Just a couple of days after the Manchester bombing attack in the UK at an Ariana Grande concert, another incident came close to happening right here in my home town. A man at the Phoenix Comic Con was arrested after purportedly taking pictures of police officers and posting them online with threats of violence against the cops. The individual in question was taken into custody with several knives, three handguns, and a shotgun. Information, naturally, is dribbling out bit by bit, leaving us with far more questions than answers right at the moment. And the newest episode of "Security Theater" has come out.
I think what bothers me the most about the Phoenix PD's response subsequent to the arrest is that they followed the same pattern of behavior that has been going on since 9/11: overkill. I could understand banning realistic weapons (which would kind of make the cosplay teams who base their work off Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid look kinda incomplete), and I could understand having people who had been previously checked go through a re-check. I could almost understand banning quasi-realistic weapons (several of the blades from Sword Art Online are a little too out there to be practical swords, and a lot of the weapons catalog from Borderlands looks cooler than what would be truly practical). But the blanket banning of all props, no matter how innocuous, that's just overkill. And the problem with overkill is that there is no real way to walk back from it. No lightsaber hilts for Jedi or Sith. No blaster carbines for Stormtroopers. No sonic screwdrivers for Doctors Who. Some little towheaded kid wants to cosplay as Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes, he can't even carry a stuffed animal with him.
I can hear somebody in the Peanut Gallery saying, "But it's to make us safe!" To which I respond: what will it take for you to feel "safe?" Do we have cosplayers disrobe entirely at the check-in table and have security staff tear down every costume before clearing them? Do we put them through the same sorts of scanners as they have at Sky Harbor? We're forced to take off our shoes to board an airplane in the name of making people feel "safe." And not once has it had that effect. Hell, it hasn't even caught anybody trying the same sort of stunt Richard Reed tried all those years ago. But we're still doing the same damn thing, over and over, on the minuscule chance that somebody might try that trick a second time. And we've been doing it for 15 years now. The great irony is that the actual arrest, from what I've been able to piece together was a relatively quick and almost unremarkable affair. Even if the guy did put up a struggle, Phoenix PD didn't make a giant scene doing it. It was a measured response to a perceived threat. On that aspect, I'm absolutely going to commend Phoenix PD. It's what came after, the blanket ban on props of any kind, that I take issue with. That is not a measured response. It is giving in to a council of fear and paranoia. Unless there was some sort of actionable intelligence developed after the arrest that there was more than one person who was planning to start some shit down there, the smart thing to do would have been to have con staff quietly intercept cosplayers who had been previously checked, have them come back for a re-check, give them a different colored zip tie to signify that they'd been cleared, and send them on their merry way. For people coming in to the con after the arrest who were getting checked for the first time, a more thorough check than the first attendees got would be appropriate. A ban on prop weapons that cannot easily be distinguished from real ones, I might understand but would in no way agree with.
I haven't been to PHXCC for a few years now. One year, for a lark, I cosplayed as Frank Castle from The Punisher comics, mainly because I had the right shirt and other black clothing accoutrements laying around at the time. A few people seemed to like it, mainly because I had the late 90s look of the character. I didn't bring a massive amount of prop weapons with me, mainly because I didn't have them, but for that particular character it would have lent authenticity to the image. I'm not going to pretend that I'm some uber-serious hardcore cosplayer who gets featured on Kotaku or is likely to be on a SyFy Channel reality show. I did it once and it was kinda fun. When I look at how rapidly cosplay has come in terms of pop culture, I can appreciate so many facets of it. The joy of dressing up that we had when we were kids, combined with the theatricality of assuming a persona for a day or two and the labor of love that goes into making that costume the best it can possibly be. To reach the level of detail and verisimilitude that makes people see the character in front of them, as if they'd stepped off the comic book page or out of the video game environment. It's supposed to be letting us suspend our disbelief for a few moments, to let the fantastic touch the mundane "real world" for a precious instant.
Safety is relative. Always has been. Somebody tells you that there are any absolutes in safety, they're trying to sell you something, and probably something wildly expensive. Whatever happens for the rest of the con, one asshole has managed to destroy the sense of safety, the welcoming environment, the open and friendly atmosphere of Phoenix Comic Con. What particularly sickens me is that there was no real way for him to lose. Whatever contemptible little game he thought he would be playing out, he was going to win, and he has. He didn't even have to shoot a cop. All he had to do was make the threat, and make it just credible enough that cops would react, and he won. Maybe he knew they'd freak out. Maybe he hoped they'd shut down the con for good this year. It's hard to say, and until he goes on trial, we'll never get the meat of the story. But he has won because too many people wanted "safety" instead of genuine and truly sensible security. We have the illusion that the cops are on top of things. In their own weird way, they're trying to cosplay as infallible and invincible superheroes. And they are failing.
UPDATE: A post on Facebook from the Blue Ribbon Army social club (an adjunct of Phoenix Comic Con) found shortly after this blog entry went up indicated that the ban had been scaled back strictly to prop weapons, but comments to the post seem to indicate that this has not been evenly implemented, so there's still a great deal of uncertainty.
UPDATE #2: Phoenix PD has released more information regarding the incident. The suspect has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, wearing body armor during the commission of a felony, resisting arrest, carrying a weapon in a prohibited place, and attempted murder. It also appears that the suspect had made threats to a performer (I'm theorizing a cosplayer of some sort, or possibly a member of one of the local charity groups like Arizona Avengers or the Dune Sea Garrison of the 501st Legion). Either way, it only makes the whole incident even more pathetic. The released information suggests not organized terror, but a petty and contemptible response to a personal dispute. While Phoenix PD has indicated that they "believe" he intended to attack officers, the reported threat to a performer would seem to suggest that cops would have been targets of opportunity, an obstacle to be overcome in the progress of the main goal. Whatever disappointment this person might be feeling at having failed in that goal, he can always look at the chaos he's caused as a loathsome consolation prize.
UPDATE #3: Phoenix Comic Con has released the updated list. All weapons, including "fictional" weapons are still banned. Props like wands and plushies, along with costume elements like masks and helmets, are permitted. Umbrellas (always a bonus in the heat) are also permitted. Items that are not on the full list are subject to "security discretion," which given their initial reaction will likely bear no particular resemblance to the second word in that phrase. Matthew Solberg, the convention director, has indicated that refunds will be offered for anybody wishing to request one, though it will take some time to actually process them. It should be pointed out that the list was determined by the Phoenix Convention Center and Phoenix PD, not Phoenix Comic Con staff. Since the venue is owned and run by the City of Phoenix, they're ultimately the ones calling the shots.
UPDATE #4: Last update, I promise. Apparently, the "performer" that was threatened was one of the celebrity guests, Jason David Frank from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers series. I'm appalled beyond the capacity for coherent expression at this point.
No comments:
Post a Comment