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Please Don’t Come, Just Send Your Money to Us
By Jay | January 20, 2008
Since I’ve been on a media rant today, here’s another article that has made me seethe. By the way, do note that this article appears in is considered to be a conservative London newspaper, which owned by Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox News.
Fortunately, Michael Chertoff, baldie boss of the Department of Homeland Securitisation, has now reminded us that we’re not wanted. Or, rather, that we are wanted (because tourists bring lots of nice money with them), but only if we jump through lots of hoops in the process.
Chertoff has let it be known that Europe is a platform for terrorism. He says it’s important to step up checks on travellers. Yes, that’s right, step them up. In fact, it would be really, really great, he didn’t say, but was probably thinking, if all we prospective visitors could be so good as to stay at home and just send our holiday money over in an envelope.
If you haven’t had friends visit you from abroad, you probably don’t realize just how difficult it is to get into the US as a tourist. Now I’m not criticizing these rules or the intent behind them, but they have led to excessively rude treatment of tourists: tourists who spend lots and lots of money.
I myself fly as seldom as possible because I don’t like the whole security game, but my mother, a respectable looking elderly lady with dual US/Canadian citizenship has endured some really awful, rude treatment over the past few years. Are old ladies really that much of a threat? Do British, Australian and Scandinavian tourists really need to be subjected to this?
Now again, it’s not the security that I’m criticizing, it’s the flat-out rudeness.
A preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage are all part of the fun. So, if Chertoff and co want to tighten Fortress America further, it’s time we considered other more welcoming holiday options. Such as Iran or North Korea.
The dollar is at record lows, yet international tourism in this country is dropping precipitously, while it grows everywhere else in the world. There is a reason for this, and it will hurt us. You can maintain security without treating people like criminals.
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