Thanks to "Zero Tolerance", You are Not Safe
The silly concept of "Zero Tolerance" may have started in American schools, but it certainly did not end there. It not only has spread to schools in other countries, what's the expected result when all those schoolchildren get out of school, and into the Real World? They practice what they learned, of course! The story, from the 10 October 2004 issue:
Weekly Weird News
ZT in Real Life, Airport Division
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says it probably won't prosecute school teacher Kathryn Harrington, 52, of Laurel, Md. She was passing through security at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport when agents pulled her aside for carrying a weapon: a leather strap with tiny weights in each end. "It was a bookmark," Harrington says. "It's not a weapon. I could not understand why I was being handcuffed and put into a police car." She notes she has carried the bookmark through airport security several times without incident, but won't again. (St. Petersburg Times) ...Of course screeners couldn't recognize it as a bookmark: few of them have ever read a book.
![[The bookmark, which was seized by police]](http://www.thisistrue.com/images/bookmark.jpg) The leather bookmark, showing Harrington's initials. (Police evidence photo.) |
Related Pages:
- An Introduction to ZT in Schools
- Just How Ridiculous can ZT Be?
- Another Outrageous Example of ZT in Real Life
After reading these pages, ask yourself this question: based on these real-life overreactions, are you sure you'll never do anything that could be misinterpreted and might land you in jail? Hint: don't be so sure the answer is yes!
Reader reaction to this story is in my blog, rather than below.