Walls and Borders

Build a wall and defend it and you've established a border. A border defines a space, it's that simple. Borders are everywhere. The shrubs that circle your yard form a border, the frame around grandma's picture is a border, and of course the fences that separate our country from our neighbors are borders. It used to be said that good fences make good neighbors but where has that gotten us? As I watched the news this weekend I only saw the problems that come from maintaining borders. A terrible car bomb went off in Baghdad Saturday. The target was the people who wait outside the US compound each day in hopes of getting a job or doing business with Americans. The US compound is circled by a series of interlocked cement barriers, similar to the ones you see used around construction areas. The cement factories in Iraq are working 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. The cement barriers in Iraq are much larger than the ones typically used in the US and they are also designed to fall over when a shock wave hits. This helps absorb and diffuse the blast, hopefully limiting damage and casualties. Science and design come together to build a better target.

Isn't that the real issue? If you build a wall, border, or fence someone will see it and want in. What's behind the wall, who's behind the wall, why can't I get behind the wall? The stuff behind the wall is better than my stuff otherwise they wouldn't have built a wall around it right. The lone exception are walls built to keep people in, like prisons. Either way the wall becomes the goal. Cover me boys I'm going over the wall. Inside or out we love our walls but we also hate them. It is human nature to resist the wall. The Chinese built a series of walls to protect their northern borders from the barbarians. It kinda worked but once that big ass wall was there the barbarians just met there each spring to attack again and again. If they failed there was always next year. The people who built them sought protection and safety and the people outside the walls sought their destruction. In a strange way it reminds me of fart theory. I think George Carlin made the original observation, I am just applying his theory to a different situation. Fart theory works like this, humans hate farts except for their own. See :) If I build a wall it's good cause it's my stuff and you can't have it but any other wall is bad.

This is basic human nature. We want to protect ours and acquire yours. Recently I was caught up in the border battle between the US and Brazil. I was supposed to make my second trip to the jungle but I was surprised to learn that my visa was denied this time. The reason was somewhat thin, I was told that my business visa was not appropriate for my trip this time even though it was fine just three months ago. I would need to reapply for a technical visa and that could take another three to six months to get approved. What happened? I'll tell you what I think happened. The week before my trip the US started a new process of photographing and fingerprinting any person coming to the US who was not a citizen of a western European country with the exception of Canada and Mexico. The reason for this new policy is of course national security. We need to know who is coming in and create a record so that if necessary we can ship their butt back out.

Interesting concept and at first it almost makes sense. Almost until you look at the big picture. Since 911 the airports have instituted a cumbersome and stupid screening system that only wastes money and avoids the real issues. I travel for a living and I am often selected to be searched and questioned. The computer system flags me if I buy a one way ticket or purchase my ticket the same week as my trip. I fly every week and I have been doing this for about four months. If the airport computers can notice if I purchase tickets near my departure date then why can't they also see that I fly every week and often my flights are the same. More puzzling is how my luggage can make it onto the plane while I miss that flight because I am in the cue to have my carry on bagged ripped through by a rubber gloved primate. The focus is all show and no real thought. I think that we are wasting a huge amount of money making believe that we are safer. I should be careful here since I don't want to be accused of being a terrorist. I will give one example of a gigantic security gap that is left unchecked everyday. A few of the airports I travel through have taxiways that actually go over the airports roads or local roads. A plane full of people on a bridge with unchecked traffic below. I will let you draw your own picture. The government would have you believe that the real problems are nail clippers and sewing kits (both have been confiscated from me).

Anywho the Brazilian government reacted to the new US policy by instituting the same program for American's entering Brazil and reviewing all visa applications. Nice. Our wall is getting higher and so they raised their wall in retaliation. Does all this make us safer? Not. Instead it only increases the distrust and fear. I never knew Brazil posed a threat but our government knows best. So my trip was cancelled and I will not return to Brazil again unless I have to. I am trying to do work that benefits their economy and at the same time I bring money into their country since I stay in nice hotels and I fly on the Brazilian airlines while in the country. They made their point but they also lost all that money and the services I provide to their businesses. Tell me how this makes us safer? Walls make better neighbors right, no they make bigger walls.

The only wall I really like is the classic album by Pink Floyd. Roger Waters could teach us a lot in these days of fear and wall building. The Russians tried this strategy and it eventually led to their breakup and bankruptcy. The Russians even named their wall The Iron Curtain. Scary huh? How long before Americans see the folly in the using fart theory to secure our borders. Our wall good your wall bad. Of course I exaggerate a bit but I hope that you get the point and heed the words of Pink Floyd, "Tear down the wall!".