tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15410493.post-1157025406597428852006-09-04T09:35:00.000+10:002006-08-31T21:56:46.636+10:00The cover story on Thursday's mX (by resident <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/170602_s3.htm">CityRail whinger, plagiarist and sensationalist-in-training Matt Sun</a>) reminds us how outraged we should be about the lack of anti-terrorist measures put in place by our state and federal governments.<br /><br />On Wednesday afternoon an unidentified woman climbed down from Platform 25 at Central Station onto the tracks. She walked roughly 200 metres into the tunnel and was struck and killed by a train.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"Police are trying to determine how the woman managed to walk along the tracks during peak hour with dozens of rail staff and transit officers on duty"</span><br /><br />Well. Let me solve the mystery for you, Matt (and "investigators"). There are no<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> people</span> in train tunnels, only trains. There are, at most, two staff per double platform. Platform staff are paid to signal trains when they arrive and depart, and to play solitaire. That is all. Transit officers are busy <a href="http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20050828-5001021,00.html">sexually assautling teenage girls</a>, fining elderly people for putting their shopping on train seats and <a href="http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve04/1199rail.html">generally</a> being <a href="http://www.newsday.uts.edu.au/indexed/derails.htm">offensive</a>. All while pretending to be police officers.<br /><br />I think I could fairly easily walk the entire length of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_railway_line%2C_Sydney">North Shore Line</a>, on the tracks, and not be stopped or questioned at all.<br /><br />The article goes on to compare the incident to the train bombings in Spain and London.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"...the woman's actions highlight the ease of access to rail infrastructure."</span><br /><br />There are no physical barriers that will prevent terrorism. Our train stations have no rubbish bins. Why, you ask? To stop terrorists from hiding bombs in them, of course. The Harbour Bridge has two security guards that stroll casually across it. Why? To stop terrorists from blowing it up.<br /><br />You can't take a knife on a plane, because it could be used to injure someone or hijack the plane. You can, however, take all the knitting needles, pencils and pens you want. They are completely safe and could never be used as weapons.<br /><br />The world will only see an end to terrorism when we stop trying to protect ourselves from it, and stop pretending we're all so different. Silly utopian ideals, you might say... but what can we do but try? What if we demonstrated respect for other countries and cultures? Not just quietly, but publicly. What if we stopped telling people they need to look out for towel-heads leaving bombs in bins, and started teaching our children the difference between a Pakistani and a Lebanese Muslim? What if we started encouraging our communities to interact with eachother? What if we stopped pretending that banning hair gel and shampoo on international flights will prevent another September 11? Nothing will prevent terrorism. Nothing except a shift in attitude.byronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10483511785964600644noreply@blogger.com