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...as they took Richard Dawkin's honey 😡
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World famous English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and unrelenting critic of religion and the religious, Richard Dawkins, has turned his anger on airport security rules after he had a jar of honey confiscated.....[[url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bin-laden-has-won-they-confiscated-my-honey-outspoken-academic-richard-dawkins-in-airline-security-twitter-row-over-jar-of-honey-8919618.html ]cont[/url]]
I think he might be losing it a little.
Yesterday's twitter storm still raging then?
Really puts molgrips' lunch expenses woes into perspective doesn't it.
It was probably a jar of very rare ,Manuka super cure honey.
🙂
Who?
Yesterday's twitter storm still raging then?
Alas, we cannot all be on the bleeding edge.
Who?
Richard Dawkins. HTH.
Was it in date?
It was probably a jar of very rare ,Manuka super cure honey.
Nectar Of The Gods 😉
...There was little sympathy today in response to the tweets regarding the confiscated honey.
Shocker.
But he is right.. We have fundamentally changed our way of living, wasted a huge amount of resource and increased the risk of terrorism thanks to Bin Laden and the US response to his attacks.
He does have a point - the nett amount of 'terror' in the world population has increased dramatically in the last 10 or so years.
The response to people's concerns by governments is sometimes arbitrary and disproportionate.
Oh bee have.
The 9/11 attacks were an atrocity, and it is difficult to imagine any objective the achievement of which would have justified them.
But if it was just to do with making sure Dawkins couldn't transport jars of honey in his cabin baggage that makes them even more deranged. The mind boggles.
Was it runny or set?
The objective of 9/11 was to terrorise.
Bin Laden succeeded.
The western governments have responded disproportionately (there are many more pressing issues that the world faces) - an example of this disproportionate response is that we now follow ridiculous rules at airport security.
Wonder if he called the security staff 'rule bound dundridges' to their faces? You can almost hear the snap of the rubber gloves 😆
You can almost hear the snap of the rubber gloves
They would have probably used the honey as lube...
Oh bee have
Oh bee hive?
I suggest he writes a tweet threatening to blow up the airport. That'll teach 'em...
Rachel
Way to take the sting out of it!Oh bee haveOh bee hive?
Surprisingly, there is nothing on Buzzfeed about it yet.
God moves in mysterious ways indeed.
I'd have told them to buzz off.
Right after I'd got my coat.
He's right. I can't be arsed with flying anymore because of all the hassle, and I certainly won't go to the US again.
As with many things he says, he is kind of right but you don't want to agree with him because he comes across as so shrill and pompous.
There was a good article about 'security theatre' I saw a while ago but I can't remember where.
Fair enough, aspects of flying, etc, can be a pain, and if I'd have been in his position I'd have had a whinge about it, but tweeting it just made him look like a sanctimonious git. You may be an intelligent bloke Dawkins, but FFS get some perspective. 🙄
That's an apollen story.
I very nearly got taken into a side room (at an airport) by a angry looking bloke who had a big gun and a pair of rubber gloves.
Apparently malt loaf looks an awful lot like plastic explosives in an x-ray!
We all laughed about it in the end.
I think he might be losing it a little.
No he completely lost it many years ago.
I used to be an Atheist, but he converted me to Agnosticism, as I didn't want to be associated with his deranged ranting....
To be fair - if Bin Laden has been a bit clearer about his objective in the first place- to deny proselytising born-again atheists something sticky and sweet to spread on their toast - this hole business sordid business would have been done and dusted years ago.
Security theatre is right - it's all about being seen to be doing something rather than being effective. He's absolutely right that it's ridiculous and disproportionate but I don't think he's done himself any favours due to the petty nature of his "incident".
Trust the media to swarm all over a story that is sweet and sticky.
But he is right.. We have fundamentally changed our way of living, wasted a huge amount of resource and increased the risk of terrorism thanks to Bin Laden and the US response to his attacks.
Indeed, and it's particularly grating because pre the Twin Towers attacks, the US was seen as the week link airport security wise worldwide, and absolutely refused to change their ways to bring themselves inline with international standards. They didn't want their passengers inconvenienced.
I used to be an Atheist, but he converted me to Agnosticism, as I didn't want to be associated with his deranged ranting....
Was their a particular rant you can point me to that earns that 'deranged' honour?
Was their a particular rant you can point me to that earns that 'deranged' honour?
The whole of The God Delusion perhaps?
The objective of 9/11 was to terrorise.Bin Laden succeeded.
I'm not sure that's correct. The 11/9 attacks were merely what was threatened many years previously if the US didn't stop melding in the Middle East illegally. The loss of TWA800 was originally thought to be the promised attack, until it transpired that it was merely an accident. As I've said (countless times before) one of the TWA800 documentaries that was on actually has the warning from Bin Laden in it. The TWA800 accident was in 1996, so obviously the warning pre-dated this.
Security theatre is right - it's all about being seen to be doing something rather than being effective. He's absolutely right that it's ridiculous and disproportionate but I don't think he's done himself any favours due to the petty nature of his "incident".
Surely that was the whole point, though? When something as small and insignificant as a pot of honey is seen as a threat you know that the terrorists have won?
Terrorism is basically a big PR stunt. Look at me I'm so bad I did....
Success is having your target react in such a way your notoriety gains you influence and power.
The TSA, amongst others are still providing the Bin Laden / terrorist brand with this.
He won.
Bloody waste of my time while travelling and my hard earned tax money.
Yep. Gotta say . Dawkins does come off as a bit of a loon.
They're just trying to prevent a drone attack.
The whole of The God Delusion perhaps?
Yep.
I was a massive Dawkins fan in his early years. I loved The Blind Watchmaker, The Extended Phenotype, The Selfish Gene etc, but once he became a full time God botherer basher, he just seemed to be as bad as the God botherers. Put me right off Atheism.
I've read 'The God Delusion'. I found no ranting. Just measured arguments. No 'shrill'-ness either. Perhaps you meant WBC?
Grum: could you point to one please? I have a copy on kindle; if you shout I can quickly check.
Bin Laden has won? Interesting thought - what were we fighting him for? To defend "our" way of life, freedoms and morality against an extremist vision of the world, where "rights" of the individual don't really exist, subsumed by the greater 'morality' of the dogmatist. In defending our freedoms, according to today's Grauniad, among other things:
Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded.The report of the Taskforce on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centres concludes that after 9/11, health professionals working with the military and intelligence services "designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture of detainees".
Do you think, at any point along the way, people doing this stop for a moment and think, hang on a minute, aren't the rights and freedoms we're violating here the ones we're supposedly doing this in defence of? Is that not a wee bit paradoxical?
Bin Laden may have won the ironing competition then.
Full article here if anyone's interested:
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/cia-doctors-torture-suspected-terrorists-9-11 ]Linky[/url]
When something as small and insignificant as a pot of honey is seen as a threat you know that the terrorists have won?
Umm.. a pot of honey is not considered a thread.
Fluids are considered a potential threat, due to the possibility of a liquid bomb being assembled. I thought everyone knew this?