Central Zürich in the cold.
After a series of large avalanches in the alps with several dead there is a big discussion in Swiss media whether off-pist skiing should be allowed or not and what is the responsability of the people adventuring outside the prepared slopes. On this matter I must agree with what Dominique Perret said in an interview on the radio that the sea and the mountains are the last outposts of freedom and it would be an awful thing to deprive people from this. However, a justified question is whether you are allowed to put other peoples life in danger which you do when you go too close to the slopes or when you get rescued. This week end a doctor in a rescue team died due to a second avalanche during a mission. In Switzerland we are used to getting a helicopter rescue whatever we have been up to but when you consider the risks to which we are exposing the rescuers this right should really not be that obvious.
During the Christmas holidays a "failed" terrorist attack occurred on a plane between Amsterdam and Detroit. The attack might have been a failure in the sense that no one was hurt, however, when we consider the consequences it was indeed a success. Now millions have been spent on new technology so that all travellers have to expose themselves nude in the security checks. How often do you think that these images will find their way to the web? The real terror is not the act of the terrorist itself but the reaction of the acts by us.
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