Illusion Confusion
In this time of widespread uncertainty and fear, people are prone to do crazy things. We'll look at a few case exemplars this morning. The major question, of course, is whether we're seeing the crest of a panic wave, or are things just warming up?
Day of the Jackal
Did you catch Stephen Colbert's segment on the Daily Show last night? Colbert's satire didn't look all that far-fetched. In the sketch, he covets his neighbor's wife, so he calls the FBI and mumbles his name, then says that the guy next door is eating falafels. The FBI shows up and agents are shown hauling the neighbor off in handcuffs, leaving Colbert free to move in.
 In Ohio, this week, two high school students disapproved of a classmate's T-shirt. So they complained to school administrators about it. (The shirt in question is shown at right.) Word gets to the Assistant Principal at Bellbrook High, who confiscates the shirt. Then he calls the FBI, who immediately inform the Secret Service.
- From that point, the Secret Service took over the investigation and met with the student and essentially treated the situation as a potential threat on the president.
The Assistant Principal says he's "proud" of the two squealing punks who turned in their fellow student, who's now got a thick file on him and zero chance of ever passing a background security check. Our sympathies go out to this un-named iconoclast.
Taking Art Seriously
Problem is, most people don't. To the common man, art is something you put on the wall to cover up all that annoying empty space. Get yourself some framed weeping clowns or big-eyed kids, whatever it takes to avoid reaching satori.
 In New York last week, Clinton Boisvert, a student at the School of Visual Arts, "wreaked havoc" with the transit system by taping up 37 black boxes to walls, pillars, and benches at the Union Square subway station. This story got a lot of play in Europe, where people do stuff like this all the time in addition to remembering that the past tense of "wreak" is "wrought," but we digress.
- Clinton Boisvert's teacher at the School of Visual Arts said the 25-year-old student only intended to observe the public's reaction to his final art project—and not create mass hysteria and fear.
 Which he did, big-time, when people noticed all these weird black boxes taped up everywhere. Fortunately, the art community came to Boisvert's defense. Sculpture instructor Barbara Schwartz "praised the project for getting 'the attention of people and said it 'opened a dialogue.'" Still, it's hard to believe people would panic over something so obviously artificial.
- A full-scale police probe followed, involving dozens of officers from the joint terrorism task force, bomb-sniffing dogs and an explosives-defusing robot.
The boxes, needless to say, were empty, and Boisvert's getting an A for the semester. On the other hand, he will face charges of "reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct." Let's hope we learned our lesson.
Iranian Rodeo
Over at the BBC I noticed a story this morning titled, "Mass arrests of Muslims in LA," and was curious. Surely they meant "Latin America," yes? Nope. After scanning their coverage, I found more over at the LA Times.
 The INS refused Wednesday to reveal to reporters how many Middle Eastern men have been arrested, how many detained, or what charges have been filed, but didn't dispute lawyers' estimates which range from "500 to 700" across Southern California.
We do know that around one-fourth, over a hundred, have been jailed. Considering that some 600,000 Iranians live in the LA area, it's conceivable that these are valid busts. What led to all of this was an announced Monday deadline for Middle Eastern men to register with the INS if they were on visas and not naturalized citizens.
- Monday's registration deadline applied to males 16 and older from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Men from 13 other nations, mostly in the Mideast and North Africa, are required to register next month.
The mass arrests may not have been wise from the viewpoint that many perfectly legitimate individuals may now choose to go underground, considering how poorly the first wave was treated. If you read the stories closely, you'll see that in most cases, visa violations prompted the arrests. I have little sympathy for anyone who blows off INS reporting requirements, since during the many years I lived overseas I managed to keep my paperwork in order. A hassle? Usually it was, and never as much fun as outpatient surgery, but you do it until you get permanent residency. That's how the game works. Here's INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice:
- "The people we have taken into custody ... are people whose non-immigrant visas have expired."
That didn't stop thousands of concerned family members and friends from showing up and demonstrating, though, spelling out "International Incident" in big letters. Remember that we're currently in the middle of a massive propaganda campaign throughout the Middle East, with outlets like Egyptian TV running periodic U.S. State Department spots showing happy Muslims frolicking in American fountains, whatever it takes to offset anti-U.S. sentiments. This didn't help.
- Shawn Sedaghat, a Sherman Oaks attorney, said he and his partner, Michelle Taheripour, represent more than 40 people who voluntarily went to register and were detained.
Some, he said, were hosed down with cold water before finding places to sleep on the concrete floors of cells.
One more thing to keep in mind is that when one country takes harsh measures with another country's nationals, there's usually a bit of quid pro quo. If you're an American in the Middle East right now, you'll want to keep your paperwork straightened out.
12:14:55 PM 
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Thursday, December 19, 2002
