The BBC reported in "Cabin Baggage Ban Hits Musicians" something the rest of us hadn't quickly realized. The terrorist plot to fling burning aircraft and dying people from the skies (in order to please their god) will result in disruption for everyone. It will particularly hit musicians and artists who need instruments that they care deeply about.
For example,
They are under contract to keep their instruments with them and cannot check them in as hold baggage, chief conductor Alexander Vedernikov said.
They will probably have to travel by rail via Paris, he added.
It beats dying in flames but, for musicians, photographers, videographers and the like; this will be a difficult act. When I was hard at work in years past, my camera bag was never out of my sight. When boarding a plane I was ready with empty cameras that could be opened and clear, plastic bags for the film cans to be hand checked. Luckily, I am no longer working and can no longer fly. But what about the photographers who are? What about the violinist with their back-country fiddle from generations-past or the Stradivarius with a big insurance policy that would still not replace its' sound?
Celtic style Bodhran (visit Hobgoblin-USA ).
The terrorists may be widely hated and many people will support each other to help in travel. But will the sticky-fingered baggage people or the big-city airport mafias stop shopping the baggage carts? If your clothes are lost for a few days you can buy some T-shirts and jeans. If your four Nikons, twelve lenses and four flashes go missing (probably never to return) will you be able to rent quickly enough to splash your genius in the client's face? Will the symphony wait until you find a replacement cello, piccolo, bass, or kettle drum?
Julia Morneweg, a German freelance cellist, always booked an extra seat for the cello. Many musicians do. The BBC quoted her as relating,
After her arrival in Switzerland, she recounted the ordeal of having to hand over the cello, valued at up to £10,000 ($19,000) and not covered by her insurance if carried in the hold.
Article comments
1 - Bob Jones
Why don't they just change their ways and cargo it, securely, now?
We need to adapt to threats and frankly, I'd rather not die on a plane because Banjo Bob was so selfish that they allowed him and others to take items into the cabin.
2 - SFC SKI
IT isn't a banjo that is dangerous, it's the overreaction of security officials (no carry-ons means no bombs will be carried on, safety assured). Furthermore, until baggage handlers are better scrutinized, or airlines can assure travellers that no theft will take place, this does really hurt peopel who have to transport high-value items via air, and inconveniences the rest of us.
3 - Howard Dratch
Banjo Bob won't kill anyone. Musicians and artists often have souls, hearts and consciences. It is Osama and the would-be martyrs of Hizballah who live in a world without music, without art, without souls or any thought, it seems, except destruction and chaos.
Perhaps they did watch all those spy stories where C.H.A.O.S. tried to take over the world. And here they are in real life trying to hold the world hostage to their nightmares. Life imitates art yet again.
4 - Clavos
Someone pretending to be Banjo Bob might blow up an airliner, however.
5 - Howard Dratch
This subject has exploded.
Commercial aircraft represent globalism and high technology " they shrink the world and threaten cultural conservatism. The Boeing 747 was the last of the “great machines” that characterised the 20th century: it opened up air travel to the mass market. And it was so very American; big, brash and useful. But aircraft also appear vulnerable. In truth, civil aircraft are a lot more robust than people think, but the aviation industry is selling safety almost as much as it is selling transport and passengers need constant reassurance that aircraft are operating well within their technical limits.The Times of London published an evocative article by Michael Clarke, Prof. of Defence Studies at King's College entitled, "Here's Why Jihadis Just Love To Fly". He wrote, "Aircraft are a symbol of modernity and look vulnerable " the ideal target in a holy war." He goes on to say,
And then warns,
Airlines, however, will continue to be attractive targets for terrorists and the vulnerability and glamour of any machine travelling at 600mph at 30,000ft, will not diminish, whatever measures are taken at airports. The most effective way to deal with terrorism is still intelligence-led policing, and if yesterday’s operation is as significant as the security services indicate, they will have struck a good old-fashioned blow against a bad new fashionable terror technique.
Also in the Times is the piece, "Insurers Refuse To Cover IPods And Phones In Airline Luggage".
Millions of British air passengers were told last night that they will be travelling without insurance cover for valuable items such as jewellery, laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players that must now be packed in the aircraft hold.
Kiss the iPod, laptop and violin good-bye. Again, these murderous zealots are also a pain. Their failures disrupt our world.
Clavos is right as always. In Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent it is an assassin posing as a photographer who tries to murder the pre-war diplomat. Great scene. When I was working I learned that, when photographing Gov. Cuomo or Pataki, senators and Salman Rushdie; I never used the word "shoot".
6 - SFC SKI
Everything that goes through as a carry on gets X-rayed, that is why the bombers were trying to use liquid explosives and a small electric charge to detonate it. That was my point; banning carry-on luggage is an overreaction that t does not actually solve the problem, but it makes the authorities look like they are doing something, even if it's the wrong thing.