Sometimes, I just despair....

[conuly]

In the comments to this post on spending all of a preschool's fundraising money on a fancy-pants security system with PINs and everything....

Anyone ever hear of Beslan?

Most anti-terrorism experts believe that Beslan was a dress rehearsal for what they will do to our children here in America. They believe that the plan will include hitting multiple schools in multiple cities across America. Small cities, preferably.

Please don’t take security at schools lightly. We are not dealing with ordinary, every-day risks. We are at war.

http://www.terroratbeslan.com/

1. Beslan was in 2006.
2. Who, exactly, are the "experts" who think this was a dress rehearsal for the US, and why do they think that?
3. Who is "they" exactly? Since when are we at war with Chechnya? I even double-checked this because, honestly, who can keep track nowadays, but happily it seems we're still not fighting there.
4. How, exactly, will having PIN codes prevent terrorists from harming children? This is the fatal gap in logic that baffles me. I mean, the rest does too, but this one - yeah.

Anybody sufficiently determined to do harm will find a way to do it. They're not going to be stopped by a security system, they'll either find a way around it or change the location of their attack. Look at the planes - you scan for guns, people bring knives. You lock the cockpit, people bring bombs. You scan for bombs in the obvious places, they find weird places. You make people take off their shoes, they stick a bomb in their undies. (Admittedly, most of these were stupid plans, but that's not the point.) You can't possibly predict everything. There is no way to guard against every contingency. It simply cannot be done, and it's pure madness to even try.

Make the obvious changes that at least weed out the most lazy attackers, and don't worry about the rest. If there starts to be an actual rise in terrorism in US schools, then we can change what we do. But changing because of bizarre and hopeless what-ifs (and ones that wouldn't even work for what she thinks, incidentally) is just... it's not only not helpful, it's counterproductive.

Comments

[pne]

Bruce Schneier calls those "movie plot threats" - easy to imagine and spectacular, but not particularly likely.

Also, if you wanted to prevent children from coming to harm, you should also consider banning automobiles; I'm sure more children die in car accidents every year then through terrorism.

While you're at it, ban bleach and ovens as well, as those harm children, too.

[conuly]

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for all Americans. They are THE number one killer of children under the age of 15 (we're not even counting teenage drivers in that statistic), and that doesn't even take into consideration the number of children severely and/or permanently disabled through a crash they survive.

[akamine_chan]

I just figured out your superpower! It's the ability to find all the stupid people on the Internet! Now, if you could just figure out how to make money off of it...*g*

I was also much relieved to know we aren't at war with Chechnya; like you said, it's hard to keep track sometimes.

I loved the Terror at Beslan site, with the words in big red letters: ...got THE AUTHOR BANNED FROM RUSSIA!. Like that's a hard thing to do...

*sigh*

[conuly]

LOL, there is ABSOLUTELY no way I could possibly find ALL the ignorant, uninformed, or stupid people on the internet. Like, I'd just... explode if I tried. (And sometimes they seem to find me. I was on that site longer!)

Now, if you could just figure out how to make money off of it...*g*

I'd be plenty happy if I could just ban them from computers.

[mc776]

I'm starting to think that actually addressing the issues can only go so far if we don't expose the underlying impulse people have that gives them more positive feedback when planning revenge and violent "self-defence" against a humanoid enemy than anything involving actual safety.

No idea how to combat that impulse, though... (explicit appeal to shame? analogy to sordid sexual practices? just pointing it out for what it is?)

[conuly]

Sorry for not answering any of your comments, it's not because I'm ignoring you but because I can't think of good replies.

[mc776]

My fault. The comment was rushed and more talking at than talking to, which I only noticed when I tried to read it out loud. :/

[conuly]

I don't think it's anybody's fault. *shrugs*

[dragonwolf]

My first thought was "how would a security system stop a dozen C4 charges planted outside?"

That said, the daycare center I took my son to for a short time had a basic system that kept the doors from opening from the outside without a pin entered into the keypad, but considering the number of people going in and out, its purpose (keep someone from just walking in and taking a kid that isn't theirs) is actually reasonably understandable, even if not everyone agrees it's necessary.

[conuly]

My first thought was "how would a security system stop a dozen C4 charges planted outside?"

Magic!

[dragonwolf]

Now that the little one's asleep, let me add that said preschool is a fairly large with a large age range of kids (6 weeks to 12 years, with 10-20 kids per age group) in a large suburb of a large city with a relatively high crime rate. While the suburb itself is one of the nicer parts of the city, it's still had its share of crime (hubby was told to stay put or be arrested as a group went through the intersection at one point, and I followed a statey looking for someone on foot).

So, while the drop-off/pick-up times still pretty much negate the purpose of the keypad entrance, it does serve to deter any of the random passers-by during the day (or night, for that matter, if someone's looking for some easy items) from just walking in. With 75-100 little kids in the care of 20 adults, it's possible to lose track of a runner, and, if nothing else, it helps rule out an unauthorized adult if the child disappears.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Well duh. It's obvious. All Muslims follow a single global hegemony of faith*. The Chechen insurgents in 2004 were set the task of conducting a dress rehearsal in preparation for attacks on America. They came up with a handy war to give them a fake reason to storm a school in neighbouring North Ossetia. There have never really been ethnic tensions in the Caucasus, they were invented purely as a smokescreen to practice anti-American terrorism on behalf of Muslims from the Middle East.

Obviously.

I mean honestly. How fucking ethnocentric can you get. Alllll the world's problems must revolve around me me me. It's unthinkable that somewhere else in the world people might kill their neighbours for reasons which have fuck all to do with the USA.

*Sidenote: Did you know Sikhism is the only major world religion which has never suffered a schism? It's such a young one that there hasn't really been time for one yet. But there are fears there will be one in the near future - I think because they're just about reaching that point where traditionalism and modernism are looking different enough that people will start taking sides.

[conuly]

I mean honestly. How fucking ethnocentric can you get. Alllll the world's problems must revolve around me me me. It's unthinkable that somewhere else in the world people might kill their neighbours for reasons which have fuck all to do with the USA.

Bet she thinks 9/11 happened because "they hate us for our freeeeeeeeeedoms" too.