commentary: Morning in America

Does our perceived security come at too high a price?

by Milenko Budimir

By the time you read this, the dust will have settled on one of the most prolonged, bizarre and historic elections in American history. Barring another Florida-style vote-counting debacle, either President-elect Obama or McCain will be on his way to the White House.

Change was the mantra of this election. If that carries over, the next four years should hopefully see a change in America’s standing in the world. Both in how foreigners see us abroad as well as how they perceive America.

It may seem like small potatoes, but the airport is a good starting point. We can do a much better job of welcoming people into America, considering that the first experience of most visitors is an airport arrival terminal.

Imagine this scene: an international arrival terminal in a large East Coast city. About a dozen flights have just landed from all over the world – from Africa, South America, Asia and, like my flight, from Europe. Families with restless kids in tow, carefree backpackers, businessmen, Eastern European ladies in babushkas, tiny Asian women who don’t speak English, all shuffling through the long line toward passport control.

After customs, airport security people marshal the new arrivals toward a security checkpoint. Americans know the drill.Take everything out of your pockets, laptops out of cases, and most important, shoes off. (The rest of the world, for the most part, doesn’t do the shoes.)

An older Japanese lady is shuffling toward the screening area. She looks like somebody’s grandmother. She’s confused, most likely sleep-deprived, in that half-awake post-flight state that takes over when you’ve just landed after a long, long flight.

A burly security guy barks at her to take her shoes off. Clearly, she doesn’t understand what the hell he’s saying. And because she’s looking at him with that international look that says “I don’t understand you,” she isn’t taking her shoes off. He figures she must be either deaf or stupid, so he raises his voice, now yelling at her, with the same results he got before.

Finally, a fellow passenger gets through to her, with a lot of hand waving and pointing to her shoes and to the people in front of her.

By now, about a dozen security people are barking orders at this tired mass of weary travelers, herded through the security system like cattle. I doubt incarcerated felons at mealtime are treated this poorly.

Now, I’ve been in my share of airports around the world, from Australia and Asia to the Balkans and Western Europe. Nowhere have I seen any airport security people, whether armed with serious firepower (as some are) or not, treat people as poorly as we security-obsessed Americans do. Instead, you have the extremely polite Germans, the harried but goodnatured French, the joke-making, easy-going Australians, and the helpful, respectful Thai. And then, the suspicious, impatient Americans. What happened?

Sadly, to outsiders and foreigners, this scenario just confirms what to them America has become over these last eight years. Not the land of the free and home of the brave, but the land of fear and suspicion, rudeness and incivility.

Not surprisingly, the United States is increasingly seen around the world as the global bad guy, the rogue regime that pushes its weight around, bullying nations and people into accepting what is only in its own interest. As a result, US brands are not doing as well abroad. Increased travel restrictions hinder business and the exchange of goods as well as ideas. Not to mention the ridiculous cases of visas being denied to artists and athletes for inane, bureaucratic reasons.

We are better than that. As a nation, as a people, we can do so much better if only we turn to, as Lincoln once said, “the better angels of our nature.”

Our greatest strength has always been the mash-up of new ideas, the willingness to try something new and see if it works. This openness attracts people and brings them to our shores from all over the world. It’s precisely what is threatened by our zeal for national security and suspicion of foreigners and immigrants, born of a culture of Guantanamo and paranoia and fear.

We can’t let fear win. Fear confines us all to bunkers, and in bunkers, nobody wins or advances, but just manages to stay alive.

As a New Year approaches with a new set of days and a new president, let’s make a collective New Year’s resolution. To do what we can to restore America’s image and standing in the world, and to make it once again a beacon of hope instead of a panopticon of fear.

Pick up a copy of Northern Ohio Live at your favorite newsstand or subscribe online now. No credit card required. We’ll bill you later.