Yesterday the caped crusader got up on a ledge outside some big house in that there Lahndan. Robin as usual was poncing about neurotically not really helping.
All fairly amusing. Esp. the headlines:
Holey Security Batman – The Sun
Kapow! – Daily Mail
Pratman – The Star
Holy breach of security as Batman scales Palace – The Times
Batman zaps security at the Palace – The Daily Torygraph
Yet, ‘What if he had been a suicide bomber’ (The Express) and a comment by the Home Secretary, Mr. Blunkett stating ‘police would have shot the protester if he had been judged a terror risk’ raises some interesting points.
Firstly, what is considered a terrorist these days? If the guy was middle-eastern looking and not wearing a batman suit would he have been shot? Where is this line, and further how long would it take for a suspected terrorist to carry out such an act? I am betting a lot shorter than it takes to do a proper background check on a person? Thus what is the tipping point, is there a points system?
White neck scarf – 3pts
Patterned neck scarf – 5pts
Hook for a hand – 10pts
Middle-Eastern looking – 3pts
Reading a Koran – 3pts
Male – 3pts
Looks a bit fundamentalist – 5pts
Moustache/Beard – 5pts
If total score is over 20pts, shoot.
I admit the above is more than a little crude, but I feel it reflects what people now expect a terrorist to look like. I don’t wish to enter the argument about what constitutes terrorist activity as this is somewhat a proverbial minefield of a subject and any act of violence towards another being, in my opinion, can never be justified. Yet in the new homogenised war on terror, where people are locked up without trial and shot on suspicion, is our perception a little skewed?