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Boston's reputation for paranoia
Feb. 19th, 2007 10:41 amIt's been part of the public discourse for years now, how much of a threat terrorism (as distinct from crime) is now, and how Something Must Be Done that will be expensive, intrusive, inconvenient, and probably not all that effective. None of the usual cost:benefit analysis considerations apply when one is only trying to Do Something.
I ride public transit a lot, and I live near a major bus route. There are very loud announcements, at least 1 every 3 minutes and more often on some of the new buses, telling passengers to inform the driver of any unattended bags or packages. I can hear them from my apartment, 6 stories up, when I don't have the storm windows up. I wonder what they do to the bus drivers' hearing, or even to the hearing of people who spend an hour or so a day on buses. I had thought the announcements didn't do much good, and weren't worth the risk, inconvenience, and expense; but I had thought they were Doing Something. After all, when we hear about the Red Line being shut down for 3 hours because somebody found a Burger King bag on a bench with some food in it, doesn't that imply someone reported it?
Friday afternoon, on my way to Boskone, I got on the Red Line at Porter Square. The car was only about half full, so I could sit down. I was getting carsick, and not paying full attention, but there seemed to be a full backpack sitting by itself on the bench across from me. More people got on the train at Harvard, and nobody sat next to the backpack, or even stood near it. 15-20 people had all heard the platform announcements, and bus announcements, about unattended packages, and been embarrassed by the reaction to the Moominites, and they all stood there, or sort of edged away from the thing. After Kendall, I asked the person sitting closest to the bag if it was his. No. I opened it for a quick look. Textbooks, lots of papers, smell of mustard and wet wool, no obvious identifier. At Park St, I got out and went to alert the driver. More specifically, I took the backpack to the driver's compartment and said, "Someone left this in the car. I DON'T THINK IT'S A SECURITY PROBLEM. I think it's a lost-and-found issue, but you should know." Then I dropped it through the window and the train left. I think it must have been ok. I would probably have heard about it if the train had blown up, or if there had been a Moominite-scale panic.
I'm still strongly opposed to blinking lights.
I ride public transit a lot, and I live near a major bus route. There are very loud announcements, at least 1 every 3 minutes and more often on some of the new buses, telling passengers to inform the driver of any unattended bags or packages. I can hear them from my apartment, 6 stories up, when I don't have the storm windows up. I wonder what they do to the bus drivers' hearing, or even to the hearing of people who spend an hour or so a day on buses. I had thought the announcements didn't do much good, and weren't worth the risk, inconvenience, and expense; but I had thought they were Doing Something. After all, when we hear about the Red Line being shut down for 3 hours because somebody found a Burger King bag on a bench with some food in it, doesn't that imply someone reported it?
Friday afternoon, on my way to Boskone, I got on the Red Line at Porter Square. The car was only about half full, so I could sit down. I was getting carsick, and not paying full attention, but there seemed to be a full backpack sitting by itself on the bench across from me. More people got on the train at Harvard, and nobody sat next to the backpack, or even stood near it. 15-20 people had all heard the platform announcements, and bus announcements, about unattended packages, and been embarrassed by the reaction to the Moominites, and they all stood there, or sort of edged away from the thing. After Kendall, I asked the person sitting closest to the bag if it was his. No. I opened it for a quick look. Textbooks, lots of papers, smell of mustard and wet wool, no obvious identifier. At Park St, I got out and went to alert the driver. More specifically, I took the backpack to the driver's compartment and said, "Someone left this in the car. I DON'T THINK IT'S A SECURITY PROBLEM. I think it's a lost-and-found issue, but you should know." Then I dropped it through the window and the train left. I think it must have been ok. I would probably have heard about it if the train had blown up, or if there had been a Moominite-scale panic.
I'm still strongly opposed to blinking lights.
