Friday, August 26, 2005
Imaginary Stories
Last summer, Women's Wall Street writer Annie Jacobsen wrote an article about her absolutely terrifying encounter with fourteen Syrian musicians with leaky bladders on a plane. For some strange reason, even though Jacobsen got through the flight and found that, hey, these aren't terrorists, they're just regular joes trying to make a living, she called for racial profiling. Because the government caters to the whims of quivering middle-aged women who are afraid of the brown people, and will instantly implement an outdated, ineffective, and potentially racist form of security screening just because one woman says so.
Well, someone actually gave Jacobsen a book deal. Mind you, this isn't suprrising, seeing as we live in a culture where the woman who held off Brian Nichols by reading him The Purpose-Driven Life can get a TV movie deal. But to write a book about an incident where nothing happened... I mean, wow. And here's how they're advertising it:
Read the whole story, including Annie's theory about what was really happening on that flight.
Yes. Yes, because being moderately successful when it comes to finances automatically makes one an expert in terrorism. For fuck's sake. The plane didn't explode. What, were these men carrying out a terrorist plot to jam up the plumbing by flushing paper towles down the toilet?
At best, Annie Jacobsen should've gotten a pat on the back and a nice cup of tea to soothe her nerves after a harrowing experience with actual Muslims working for a living. But she got a book deal, because a point must be made, no matter how much actual evidence there is for that point.
Well, someone actually gave Jacobsen a book deal. Mind you, this isn't suprrising, seeing as we live in a culture where the woman who held off Brian Nichols by reading him The Purpose-Driven Life can get a TV movie deal. But to write a book about an incident where nothing happened... I mean, wow. And here's how they're advertising it:
Read the whole story, including Annie's theory about what was really happening on that flight.
Yes. Yes, because being moderately successful when it comes to finances automatically makes one an expert in terrorism. For fuck's sake. The plane didn't explode. What, were these men carrying out a terrorist plot to jam up the plumbing by flushing paper towles down the toilet?
At best, Annie Jacobsen should've gotten a pat on the back and a nice cup of tea to soothe her nerves after a harrowing experience with actual Muslims working for a living. But she got a book deal, because a point must be made, no matter how much actual evidence there is for that point.
