So much of the news has been about barriers recently: stories commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall, continued commentary on the Security Wall in Israel and the occupied territories, the security barriers on the U.S./Mexico, and just in the last couple of days we’ve had had not a physical barrier but a security-driven barrier at airports for flights flying into the U.S. With flights delayed/cancelled, and flight schedules thrown into a shambles, it might as well have been a wall there too.
Let’s not forget other barriers as well; the “Great Firewall of China” put in place to control the Internet access of the citizens of China. Gated communities. Even Copyright Law, the attack on Fair Use, Digital Rights Management and copy protection technology are barriers, as they are means to attempt to control access to content.
All of these barriers (and many more) have something in common; they are an attempt to solve a particular issue, not by addressing its root causes, but by essentially just trying to keep it at arms length through measures whose effectiveness is illusory at best. The recent air security incidents in Detroit show us just how effective banning liquids has been; DRM is just an invitation to crack, and there are ways to get around the Great Firewall of China.
A barrier, in the context of the examples I mention above, is a tacit admission of defeat. The barrier builder is saying “I am unable/unwilling to tackle the issue, so I wil build the barrier instead to keep the problem away from me” and sadly for each barrier that is built, there are those with a vested interest in keeping the barrier firmly in place, and indeed often suggesting that new barriers be built.
Barriers fail over time. The Maginot line, Hadrian’s Line, etc. all eventually failed, either suddenly or over time, as history made them obsolete. I believe the same will happen with the barriers I have mentioned, and we be forced to confront the underlying issues.
And it can’t happen a moment too soon,
