Junkyard Quote 3, Week 1

"I thought I was going to die, we were so high up," the card said. "I thought to myself: I hope we don't crash and burn or worse yet landing in the ocean, living through it, only to be eaten by sharks, or worse yet, end up on some place like Gilligan's Island, stranded, or worse yet, be eaten by a tribe of headhunters, speaking of headhunters, why do they just eat outsiders, and not the family members? Strange ... and what if the plane ripped apart in mid-flight and we plumited (sic) to earth, landed on Gilligan's Island and then lived through it, and the only woman there was Mrs. Thurston Howell III? No Mary Anne (my favorite) no Ginger, just Lovey! If it were just her, I think I'd opt for the sharks, maybe the headhunters."

-cnn.com (http://us.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/08/oregon.unruly.passenger/index.html)

This was written on a comment card by a disgruntled passenger, causing the pilot to turn the plane around from the Hawaii bound flight and land in Portland with the assistance of two fighter jet escorts. To me, this situation illustrates the ridiculous paranoia running rampant through the powers in this country regarding air travel after 9/11 and the Christmas Day incident. The man who wrote this now faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, which is completely absurd. Combine this possible reaction with the mandatory pat downs passengers face when flying from 14 different countries--including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.--and one can see the overreaction that bureaucratic forces exhibit in order to give the illusion of safety for the travelling masses.