the War on the Unexpected

[lo5an]

Bruce Schneier just posted an editorial called The War on the Unexpected that is a good follow up to his earlier Refuse to Be Terrorized.
"""We've opened up a new front on the war on terror. It's an attack on the unique, the unorthodox, the unexpected; it's a war on different. If you act different, you might find yourself investigated, questioned,

Comments

[lovimoment]

A knitter who is a friend of a friend had her knitting taken away when she was on a plane because the passenger next to her said it "made her nervous." The knitter offered to change seats, but the woman said no and reported her to the flight attendant. The flight attendant took away the whole project (the knitted item AND the needles - she could have taken just the needles and let the knitter keep her live stitches on a piece of scrap yarn) and wouldn't even give it back after the flight was over.

[lo5an]

Stupid.

And petty. Lots of petty exercises of power these days. That low level pettiness, and the general acceptance of it contribute a lot to my worries.

[lovimoment]

And her knitting! All that work, just gone...

And really, it's a very small amount of waste compared to what else is being lost (lives, for examples, and years from lives).