America's Quick Fixes

In America, we legislate to the last tragedy. After the underwear bomber attempted to blow up a plane by placing explosives in his pants, the U.S. devised a plan legalizing sexual harassment of air passengers. Airport security personal were required to feel a passengers genitals in order to determine if they had a bomb in their pants.

The argument goes that if security is not increased in this way, a plane full of people could die. Are liberties more important than 200 people's lives? It is a difficult moral question. Nominally speaking, American principle falls on the side of freedom. Think of the number of wars and the millions of lives lost in the name of freedom. But in reality, it's a false dichotomy.

It seems a bit excessive to invade people's privacy in such an egregious manner because one person in the history of humankind attempted to blow up a plane with an underwear bomb. There have been countless billions of people who have graced the Earth; only one has made this attempt. No one will ever try again.

When every man heard about the underwear bomber, none thought about him as a vicious terrorist. Instead, we all thought of him as a nutjob. As a 1980s stand up comic might argue, For every other man their penis is the end, while for the underwear bomber, it was a means.

That takes us to the recent Arizona killings. The instant reaction is that politicians should tone down their exaggerated rhetoric. For once, the quick fix discussion revolves around something noble. Politicians should not associate policy disagreements to a life or death struggle. But the American media and government are still viewing a tragedy through a narrow lens. Instead of hard discussions about the state of mental health or the culture of violence that is the result of America's wars rather than of video games and movies, we get more quick fixes.