A loose end on this thread:

On 19 Jul 2004, Paul Smith wrote:

> Stephen Black wrote:
> 
> > Interesting note: Annie Jacobsen, the author of the scare piece was
> > educated at Dalhousie in Halifax, Canada, and teaches creative
> > writing in Toronto. She's also a Jungian psychotherapist (so praise
> > be, we now have psychology relevance to this thread).

Paul Smith commented:

>     I saw those references when I did a search on her name, but I assumed
> they're to another "Annie Jacobsen". Did you find something that tells you
> it's the same one?


Michelle Malkin, the blogger I cited previously, identified her as a 
Jungian who lives in Toronto (in her "Terror in the Skies (Continued_ 
blog, July 16/04). On the strength of that, I concluded (be still, my 
patriotic Canadian heart) that there was a Canadian connection.

Now the retraction. Malkin posted the following disclaimer on July 
19th (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000235.htm):

"Jacobsen's parents e-mailed me some family background:

Annie Jacobsen is our daughter!! She is NOT the science fiction 
writer nor the psychic (with the same name). She is well-educated (an 
ivy league school class of 89 and a top prep school graduate) and is 
quite rational. She is a world traveler. She is apolitical. Her 
mother is a registered republican - her father a registered 
independent. This is not a hoax. She and her family were with us in 
CT to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our still-shaking daughter and 
son-in-law called us immediately after speaking with both the FBI and 
the LAPD upon their return to their home. We had expected the call 
several hours earlier so we were quite concerned.
----------------------------

But there's still a bit of confusion. Because the Toronto Annie is 
neither a science fiction writer nor a psychic (even if being a 
Jungian interested in dreams comes close). But as I've never heard 
Dalhousie described as an ivy league school, I guess this 
definitively rules out Toronto Annie. Sigh. I was wrong.

Malkin continues to provide interesting stuff at her site. She now 
reports that the band has been identified (although preppie Annie  
failed to confirm this was the group from their photos). Malin also 
says that all the Syrians were travelling on expired visas despite 
security officials' claim that they were travelling legally.

I think it's clear that this is no longer a hoax (even saw a mention 
of the story on local TV last night). What is unclear is whether 
preppie Annie overreacted to innocent activities or whether something 
sinister was going on. This is likely impossible to determine. But 
she makes a few specific claims which I find disturbing, and which 
should be readily verifiable if true. These are:

1) A maximum of two members of an ethnic minority group may be 
questioned or searched on boarding. Searching more would be 
considered discriminatory (so only 2 of the 12 Syrians were 
searched).

2) Passengers wearing orthopedic shoes are excused from having to 
take their shoes off for examination

3) Passengers have access to dangerous materials (such as metal 
knifes) in unsecured shopping malls after passing through security 
(She quotes a Customer Service Supervisor of the Transport Security 
Association (TSA) that "Restaurants in secured areas--that's an 
ongoing problem").

I'd like to know more about these things. Or maybe I should just stay 
on the ground.

Stephen
___________________________________________________
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.            tel:  (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology         fax:  (819) 822-9661
Bishop's  University           e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC  J1M 1Z7
Canada

Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
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