The Subway and the Soviet Union

Riding the subway home from work today, my eye rested on a whole bunch of other eyes. No, don't worry dad, I wasn't making eye contact in the New York subway system, these eyes were on an advertisement put out by the MTA.

The ad, part of the MTA's continuing campaign to prevent potential terrorist attacks features a resolutely multi-racial set of eyes, which we are supposed to believe represent the population of the five boroughs. Although they are on average, less bloodshot, sleepy, and suspicious than what I would expect from a random sampling, I am willing to suspend my disbelief, and take them for what they are meant to be.

As for what they are meant to be doing, I am not so sure. The text below the eyes reads, "There are 16 million eyes in the city. We're counting on all of them." The message I believe, is that if we are to prevent another attack in New York, we (New York residents, commuters, and visitors,) must all remain constantly vigilant -- keeping our eyes open for suspicious behavior at all times.

I have a couple of issues with this message. The first one is simply that I'm not sure if it will work. One of the most interesting things about the September 11 hijackers is that on September 11, up until the moment they rose from their seats and announced that they were terrorists, they hadn't done anything that was illegal certainly, or even all that suspicious. It wasn't illegal to book one-way tickets for a group travelling together. It wasn't illegal to have box-cutters, not even in your carry-on. Of course there have been other examples of people doing highly suspicious things and then trying to do something violent. A prime example would have to be that ten foot tall dude who was caught trying to set his shoe on fire! But, my point is just that you don't necessarily have to be suspicious to blow something up, and even less so if you were trying to do something even creepier, involving a chemical or biological weapon. Even if we assume that someone attacking New York City is going to be acting a little bit funny before he or she attacks, the question remains... how is that any different from a normal New York commuter?

My second issue with the ad is less tangible. It just feels a little creepy to me. As I looked at the eyes in the subway today, a name came into my mind: Pavlik Morozov. I took a Russian history course taught by Greg Hand in high school, and along with the former Soviet Republics (you can remember these by the easy mnemonic device, "ELBUM GAA TUTKK R") was the story of Pavlik Morozov. Little Pavlik, as the story goes, did his duty as a loyal citizen of the Soviet Union, and at the age of 12, denounced his father to the authorities for some type of traitorous behavior. His father was tried and convicted, and sent to Siberia, or Gulag, or Gaol, or whatever the Russians called the pokey back then (1930s I believe.) Angry members of the family killed Pavlik, who was then held up as a martyred exemplar of the ideal Soviet youth all over the country. School-children learned his story, and operas were written and performed, but I'm afraid -- not listened to (even Soviets are human.)

Okay, so, there is clearly a difference between one government teaching children to betray their families and another asking commuters to keep their eyes open and report what they see. But, what can I say, Morozov was the name that flew into my mind on my way home today. I don't want to keep my eyes open on my commute home and I don't want other people keeping their eyes open at me. I just don't think it's worth it. I'm not sure how much it will improve our chances of not being attacked by a foreigner and I'm pretty sure that creating an heightened atmosphere of distrust (and let's not forget that people would not actually be looking at me, they would be looking at light-brown skinned people...) can only inspire more violent acts between Americans. Maybe this would get filed as violent crime and not terrorism, but I don't think that's a trade that I would like to make.