Epistemological violence in America

The building I work in is under tight security, as is the case with many skyscrapers in my fair metropolis. The lobby is filled with uniformed and unarmed security guards, closed-circuit cameras and monitors, and several airport-quality x-ray machines. Standard procedure for searching bags is as follows: backpacks and larger luggage must be X-rayed while messenger bags need just be briefly opened so that a guard can quickly peer inside with no ostensible intent other than creating the illusion that a search has been performed. This seems to be completely devoid of logic. But that's not all...

I generally bring my lunch in a plastic grocery bag that I carry in my backpack. As I mentioned above, the backpack must be put through the x-ray machine. However, I object to having my meal bombarded with gamma rays* so I remove my plastic lunch bag before placing my backpack on the conveyor belt. Not once have I been asked to submit my lunch bag to a search. Not once has a uniformed rent-a-cop eyebrow been even slightly raised at the sight of my transgression. I presume that the security guards and expensive-looking equipment are present to detect dangerous objects such as bombs and guns in order to prevent an attack on a person or the building itself. Yet it apparently hasn’t occurred to anyone responsible for security in the building that a gun or bomb or whatever can be carried in a plastic grocery bag. It’s gotten to the point that I try to make myself look particularly shady or conspicuous by being extremely deliberate in my movements, especially once I’ve cleared the security area and am free to proceed toward the elevators.

I can’t help but wonder how this situation has come about. Is there some security guideline manual in which it is specifically mentioned that plastic grocery bags (or messenger bags for that matter) are less likely to harbor contraband that a backpack or suitcase? I wonder how many meetings and work hours were spent to determine the protocol regarding the checking of bags in “high-risk” places. How many red flags and action item lists did this matter warrant? I’d like to believe that there exists an ultimate vault of bureaucracy that is buried beneath a monolithic federal building and in this vault there is a top-secret directory in which every type of bag, satchel and parcel is given a corresponding threat assessment and rating. In this great tome of precaution I would imagine that those cool shiny steel briefcases are given a really high threat rating, maybe 9 out of a possible 10, though not as high as the huge black duffle bags that seem designed to be filled with machine guns a la the Matrix. Based on that, here are some possible ratings:

Black “machine gun” duffle bag – 10

Steel “heist” briefcase – 9

Backpack or large suitcase – 6

Messenger bag - 3

Plastic Grocery bag - .4

I’m also curious as to whether a paper grocery bag would be considered more suspicious. Soon I will test the limits of the private security industry and report my findings.

*Some might call this fear irrational, neurotic or even insane. While I will not address those assumptions, I will can safely say that this quirk o’ mine is due in large part to watching the Incredible Hulk TV series starring Bill Bixby when I was a child.

# posted by workplex @ 15:55