[PRCo] Re: OT: Prohibition of photography from trains and police action taken

[Jim Holland]

Apparently foreign visitors to USA is not rising with the weaker dollar  
--  They Are staying away  --  tried to find article but it takes time.
.
Japan is ciscouraging tourists:
.
http://tinyurl.com/3yqngw
.
Pendulums swing as Pendulums Do
.
....... One extreme to the Udder~!~!~!~!
.
.
.
Boris Cefer wrote:
> I think this story won't attract many foreign visitors to your country... 
> Most people believe in good people but they also remember what they hear and 
> read.
>
> B
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jim Holland" <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com>
> To: "- 1714 PRCo__WP__JTC -" <pittsburgh-railways at lists.dementia.org>; "- 
> 1714 PRCo__WP__JTC -" <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>; "- 1717 
> PRCo__WP__JTC -" <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:56 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] OT: Prohibition of photography from trains and police action 
> taken
>
>
>
> http://www.episcopalcafe.com/daily/war_and_peace/every_day_diplomacy.php
>
> Episcopal Café
> November 3, 2007
>
> Joel Merchant is a teacher, business consultant, and essayist. He is
> currently working on "The Other Side of Time; Letters to My Daughter" at
> a-reminiscence.
>
> Posted by Jim Naughton on 4:15 AM | Permalink | Digg this
>
> Every day diplomacy
>
> Note: we are receiving many insightful comments on this article from
> folks who aren't signing the comments using their real names. We are
> delighted to have your comments, especially from first-time visitors,
> but in the interest of transparency and accountability, we do require
> you to sign your posts with your real name. Thanks. The editors.
>
> By Joel L. Merchant
>
> Countries, like people, make friends with others one at a time. This is
> a story of one failure. In fairness to an unknown visitor to our
> country, imagine yourself in his place. The scene is on a recent Amtrak
> trip between New York City and Boston. The conductor collects tickets,
> requests identification, folds destination stubs into seatbacks, moves
> on to other cars. An older man across the aisle, traveling alone, shows
> his passport. It is clear from their conversation he doesn't know
> English. After decades as a frequent traveler, I have thousands of
> pictures -- scenery, buildings, people, architecture, from around the
> world. Today the train passes a lovely stretch of Connecticut shore,
> tidal marshes, nesting ospreys, the Long Island Sound. What little
> attention I pay as the visitor takes pictures, is that I'm impressed
> with his equipment. He and I, unknown to each other, are members of a
> picture-taking culture, fellow citizens of a show-and-tell world. I
> wonder if his will join the thousands on YouTube. I imagine, after his
> return home, how many friends he will impress with stories and pictures
> of this mild, early autumn, Saturday morning journey along the New
> England shoreline.
>
> The train is a half hour west of New Haven when the conductor, having
> finished her original rounds, reappears. She moves down the aisle,
> looks, stops between our seats, faces the person taking pictures. "Sir,
> in the interest of national security, we do not allow pictures to be
> taken of or from this train." He starts, "I……." but, without English,
> his response trails off into silence. The conductor, speaking louder,
> forcefully: "Sir, I will confiscate that camera if you don't put it
> away." Again, little response. "Sir, this is a security matter! We
> cannot allow pictures." She turns away abruptly and, as she moves down
> the aisle, calls over her shoulder, in a very loud voice, "Put. It.
> Away!" He packs his camera. Within a minute after our arrival in New
> Haven, two armed police officers entered the car, approached my
> neighbor's seat. "Sir, we're removing you from this train." "I….;" "I……"
> "Sir, you have breached security regulations. We must remove you from
> this train." "I…," "I….." "Sir, we are not going to delay this train
> because of you. You will get off, or we will remove you physically."
> "I….." Nearby passengers stir. One says, "It's obvious he doesn't speak
> English. There are people here who speak more than one language. Perhaps
> we can help." Different ones ask about the traveler's language; learn he
> speaks Japanese. For me, a sudden flash of memory -- a student at
> International Christian University in Japan, I took countless pictures
> without arousing suspicion.
>
> The police speak through the interpreter, with the impatience of
> authority. The conductor asked this man three times to discontinue. We
> must remove him from the train." The traveler hears the translation, is
> befuddled. Hidden beneath the commotion is a cross-cultural drama. With
> the appearance of police officers, this quiet visitor is embarrassed to
> find he is the center of attention. The officers explain, "After we
> remove him from the train, when we are through our investigation, we
> will put him on the next train." The woman translates. The passenger
> replies, "I'm meeting relatives in Boston. They cannot be reached by
> phone. They expect me and will be worried when I do not arrive on
> schedule." "Our task," the police repeat, "is to remove you from this
> train. If necessary, we will do so by force. After we have finished the
> investigation, we'll put you on another train." The woman translates.
> The traveler gathers his belongings and departs.
>
> My earlier suggestion that you imagine being in his place leaves you
> free to respond and draw your conclusions. Remember: you've been removed
> from the train, are being interrogated, perhaps having your equipment
> confiscated; while I continue to do what I take for granted – traveling
> unimpeded, on to Providence.
>
> The more I replay the scene, the more troublesome it is. It is the stuff
> of nightmares. Relations between people and countries lie at the heart
> of the issue. The abstract terms that inform political and social debate
> appear, as if in person, unexpectedly, near enough to hear, touch, feel.
> Taking no position is not an option. As an educator, I would prepare and
> deliver a lecture on how others perceive America in the world community,
> then seek an audience. I'll spare you. But -- I just watched armed
> police officers remove a visitor from the train for taking pictures. I
> don't understand this. I'm disturbed no, shaken – to bear witness to
> these events. Other passengers react with surprise and anger. "Since
> when is it illegal to take pictures?"
>
> "Nobody's ever bothered me about it." "Is the only photography allowed
> from the space station and Google Earth? These people take pictures of
> everything, including my house, without my permission, and they're
> instantly available on the internet." An older traveler reflected, "I
> witnessed this personally in police states during the war in Europe."
>
>
> In The Terror Presidency, Jack Goldsmith says it is right for a country
> to meet a threat in a way that keeps us safe, but must also "minimize
> unnecessary intrusion on …life, liberty and property.... and all those
> who are enjoying them with us." One passenger asked, "Would someone
> please explain the threat posed by taking pictures from the train?"
>
>
> In Matt Stoller's review of A Tragic Legacy, he says the current
> administration has "transformed the way (people) speak about our country
> and its role in the world." The good-versus-evil mentality has "altered
> the political system of our country" and our relationship with the rest
> of the world – in ways which are "inappropriate for a modern power in a
> time of global turmoil."
>
>
> It doesn't take more than five minutes, in any airport in this country,
> before I hear the loudspeaker, "The current terror threat is elevated."
> We hear "terror" endlessly – traveling, at home, on television, in the
> news. Recent political campaigns have reminded no, badgered – us, to be
> very afraid. What did Franklin Roosevelt say, that "the only thing we
> have to fear is fear itself." Terror. Paranoia. We can no longer
> differentiate between terrors. Is this our generation's enlightened
> contribution to American culture?
>
>
> Watching police escort a visitor off the train, I felt anger, not
> comfort. This action was beyond irritating. It is intolerable,
> unacceptable. If it bothered me, it paled in comparison to the way it
> inconvenienced, and will long trouble, this visitor to our country. We
> disrupted his travel plans and family reunion. Even greater than the
> psychological damage we inflicted is the harm we've done to ourselves.
>
> We missed an opportunity to show kindness, to be ambassadors of
> goodwill. The visitor will return home. He will indeed impress many
> people – not with pleasant memories and pictures of a quiet morning trip
> along the New England coast, but with a story of being removed and
> detained by American police for taking pictures. Do we imagine we've
> gained anything because a single visitor returns home with stories of
> mistreatment?
>
>
> We engage in diplomacy whenever we have contact with visitors or travel
> abroad ourselves. If we conduct ourselves poorly as daily ambassadors,
> it is no wonder our country suffers a tarnished relationship with the world. 
>
>
>
>