Years ago, when "terrorism" started becoming the international political buzzword number one there was one sentence that politicians like George W. Bush, Tony Blair but also Angela Merkel kept repeating. It ran something like:
"Terrorists may try to intimidate us/the "free world" but they will never make us change our way of life."
Now, looking back I can only find that this was either naïve or a lie. Our way of life has changed. And I'm not even talking about all the new laws on phone tapping, government trojans on your computer, being detained without charge or watched constantly on CCTV cameras.
I'm talking about the simple fact that I wasn't allowed to take a bottle of wine onto a plane from Frankfurt to London to give it to my friend for her birthday. It's EU legislation: no liquids in the hand luggage if it's more than 100 ml. The bottle was 750 ml. I had forgotten. The friendly security officers that screened my backpack told me they couldn't let me take the bottle onboard. No exceptions made. They had already "had whiskey bottles worth some €100 thrown away". It turned out it was also too late to check it in since the plane was already fully loaded. I had the option of drinking it on the spot or trashing it. So, the bottle went in the bin. I was really upset. At least, it wasn't a really expensive wine but that's beside the point: I lost half the birthday present and something I had wanted to share with my friend.
On the flight back I even had to seal my little deodorant roll-on and toothpaste up in a plastic bag.
I can certainly remember times when the only thing to worry about when taking a bottle of wine on a flight was customs. My grandfather was even able to bring an antique dagger on the flight. Nobody would demand you to throw away your present because it made you a potential threat to air traffic safety.
So, now I ask again: Have we let terrorism change our way of life?
Think carefully before you answer.
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