No question that the recent Air France flight from Brazil that crashed is a tragedy.
But I am left kinda amazed at two things – one, the fact that people are stunned a plane could crash and two the news coverage… I mean I am amazed they stay in the air in the first place. Big heavy metal things.
Let’s face it, landings are really just controlled crashes when you think about it. Which I pretty much do everytime I fly…and teeth clenched land.
And no I am not a crazed individual who is fearful of flight… I fly a lot international and domestically through work… and that’s why I am amazed there are not more crashes. What with the drinking and the weak bladder. I wouldn’t fly with me if I could help it.
In fact flight must be one of the safest ways of traveling going on… certainly more so than hoping in a car with Midnight and attempting one of his famous road trips that usually results in a series of unrelated bushfires following him…. Seriously on his last road trip with the infamous Scotch of Province Carina, Midnight text me when he had touched down in Melbourne to pick up a car full of Scotch.
This was day one of the recent bushfires for 2009. As they traveled across the state of Victoria, more bushfires broke out. They crossed into New South Wales… so did the bushfires. Coincidence?? Most probably… but still.
The pair of them roadtripping are like a really disturbing male version of Thelma and Louise. But without all the teeth of Geena Davis or the bountiful bosomy promise offered by Susan Sarandon… but they do holler and bicker a lot, they check themselves out in the rear view mirrors and sing offkey, all while hurtilng down the Pacific Highway looking for a roadhouse pitstop that may never come quick enough. I’d imagine these sort of undertakings would test the very best of friendships. And I guess you gotta like the journey as much if not more than the getting there and having a good nanny-nap.
Actually this roadtrip concept is a real bugbear between the Saturday and Midnight. He insists that I wear a custom t-shirt that says “I ate after Midnight” (a pun on Gremlins and Midnight ha ha hmm) and play my banjo… whereas I insist on driving… we have now entered a long protracted stalemate here.
And the Midnight does love his chess. I like boobs. And Scotch has a nice Saab. I’m told. This is how we roll.
But back on message – air travel is safer than walking around a shopping center. I have no stat’s to back this up but they are out there and it is true.
The other thing I am a-mazed about following this tragedy is the way the media once again beats up news even when there may not be any. The following was filed on the News Corp website titled Air France passengers ‘had terror links’. Yup.
I’ve taken the liberty of quoting out of context the key passages of the report below:
TWO passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board, it has emerged. …There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a “macabre coincidence,” the source added, but the revelation is still being “taken very seriously”. Flight AF447 crashed in mid-Atlantic en route to Paris during a violent storm.
While it is certain that there were computer malfunctions, terrorism has not been ruled out.
Ummm okay. Kinda having a couple of side bets here.
Sure sure it is a macabre coincidence that terror link individuals were on the flight… but but but it was a violent storm that brought the plan down… or or or computer malfunctions… but terrorism makes for much better copy and sales/pings. To me it seems a bit of a stretch all round this terrorism link.
Is it not possible that the plan encountered a violent storm WHICH contributed to a computer malfunction WHICH brought the plan down.
Terror enough for you? Yes thank you.
Look some of these terrorists are good – but engineer a major weather event… not that good. I’d wager that those individuals with terror links sitting in the plan were just as terrified as all the other passengers as the plan dropped.
And on closing… think about it. If it was a terrorist attack… which I personally strongly doubt… how come no one has claimed responsibility?
I mean isn’t that the whole point of a terrorist attack – to create an environment of terror, of fear… and elevate the profile/stature of those behind it. From this and other reports no claims have been made (maybe one of the lower league terror outfits should have seen this as an opportiunity to claim it and step up to the plate) and instead, a sense of terror and fright has been engineered… by outfits like News Corp and the terror is more about the weather, Boeing planes, Air France, and Rio to Paris routes.
Nice one. Knuckleheads.
I’d fly Air France, and I’d fly a Boeing or an Airbus. And I’d be delighted to travel to Rio from Paris or Paris to Rio. And I’ll take my chances walking around the shopping mall.
But I do draw the line at the t-shirt and the banjo… unless I’m driving. 
Alas everything these days has to be framed in terms of being a potential ‘terrorist attack’. I remember when the bridge in Minnesota collapsed and the first news report declared ‘Terrorism not suspected’.
The whole fear thing really annoys me. Americans have this belief, and trust me its a fairly common one, that terrorism never existed before September 11. Unfortunately the rest of the western media seems to only support this theory and happily plays along – I blame Murdoch. Americans quickly forget that New York was financing the IRA for decades before it suddenly stopped after 9/11 because it didn’t want to be seen as hypocrisy. Bit late there.
What cracks me up at the moment is the current argument the Republicans and Democrats are having about incarcerating Guantanamo prisoners in supermax prisons here on US soil. The Republicans have this mentality that America is terrorist free and that bringing them here and keeping them locked up will unleash the Hounds of Hell and we’ll have terrorists running every corner store and loitering around every public park. It’s the old fear game again.
What I find amusing is the fact that there are already 230+ people in this country in prison for ‘terrorism’, some of whom are international terrorists. they are all in supermax prisons and nobody has escaped from a supermax in the entire time they have been operational. That’s why they call them supermax. But no, bring in a few people (who incidently haven’t even been convicted of anything yet), and the whole penal system breaks down, and we have terrorists running amok across the country.
Jen and I have already declared that the day the next Republican is elected President is the day we emigrate.
The Creature said:
Seriously? Which part of the world would you be heading to, do you think?
Murray @ Midnight
Darren Saturday said:
I’m in two minds about this. Yes, I think it’s depressingly predictable that news outlets jumped on the terrorism bandwagon when it came to the crash of AF447, but ultimately, as you point out, news outlets are in the business of selling advertising, and if you want eyeballs looking at the ads you’re carrying, you do things like throw the ‘T-word’ into headlines because that will draw people in.
Meanwhile, out on the fringe, people are (or were) speculating that maybe aliens had abducted the people from AF447, so working a (probably imaginary) terrorism link is actually very mainstream by comparison, and at least within the realm of possibility during the first hours and days of the search for the wreckage.
Not saying I like it, though…
Murray @ Midnight
Based on that – it is possible that the major media organisations got together and engineered the ‘War on Terror’ to really drive up advertising and readership. Having watched way too much Fox News while posted overseas I gotta say….. and then of course over time and usage I am guessing that the actual power and drawing impact currently associated with the ‘T’ word will lessen to such a degree that an aftershave or a pair of sandshoes will be marketed as the ‘terroriser’ and young kids will start calling each other that as a term of endearement. Oh dear.
Mind you – from my understanding of Al Quaeda is that it in itself is pretty much a master franchise holder charged with marketing itself as the biggest baddest terror group around and the actual outfits that undertake the terror are all very much individual outfits that have taken up the branding as part of the greater franchised group. They are not keen on the USA and it’s free market ideals and yet they manage their own outfit like a string of 7-Elevens. But without the old dogs and big gulp slurpees.
Seriously? Which part of the world would you be heading to, do you think?
Soctland, Ireland or the south island of New Zealand, unless Oregon and Washington become part of Canada.
The Creature said:
So, why not Canada?
Murray @ Midnight
how about Stanthorpe? or if you don’t want to leave the States – Little Rock.
We would want to leave the USA, that’s the point. I think it would be too much to bear with a President Palin or Huckabee or Pawlenty or Romney.
I don’t have to worry about migrating to a country I’m already a citizen of, hence NZ or UK.
How many citizenships can you hold at once? I always thought that the US always demanded you renounce your citizenship to other nations when you took on their’s and most commonly most nations would only accept a dual citizenship status not a triple dip… as it were. Who are you Mr Creature? Or should I say Mr Bourne!
Given the choice.. which is not much since both the UK and NZ always seem to be wet, cold and miserable – I’d have thought NZ would be the better choice if you were intent on running as far away as possible from civilisation.
A quick update on the Air French crash – the current report posted today indicates that the plane most probably ‘broke up’ mid air rather than crashing into the sea. What’s this mean? No idea although it seems from this report, all on board were dead before hitting the sea… a small mercy? I guess. It beats drowning or being shark snacks.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=826865