On security
Oct. 2nd, 2009 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregularOK, I know security's gone nuts in the past eight years or so in New York, and probably in other urban areas. But here in Athens, they've taken it a step further.
I'm not talking about the cops on the streets carrying machine guns, or the Bauhaus blockhouse fortress that is the American embassy (though, to be fair, is it paranoia if certain elements of society have already expressed their dissatisfaction with American foreign policy through the use of a missile launcher?).
No, where the Athenians have the folks back home beat is in the new security measures they've got at a bunch of banks. Their setup is basically airlocks. Outer door opens to a chamber about the size of two phone booths, and the inner door won't unlock until several seconds after the outer door has locked you in. Not for claustrophobes.
This wasn't in place a year ago. It probably was spurred by the December riots (Molotov cocktails aren't as politically punchy as rocket-propelled grenades, but they're easier for jackasses to get their hands onto), and it seems that the anarchist element in the protests has a long grudge against the banks. On the other hand, they appear to also have a long grudge against anything that smacks of unwanted structure in society, and while I'll admit that too much regimentation in a society can be a bad thing, you've got to have some structure, or else things kind of break down.
Of course, people around here don't seem to have a lot of faith in authority, and the authorities don't do a hell of a lot to encourage faith in their efforts. You can't even cross a street on a green walk sign in a lot of places, because the light goes back to red so quickly it'd strand Jesse Owens in the middle of the street.
That's actually one of the things I realize I miss, when I get back to New York: being able to cross the street on the green without sprinting. Well, that and being able to walk on the sidewalk without having to keep an eye out for the motorcycles. When was the last time someone in New York City had to dodge a motorcycle that was using a sidewalk as an extra lane of traffic?
I'm not talking about the cops on the streets carrying machine guns, or the Bauhaus blockhouse fortress that is the American embassy (though, to be fair, is it paranoia if certain elements of society have already expressed their dissatisfaction with American foreign policy through the use of a missile launcher?).
No, where the Athenians have the folks back home beat is in the new security measures they've got at a bunch of banks. Their setup is basically airlocks. Outer door opens to a chamber about the size of two phone booths, and the inner door won't unlock until several seconds after the outer door has locked you in. Not for claustrophobes.
This wasn't in place a year ago. It probably was spurred by the December riots (Molotov cocktails aren't as politically punchy as rocket-propelled grenades, but they're easier for jackasses to get their hands onto), and it seems that the anarchist element in the protests has a long grudge against the banks. On the other hand, they appear to also have a long grudge against anything that smacks of unwanted structure in society, and while I'll admit that too much regimentation in a society can be a bad thing, you've got to have some structure, or else things kind of break down.
Of course, people around here don't seem to have a lot of faith in authority, and the authorities don't do a hell of a lot to encourage faith in their efforts. You can't even cross a street on a green walk sign in a lot of places, because the light goes back to red so quickly it'd strand Jesse Owens in the middle of the street.
That's actually one of the things I realize I miss, when I get back to New York: being able to cross the street on the green without sprinting. Well, that and being able to walk on the sidewalk without having to keep an eye out for the motorcycles. When was the last time someone in New York City had to dodge a motorcycle that was using a sidewalk as an extra lane of traffic?
