
Dozens of teenagers are now tweeting bomb jokes to American Airlines - adamnemecek
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/04/14/dozens-of-teenagers-are-now-tweeting-bomb-jokes-to-american-airlines/
======
javajosh
If an airline can't differentiate between a teenager goofing around and a
credible threat, then that's the airline's fault. A girl posting nonsense on
twitter getting arrested just shows that "the system" is inhuman and it just
chews people up and spits them out. I won't be surprised at all if this girl
gets a long prison sentence and her life gets ruined. Nor will I be surprised
when legions of pundits come out of the woodwork exclaiming it wasn't
punishment enough, and all the copycats should be treated the same way.

The thing is, if you think for 30 seconds about the problem of defending
infrastructure from crazy people, your best bet is to lurk where crazy people
congregate, and keep a finger on the pulse of the ones who are poised to "do
something". How often do these people actually make a threat? Don't they
normally just execute the attack? Of course, even this is imperfect, and the
best response is to _rebuild_ when something gets blown up. Hurricanes happen,
earthquakes happen, _crazy people who hate you happen_ , and in every case
your best "revenge" is to just outproduce entropy.

Overreaction to human threat is a symptom of a much deeper illness, and one
that plays directly into the hands of real terrorists. The lives and treasure
lost on 9/11 was trivial to the number of lives and treasure we've spent
trying to prevent the unpreventable. We could have built the Twin Towers
10,000 times over for the money we've spent on war and the TSA and the NSA.
It's fucking stupid, and I'm tired of it.

~~~
FLUX-YOU
>If an airline can't differentiate between a teenager goofing around and a
credible threat, then that's the airline's fault.

I don't really want the airline making that assessment because they don't have
the people/experience/knowledge/training/ability to accurately assess that
threat. I would rather them make the time-wasting call to the FBI and have the
FBI on record and clear it. The situation is dumb, but sometimes you have to
follow procedure for dumb situations. It's easier to cover your ass than
change our litigious and terrorism-fearing society, so while I agree that it
shouldn't be necessary, it unfortunately is.

That said, AA's twitter response was dumb and they'd be dumber if 'respond
publicly to any threats' was the status-quo.

~~~
baddox
> I don't really want the airline making that assessment because they don't
> have the people/experience/knowledge/training/ability to accurately assess
> that threat.

Is it really that hard of an assessment to make? Is the threat from a Twitter
account? Yes? Okay, is there any reason to think the Twitter account is
controlled by someone with the intention or ability to carry out an attack?
No? Okay then.

~~~
PakG1
It's far easier to miss than hit, and it gets really grey. Look at any of the
mass shooters in recent history. Some of them look a bit dysfunctional, but
harmless. Others, not so. Would you REALLY have been able to differentiate
shooters from harmless, outcast, social misfits?

It's easy to criticize, that's all I'm saying. Let's accept that this is a
difficult situation to be put in, and I think notifying the FBI was the right
thing. Whether or not the FBI has what it takes to make the right call, who
knows. But AA does not.

------
cwp
That's a really long-winded way of saying "Get your twitters off my lawn!"

It's a shame, though, because surely there's a deeper story here? Why are
people doing this? Are they all teenagers? Do they know each other? How wide-
spread is it? How are the airlines handling it?

In other words, it would be nice if the Post did some reporting instead of the
"grumpy columnist" bit.

~~~
pantalaimon
It started with this

[http://www.businessinsider.com/twitterer-hints-of-
terrorist-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/twitterer-hints-of-terrorist-
attack-2014-4)

~~~
muncha_maq00chi
Tweeting intensifies...

[http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/us-airways-just-
tweete...](http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/us-airways-just-tweeted-out-
one-of-the-most-graphic-things-y)

------
gph
I suppose this is just a nerd annoyance, but the false quip about forwarding
her IP address to the FBI rubbed me the wrong way. After reporting the threat
to the FBI, Twitter could then give the FBI that info. But AA never had that
information, and whoever sent that tweet probably just used it as a scare
tactic. Saying you have someone's IP address has become this bogeyman threat
that more often than not is meaningless.

I know that's not really that pertinent to the whole story, but dammit is it
annoying. Promulgates ignorance.

------
supercanuck
Is there something wrong with me that I am not even remotely outraged by this?

~~~
mindslight
Not at all, and in fact it _heartens me_ to see this. The young haven't yet
been socially worn down into worrying about being punished for things that
should not be crimes. Mass protesting by kids is one of the few ways we might
be able to roll back the ridiculous draconian punishments for victimless
"crimes".

~~~
amagumori
19 here. on the contrary, i would say our generation, unlike yours, does not
give law enforcement or the gov't the benefit of the doubt as you describe,
because we have had a precedent of hostile gov't and law enforcement our
entire life. we weren't here for Eisenhower, JFK, Carter, or even Clinton. we
became politically aware during the Bush era. we are extremely aware of the
possible consequences of our actions and have no expectation that we will be
treated fairly by authority figures.

~~~
mindslight
Well sure, (the general) you might intellectually know. But that doesn't mean
you prudently avoid possible life-altering consequences. It's not the
generation's views, but the fact that you're younger and have a sense of
invincibility. I've never much trusted "authority", but there's no way I would
ever join in this tweet-fest. Because after being through various
confrontations myself, I have found it more pleasant to generally avoid them -
even when everything ends up all right in the end.

~~~
sentenza
Over here in post-everything Europe, young people today unfortunately don't
have much to rebel against. It might not be good for teenagers if our society
drifts towards a situation where rebellious actions are either shrugged off by
everybody or, alternatively, will be used to ruin your life.

There needs to be a middle ground for the kids to explore.

~~~
mindslight
I agree about the need for non-binary punishment, but it's nothing new to
"this" generation. Computer cracking laws have been around for decades with
the same life-altering draconian penalties. My point is the only way these
things are going to actually change is for masses of people to play chicken
with the establishment, and see if they're really willing to destroy so many
people's lives rather than just a few isolated cases.

------
kylebgorman
Is it possible that "taking all bomb threats deadly serious" is actually a
poor policy? Arguments against: 1) base rate of airplane-related terrorism is
very low 2) base rate of airplane-related terrorism that is preceded by a
"credible threat" is much lower 3) can destroy lives of people who should know
better (poor Sarah)

Perhaps these teens are engaging in a bit of civil disobedience to protest the
current state of affairs. (It seems that Sarah was not, but others may be
responding to her plight.)

[edit: formatting]

~~~
gedrap
But if, in a very unlikely case, something actually happens then no one wants
to be pointed out as the person who said 'lol idiots'.

>>> 3) can destroy lives of people who should know better

Yes. But on other hand, everyone in the right mind knows that joking about
bombs and air planes is not funny for some certain institutions. So if they
are smart enough to make jokes like that, they will totally find more ways to
destroy or severely damage their lives.

In Vilnius (Lithuania) airport, near the check in tables, there is a warning
saying that you can't joke about bombs. Because every year or two there are
some geniuses who are 'joking' that they have a bomb once they board a plane.

~~~
chronid
I feel no one really cares about the possibility of a bomb being on a plane.

Everyone fears the negative PR that will destroy them if they make a mistake -
they are just covering their asses, not thinking about human lives. And that
fear is what drives every "security policy" since 9/11\. Who cares if those
policies are useless? We placed them there, we are safe!

------
mcphage
If teens keep sending fake tweets like this, how will the airlines be able to
spot all of the real terrorists tweeting about the bombs they're about to
detonate?

~~~
agersant
Not sure if you're being ironic. I don't think terrorists usually announce
incoming bomb attacks before they happen.

~~~
Kroem3r
I'm calling it: TOD, 12:20 AM PDT

REUTERS - In the small hours of the morning Irony coughed up a lung and died.
It had been on life-support for nearly a decade when a seemingly innocent ...

------
cavilling_elite
I'm more upset on how blatantly racist the initial and other tweets seem.

------
j2kun
Why do they need to arrest the girl? Certainly if they show up to her house
they can tell she's not a terrorist.

~~~
kijin
The most charitable interpretation would be that they wanted to scare the shit
out of her and make sure it doesn't happen again.

It also sends a message to other stupid teenagers: if you make a bomb threat
at an airline, there will be a SWAT team at your door.

~~~
dingaling
> It also sends a message to other stupid teenagers: if you make a bomb threat
> at an airline, there will be a SWAT team at your door.

Does the same apply to threats made against trains and buses?

There was a huge explosion at a bus station in Abuja on Monday, more than 70
killed. But that barely made the news in the 'West'; yet I am sure that if it
had been on an aeroplane it would have been the leading story.

~~~
kijin
1\. People only pay attention to something if it's rare or unusual. Hijackings
and bombings are rare in some parts of the world but not others.

2\. It is nearly impossible to hijack a train and make it slam into a
skyscraper, because trains have little control over where they go. Planes on
the other hand can be directed at virtually any target. Therefore it is
rational to pay more attention to aircraft hijackings.

I'm not trying to defend the stark contrast between paranoia and apathy that
you mentioned. Unfortunately, it's just a consequence of how human attention
spans work.

------
varkson
I want to think this is some sort of protest over the treatment of the girl,
but I actually think it's just some more kids wanting their 15 minutes of
fame.

I hope the girl doesn't get in a lot of trouble. All they needed to do was to
get someone to talk to her and tell her it was a really dumb idea.

------
sphildreth
Having a sense of humor is one thing; having some common sense shouldn't be
another. I don't have any issues with someone being jovial but I expect it
done in a responsible way. Perhaps I am just old.

------
fchollet
14-year olds making stupid jokes on the Internet now results in international
arrests.

After her initial tweet, the 14-year old apparently spent several hours on
Twitter begging AA for "forgiveness", but the FBI ruined her life all the
same.

> _“I’m so sorry I’m scared now. I was joking and it was my friend not me,
> take her IP address not mine.”_

> _“I’m just a fangirl pls I don’t have evil thoughts and plus I’m a white
> girl "_

> _" I was kidding pls don't I'm just a girl pls."_

Apparently the FBI was even more scared of her than she was of the FBI,
judging from the measures it took.

~~~
gph
>Apparently the FBI was even more scared of her than she was of the FBI,
judging from the measures it took

And what extraordinary measures did they take? Picking up the phone and
calling someone in the Netherlands? From what I've heard the girl practically
turned herself in. I doubt anyone at the FBI spent more than a couple hours on
this case.

------
QuantumChaos
The funny thing is, I was flying United and even though apparently you're not
allowed to say the word "bomb" on a plane, they are happy to show a movie that
glorifies terrorists ("The Company You Keep") as inflight entertainment.

It seems like violent metaphors or even threats of violence, are only
tolerated when they come from the far left.

~~~
mindslight
I know that it is a nice easy way to get _an_ answer, but the problem has
nothing to do with "the left" specifically. You're going to have to move past
those media-fueled simplistic demonizations of the "other" side if you ever
want to stop being part of the problem.

~~~
QuantumChaos
I can't know what problem I'm part of until you're more specific.

The problem I see is that inconsistent enforcement of both laws and social
norms, allow one side of politics to be more expressive than the other.
Compare "if the rich don't start dealing with the problem of inequality,
violence is sure to follow", with "if politicians don't start dealing with the
problem of non-White immigration, violence is sure to follow".

~~~
mindslight
The larger problem I'm referring to is the division and conquering of the
entirety of political debate, by deflecting anger away from the actual
responsible parties and towards the people making up the "other" half.

Each group _is_ organized in a different manner, causing the speech-asymmetry
you describe - you are correct that the phrases are essentially describing
similar things yet are perceived unequally. But to focus on this one specific
mechanism is to miss the larger picture of how the people who identify with
each side are goaded into using up their energy attacking each other while
giving a pass to those in power responsible for the conditions.

Your original comment is an illustration of self-defeating groupthink
occurring on your side. By misdiagnosing the situation as an instance of
political speech asymmetry rather than exploring the specific inconsistency
itself (say, leading back to the utter arbitrariness with which one can find
oneself being seriously hassled when even just near an airport), you
shoehorned the problem as if it is the sole doing of the "other" group, and
left it at that. Clearly this resolves nothing.

~~~
QuantumChaos
You claim that the concepts of left and right are not useful because both
sides are in fact being manipulated into fighting each other, rather than the
true "responsible parties". Who exactly do you think these "responsible
parties" are?

~~~
mindslight
In this case, both the airlines and law enforcement for sustaining an
environment where anything called a "threat" is treated as a drop-everything
excuse to hassle anybody possibly involved, all without having to compensate
the victims of false positives. Their behavior arises out of a cover-your-ass
mentality, but that doesn't mean they should escape blame.

This is where the corruption begins, and the inconsistency you point out
illustrates it. The airlines are able to show any movie because they set the
status quo, not because of the movies' political affiliations.

------
jebblue
Jail them. Every last one of the punks.

------
zacinbusiness
I don't think that idiot kids should be encouraged to communicate threats. Not
in America, anyway. Why? We also have a crazy gun culture. That sort of thing
can get you killed. Besides the fact that it's very disrespectful.

------
myrandomcomment
Every one of these young people should receive a visit from the FBI. This
behavior is not okay.

