We recently came across a photograph that gave us a soupier pour temps perdus. A time when travel was a festive occasion rather than a demeaning experience in prison security.
Whether by boat, train or plain family or friends accompanied the travelers to the terminal and, in the case of boats and trains, to their cabins where they partied, chatted or went over last details before waving farewell from the dock or platform after the last call.
It seems incredible now.
The photograph by Fred Lyons, probably dates from the early half of the 1950’s, a time when there was an actual middle class of entrepreneurs and professionals who dressed up when they went out, and would not think of going out without dressing properly which for ladies meant gloves.
One of Paul Newman’s last films, Mr and Mrs. Bridge, was about this class its virtues and limitations.
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| Mr. & Mrs. Bridge discover Paris |
The Ancients equated egalitarianism with tyranny and, as Edward Gibbon later noted, the despotism of the Caesars was complete when Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all inhabitants of the Empire.
There is perhaps some truth to that perspective. When everyone is deemed equal then everyone is equally fungible and, of necessity, not warranting any particular respect. The interchangeability of one unit-human with another seems to have debasing effect.
This debasement arises, in the first instance, from the fact that equality of itself a fortiori increases the numbers involved in anything. When travelers are few they can be accommodated, when they are many their travel becomes a question of crowd control. In days of prop planes, stewardesses walked the aisle with trays of rock candy or chewing gum offered to passengers to help relieve stuffy ears as the plane ascended in altitude. Once jets arrived they marched down the aisle all but throwing bags of peanuts at the anonymous crowd; and now they simply patrol the prison cabin.
When as a boy traveling alone my father’s flight was delayed for some mechanical reason, Air France insured that he was taken to dinner by the chief steward. It went without question that the airline would provide dinner to its passengers and, in the case of a boy, that he would be properly accompanied by an adult. And father was not flying first class, either.
But the debasement also arises inversely from the fact that oligarchy — that is, inequality — just as a fortiori gives rise to privilege and respect. Legal equality is an abstraction which is given content by social conditions. There is no doubt that while 1950’s boat voyagers may have been treated politely at the docks, San Francisco police and union busters were meting out a different treatment to the striking longshoremen on those docks. Equality Under Law has always been applied unequally under the sun.
But is not “some” better than “none”? Even when only “decent” people could avail themselves of legally protected privacies, the abstraction of the Fourth Amendment still derived living force from that availability. Albeit applied unevenly there was meat on the bones. But when equality of circumstances makes it impossible for anyone and everyone to assert a claim to legal privacy then the Fourth Amendment simply withers away even in legal contemplation.
I’m sure it was considerations like these on the interplay between form and function that led Aristotle to conclude that middling-mixed “constitutions” which combined elements of oligarchy and democracy were the most desirable.
In the 1960’s the urban and provincial middle class of white gloves and fedoras was in fact being destroyed by relentless economic forces. The destruction was masked by the illusion that we were making progress toward “social equality” and “inclusiveness.” But being included in an anonymous mass is simply prison.
In the early 70’s a friend of my father’s got arrested for smoking pot on a Santa Monica beach. His father, a Navy captain from Boston, rather disdainfully remarked, “If he’s going to act like a hippie he can expect to be treated like a hippy.” Rejoice! We are all hippies now.
Such thoughts rumbled through my mind as i tried to pack my bags in compliance with Homeland Security requirements. Think about that: “my bags” + “compliance” + national security imperatives. This equals freedom? No it does not.
Nor was it a matter of being “restricted” from carrying a can of gasoline or a gun into the airplane cabin. The Transport Security Administration web site had screenfuls of “information” on how I was required to pack my bags, down to an including putting all toiletry liquids into clear, transparent containers in a clear 1 quart sized ziplock baggie. This was no more free than recruits being told how to arrange their gear in foot lockers.
Although I spread the ordeal over several days, it took at least a solid eight hours for me to pack 1 shoulder bag and one small 24” x 10” x 17” bag (including wheels and handles) not to exceed 40 lbs.
Nor was this a matter of simply ascertaining whether fishing poles and/or canes but not ski poles (pointed ergo weaponizable) were allowed on board, it was also a matter of figuring out “packing strategies” For example, if I couldn’t pack the lap top into the small suitcase because it had to be in a special pouch and accessible for arbitrary inspection by TSA agents, then I had to carry it in my shoulder bag, which meant that camera and papers and other items had to be moved from the shoulder briefcase to the the suitcase which didn’t leave enough room for a second pair of slacks... and so on ad nauseam.
In the line the people come and go... Do I dare, Do I dare to pack a nail clipper?
But packing was not only a question of what where. It was also a matter of being ready to prove one’s special — not “entitlement” — but “exemption” from default prohibitions.
My doctor had prescribed some sleeping pills (Ambien) which, as it turned out, are Class IV narcotics and which as a “restricted” substance are monitored by the Drug Enforecment Administration. So, I wondered, what if, while inspecting my 1 quart clear ziplock baggies, an agent espies the little pill tube with 4 Ambiens in it? And what about that tube of prescription antibiotic ointment that could possibly be a suspect gelatinous substance? Although the pill contained had the Rx label affixed the ointment did not, and so I decided in an abundance of caution to bring a list of my current medications (on clinic stationary to be sure).
This was obscene. I had to be ready to stand inspection on my private personal medications. As they said of Nazi Germany: the question is not what is prohibited but what is allowed.
By the time I finished the Packing Drill, I was filled with deep and abiding loathing of “equality.”
“...To enhance safety & security, please immediately report any suspicious activity to air port police....”
Nothing in the actual event of my travel did anything to lessen my loathing. As it was, I encountered no difficulties and, presenting no difficulties to anyone, everyone was very polite to me. My travel had a longish lay-over but otherwise was completely uneventful, which in today’s world translates to “good.”
But there was no question that from beginning to end I was a “processable.” At every turn what I encountered was a crowd control management system.
From the online reservations and confirmation emails, to the 24 hour pre-booking and printable boarding bar-code, to the special drop off/pick up carts for oversized on line baggage, to the in-flight saf-T instructions, to the airport-shuttle boarding area to the hotel clerk who asks for your zip code and birthdate... everything was pre-planned, event-processed and smooth. What gets overlooked is that you yourself are simply an element within the smoothness.
There is no place I know of where people are more ready with a smile than Mexico. It is a genuine, laughter-filled smile that says: “Behold! Another human!” as if one has just met a fellow-creature during a trek through the jungle.
This is not to say that Mexicans are better humans or that they can’t be the nastiest, meanest, cruelest sons of bitches of God’s earth. That too. And no one who truly knows Mexico would deny it. But the smiles, when the come, are absolutely heartfelt and open. When not being sons of bitches, Mexicans enjoy one another. Either way, they are nothing if not human.
Throughout my transposition processing every smile i encountered was simply and no more than a lubricant.
What has happened is not simply the commodification of everything but the systematized automated commodification of everything.
In fact, people are so robotized that they are programmed not to react in an angry and human way when you do get angry at them. You are being “dealt with” and “managed”. Don’t take anything personally, because absolutely none of it is including yourself, which is a travel unit, a fare-unit, a room unit... and so on,
“...in the seat pocket in front of you. And we would like to take this moment to express our special gratitude to all servicemenanwomen and their families traveling with us today for their sacrifices on behalf of our country...”
Heil to you too.
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