Fascist Pigs

I hate to fly; I enjoyed traveling years ago. I enjoyed the whole process of packing up all the things I might need and feeling really prepared. Not so anymore - almost anything and everything I might want to place in my backpack are now forboden. A decent person cannot even carry a bottle of water - although everyone knows that proper hydration is key to avoiding "jet lag".

Every time I fly within the United States I get - well pissed off. Foreign carriers with destinations in other lands are not so offensive. I remember one time, way back in 1997, when I was flying from Kuwait to Germany and I purchased a sword in the duty free area of the Kuwait City airport - I had no choice but to take it on the plane with me. Nobody questioned me, nobody thought twice about it. Air travel back then was fun and adventurous. I amused myself that if I were ever to become a character on a show like "Lost" I would be prepared with the things I carried in my pockets. I still try to live the Boy Scout creed of being prepared. (the show did not exist back then but you get what I mean).

You know the drill now, just try to exercise your God given right to travel freely within your own country - you find yourself subjected to the most ridiculous sorts of nonsense. It always seems to take me 20 minutes to get through the screening. I am almost always singled out for "random" questioning. I was even pulled aside and questioned on my last return flight from Iraq. The little imp informed me that I had set off their explosives detector - "well of course you moron", I am sure that there was residue from a lot of nasty things lingering in my clothes and equipment. That did not matter to them - they don't look at people and apply common sense - they use a big fly swatter and in the process offend the rights of a lot of good people.

Two days ago I sat in the international terminal at Inchon, South Korea - waiting to board a Korean Airlines flight to Hawaii. Over the loud speaker a friendly voice informed us that "per a request from the Transportation Security Agency we would have to undergo a second security screening". This was for everyone on the flight, we had all passed though an initial screening - the full Monty in fact - prior to entering the international concourse. I had undergone one previous to that before boarding a domestic flight within Korea enroute to Inchon.

I thought to myself, as I prepared to subject myself to another unnecessary intrusion into my personal space - "what nerve". Why would the Korean government subvert its own sovereignty to the "requests" of the TSA? Why would they allow their own citizens as well as guest in their country to be subjected to the paranoid delusions of a two bit bunch of wanna be tyrants? I don't know the answer to this - I have theories but those are not important.

It seems that America truly is leading the world - into fear, overreaction and bad judgment. You may say that these little "inconveniences" are necessary; I say that they are just part of conditioning people to accept that the government has the "right" to stick its hands in our pockets whenever and wherever it pleases. This is a dangerous precedent to allow to stand and a tragic course for a "free people" to follow.

I don't think terming the people that think these things up as "fascist pigs" is too harsh or hyperbole - I think it is a description that hits the nail right on the head.

I am done venting and plan to enjoy the rest of my vacation in Hawaii - today was grand, we went snorkeling, I got back on a board for the first time in years and I enjoyed cuisine I have been deprived of for two years.

Surrealism

South Korean soldier in staredown with DPRK soldier

All of this talk about North Korea pressing ahead with their nuclear program and the picture above posted on Drudge made me think of one of the most surreal places I have ever visited.

The picture is of the DMZ, Panmunjeom to be exact. I suppose for the majority of the world that has never been to such a place my meager attempt at describing it will fail to adequately paint a picture. But I will try because it is interesting and it is a wonderful commentary on the silliness that man engages in.

The fellow in the foreground is a ROK soldier, obviously the other cat is a DRPK (North Korean) soldier. The little bit of concrete to the North Korean's left is the actual border. To the right of the picture in the "conference room" with the table equally divided between north and south. There are entrances on each end. The building is used to provide a forum to discuss issues of immediate import. It is also the site where the original armistice was negotiated.

The surreal part of all of this is that the two soldiers above stare each other down all day. Of course they rotate shifts and let their buddies have a turn at staring down the opposing bad guys but this goes on pretty much everyday, all day- sun rain, sleet and snow.

Of course just looking big and bad is not enough, each side recruits their biggest and baddest for the job. Six foot, chiseled chinned, wide shouldered young men are not the rule in Korea but they are a prerequisite for assignment to this duty.

When I was last there I was inside the conference room, actually on the North Korean side of the border (when visitors from either side are in the building the other side is not supposed to go in). I was standing beside the window and suddenly got that feeling you get when someone is watching you. I turned around and discovered a North Korean soldier just inches away looking at me with all the hate and disgust he could muster. I was most amazed that I had to look up to him, something I am not accustomed to in Korea and something I certainly would not expect from soldiers that are supposed to be under fed. (I figured out later that he was standing on a ledge under the window - he obviously wanted to look big and bad for me).

How silly this all is. Two nations, the same people and all the pomp and circumstance surrounding a hatred that is merely 50 or so years old.