other singer just covered “One Hit Wonder” Bush’s one hit from several years back and now he’s milking it and trying to make a “come back” on the coat tails of the person covering him.
3. Two (as fucking usual) unnamed asswipes decided to gloat and chortle and plot and plan to use this information to make their party look good come 9/11/06.
And all of it fucking stinks.
“Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections.”
LOL…it’s like the article is just blatantly telling us, “They want to make sure you only pay attention to the shit they’ve fucked up the least. I guess.”
“Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big,” said another White House official, who also spoke on condition of not being named, adding that some Democratic candidates won’t “look as appealing” under the circumstances.”
What a fucking asshole. How can that be interpreted in any way other than, “YES! An angle to use and abuse!!!”
I can just see the flimsy, blue sport jacketed, baby soft, “never done a day of hard physical labor in my life” hands of guys like this doing that turned over reverse fist thrust thing while yelling, “YES!” or “BOO YAH!” all over Washington.
Fucking disgusting.