Photography with the Left Eye

I had a little trip to Chicago last week, where I did many architecturally related things, as do many visitors. One of those was to visit the skydeck of what was once known as the Sears Tower (don’t bother–it’s a waste of money and time, but that’s for a Yelp post).

After many snaking lines, we were presented with a series of metal detectors and airport type luggage scanners, through which you had to pass to continue on to the next series of lines.

Here’s the surprising thing. I was not surprised. There was no notice of these devices at the entrance. There was nothing about them on their website. But I was not surprised. We’ve become a society that accepts, and even expects, invasive security measures at every turn. We don’t ask why we need them, or what we are being protected from*. We just move through like sheep. Sad.

*The obvious answer is that this is a big ole’ building, and the “trrists” would want to do terrible things to it. Even if that were true, the “security” is in the basement, in a room that has concentrated a larger number of people than even are up on the Skydeck. On the one hand, if some crazy came in with something intended to hurt people (ie, gun, gas, bad jokes), that room was the perfect place, and “security” would matter not one whit. On the other hand, if someone wanted to do damage on the skydeck, they would most like harm themselves and a few others. The greatest potential for harm is simply where the Skydeck owners have concentrated the largest group of people.

A simple portrait of Kristina.