{"id":2535,"date":"2011-12-01T07:47:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T15:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2011-12-01T10:05:21","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T18:05:21","slug":"cops-control-and-koolaid-some-thoughts-on-madeline-ashbys-loss-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/?p=2535","title":{"rendered":"Cops, Control, and KoolAid: some thoughts on Madeline Ashby’s “Loss Prevention”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madeline Ashby<\/a> and I have a history.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve known each other for years, attended the same writing workshop, stood by each other in times of personal distress.\u00a0 We bonded over that time, not least over the fact that each of us has experienced misfortune at the hands of border officials:\u00a0 Madeline, a US citizen, at the hands of my own countrymen; mine at the hands of hers.\u00a0 If there was anyone I would expect to find common ground with on such matters, Madeline Ashby would be there at the front of the line.<\/p>\n

And yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

America's Best Foot Forward.<\/p><\/div>\n

She posted her Master\u2019s thesis online last week:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cLoss Prevention: Customer Service As Border Security<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 A bit of speculative fiction sits at its heart, a story called \u201cWelcome to the Jungle\u201d (also posted over on boingboing<\/a> under the more concise title \u201cSurfaces\u201d).\u00a0 It\u2019s probably impossible for me to be objective about this work \u2014 not just because Madeline is my friend but because, well, I\u2019m all over the damn thing. Our respective border experiences explicitly inspired her choice of subject matter; the epigraph is an excerpt<\/a> from this very \u2018crawl.\u00a0\u00a0 I pop up repeatedly in the text.\u00a0 The document is dedicated to one Andrew Beaudry, the truncheon-wielding douchebag who maced me back in December 2009.\u00a0 There\u2019s no denying that the project, as it exists, would not<\/em> exist were it not for those fond memories of Port Huron<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Impossible to be objective.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll try to get as close as I can.<\/p>\n

This is unfamiliar territory for me.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the kind of thesis I\u2019m used to:\u00a0 no formal data collection, no quantitative analysis.\u00a0 The centrepiece \u2014 the \u201cResults\u201d section, or maybe the \u201cMethods\u201d \u2014 is a piece of unabashed fiction, describing a day in the life of a Customs officer sometime in the near future.\u00a0 It\u2019s an example of something called \u201cscience fiction prototyping\u201d which is apparently gaining currency among the design crowd.\u00a0 If I understand it correctly, it amounts to constructing what-if<\/em> scenarios as a way of product-testing the future, and in one way it makes sense:\u00a0 our brains are built for narrative after all, not statistics.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to internalize data when they\u2019re presented in a way the brain finds intuitive.\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely sold on the model \u2014 slapping the word \u201cprototyping\u201d onto a genre that\u2019s been playing what-if for over a century strikes me as more of an exercise in rebranding than genuine innovation \u2014 but I\u2019m all for making future scenarios more tractable to an audience.\u00a0 In this sense, \u201cSF prototyping\u201d is to the futurist what the Chernoff face<\/a> is to the statistician.<\/p>\n

The difference, though, is that Chernof faces are based on data<\/em> \u2014 eyebrow tilt scales to standard length, breadth of nose might represent body mass, and so on.\u00a0 In the case of “Loss Prevention”, I\u2019m not entirely certain what data are being presented.\u00a0 I\u2019m not even entirely sure what was being researched:\u00a0 border security is repeatedly described as belonging to a class of things called \u201cWicked Problems<\/a>\u201d, but that class is defined so broadly as to be virtually intractable. (In fact, the first quoted characteristic of a wicked problem is \u201dThere is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem\u201d, which to my mind reduces the functional utility of the concept somewhat.)\u00a0 If someone held a gun to my head I\u2019d hazard that a \u201cwicked problem\u201d is any really, really tough problem with multiple underlying causes and no one-size-fits-all solution; \u00a0and I\u2019d have to question whether anything so vague warrants such formal taxonomy (and, apparently, so much attention in the literature).<\/p>\n

Madeline herself admits\u00a0 that \u201cInstead of pursuing more traditional research methods, I strived to something very similar to what I do as a science fiction writer. The age-old dictum to write what you know<\/em> extends to the areas of design, as well.\u201d\u00a0 Well, yes.\u00a0 But research, by definition, \u00a0involves venturing into the realm of things you don\u2019t<\/em> know, the better to learn about them. \u00a0Sticking to what one knows seems to miss the very point of the exercise. \u00a0\u00a0Madeline didn\u2019t even formally interview a relevant expert who sat on her own committee, on the grounds that \u201che has already written extensively on the subject\u201d. \u00a0I find this odd:\u00a0 the author of this thesis is curious and pretty quick on the draw.\u00a0 I would not have expected her to read through an expert\u2019s \u201cextensive writings\u201d and not be left with a single follow-up question afterward.<\/p>\n

All that said, though, it\u2019s hard to disagree with \u201cLoss Prevention\u201d\u2019s basic argument \u2014 that we should replace the everyone\u2019s-a-potential-tewwowist approach to border security with a “customer-service” model.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not to smile at Madeline\u2019s unrepentant highlighting of the parallels between customs lines and the cattle-processing techniques used in slaughterhouses, (I\u2019d much rather reserve the word wicked<\/em> for those Ashbyesque insights than waste it on Rittel & Webber\u2019s<\/a> woolly neologising).\u00a0 And it\u2019s impossible to fault many of the techniques that make appearances in the story \u201cSurfaces\u201d, if for no other reason than that I\u2019ve experienced them myself at border crossings and can attest that they work.\u00a0 Friendly conversation works better than hostile intimidation; indirect full-spectrum lighting is more pleasant than bare-knuckled fluorescence; multilayered security\/passenger-assistance works better than a single fortified embankment at the end of a long room.\u00a0\u00a0 Elsewhere in the thesis Madeline describes these as \u201cshovel-ready\u201d measures but they\u2019re not really; the shovel went in years ago, the measures long-since implemented far and wide except<\/em> along North American borders.<\/p>\n

In fact, there\u2019s only one truly<\/em> speculative element in \u201cSurfaces\u201d, and that\u2019s, well, the surfaces: interactive touchscreens that line the chutes where livestock wait their turn at the booth, walls that serve up advertisements and tourist info at a touch \u2014 and it\u2019s that touch that matters, because the walls also read your fingerprints when you tap the interface.\u00a0 The system grabs your ID and runs a background check before you ever get to the front of the line.\u00a0 Madeline acknowledges throughout the thesis that such measures are likely to be controversial, but in the story at its center you see no such interrogation: \u00a0the protagonist simply thinks The system works<\/em>, and we close on a smile.<\/p>\n

And yet there are so many ways that system might not<\/em> work.\u00a0\u00a0 Suppose privacy-minded folks start wearing gloves when passing through Customs? Do we outlaw handwear in airports?\u00a0 Suppose people refuse the bait, choose to keep their hands to themselves?\u00a0 Do we taser them if they don\u2019t tap an ad for the Airport Hilton?\u00a0 Do we escalate the tech, install lasers to scan people\u2019s irises from across the room, then go on to banish sunglasses?\u00a0 Does the avoidance of unobtrusive data-mining become suspicious in itself, do people who haven\u2019t tapped the wall get automatically routed to Secondary on the grounds that they\u2019re more likely to be hiding something?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if this is a wicked<\/em> problem per s\u00e9<\/em>, but it\u2019s certainly a bitch of one; yet \u201cSurfaces\u201d doesn\u2019t interrogate it at all.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this lack of interrogation, this willingness to take things on face value, that I find most disquieting about \u201cLoss Prevention\u201d.\u00a0 It uncritically repeats the oft-heard claim that border personnel\u2019s jobs are \u201cdifficult and dangerous, and it should come as no surprise that after a while, some of these individuals can become jaded\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jobs that get you murdered.<\/p><\/div>\n

No.\u00a0 Stop right there.\u00a0 BPO\u2019s jobs are not<\/em> especially dangerous: cab drivers suffer four times<\/em> the homicide rate of even real<\/em> cops, those men and women who actively seek out and hunt down the bad guys, who high-grade their experiences to greater risk.\u00a0 Your average 49th<\/sup>-parallel border officer, in contrast, \u00a0sits in a booth processing tourists and truckers.\u00a0 In terms of the risk of violence at the hands of your fellow primates, border guards might as well be selling running shoes next to your average cabbie.\u00a0\u00a0 And if you want to look at risk to life and limb from all <\/em>sources, they\u2019ve got it even easier:\u00a0 they\u2019re better off than roofers, truck drivers, and farmers among others.\u00a0 Real<\/em> cops don\u2019t even make the top ten when you look at \u00a0mortality from all <\/em>criteria.\u00a0 Border trolls don\u2019t even show up on the scope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jobs that just get you killed.<\/p><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t know quite how to reconcile such data with these faith-based claims of chronic danger faced by BPOs.\u00a0 Nor do I know what to make of the fact that Madeline followed the dual tales of our respective border ordeals with \u201cI recognize now that my experience and Peter\u2019s are the exception to the rule.\u00a0 Both Canadian and American border security personnel are put through rigorous training before they begin their work\u2026\u00a0 most every traveler has at least one annoying story about clearing\u00a0 customs, but they will have several more boring stories to go with it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Or maybe I do<\/em> know, a little: I know, at least, that that back-pedalling little caveat has the same logical structure as \u201cFor every innocent person Texas may have executed, there were several who deserved what they got.\u201d\u00a0 Even if factually true, one would be hard-pressed to cite it as any sort of mitigation.<\/p>\n

Still:\u00a0 is<\/em> it factually true?<\/p>\n

I cannot speak to Madeline\u2019s experience.\u00a0 In mine, intimidation and hostility has been the norm when crossing into the US; polite and friendly interactions have occurred less than half the time.\u00a0 Apparently Madeline has fared somewhat better\u2014 her thesis recalls the times she \u201csmiled\u201d her way past Customs desks and \u201csweet-talked agents\u201d, prior to her own moment of awakening.\u00a0\u00a0 So perhaps it\u2019s me; maybe I just have some knee-jerk hatred of authority figures, maybe I put out some kind of hostile vibe that the guys in uniforms react to.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m the common denominator here, maybe I\u2019m asking <\/em>for it.\u00a0 That was certainly the presumption of a lot of those who weighed in back when Squidgate was in the news.<\/p>\n

And you know, maybe they had a point.\u00a0 \u201cSurfaces\u201d speaks of eye contact between guard and civilian as though it were a good thing, something to be cultivated, but I\u2019ve lost count of the people who\u2019ve told me that the reason they <\/em>never have trouble crossing the border is because they know enough to never<\/em> make eye contact with the guards.\u00a0 As if simply looking someone in the eye is a challenge, an act of defiance deserving of countermeasures.\u00a0 (It is, of course.\u00a0 Amongst dogs and gorillas.\u00a0 Which should tell you something about the kind of border guards these people are used to encountering.)<\/p>\n

At any rate, I\u2019ve lately been in a position to test that hypothesis.\u00a0 I\u2019ve travelled a lot over the past few years:\u00a0 to Cuba, to Australia, to France, through Iceland, repeatedly to both Germany and Poland.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had a problem at any of those borders, even though I crossed most of them as a convicted felon<\/em>.\u00a0 The one time I was pulled into Secondary (entering Australia), the guards were friendly and cooperative, going so far as to engage me in conversation about the kind of books they enjoyed (try that<\/em> on at the 49th<\/sup> parallel:\u00a0 a US border guard who reads books<\/em>.\u00a0 What a concept.) \u00a0They pretty much behaved the way Brandy Schumacher does in \u201cSurfaces\u201d\u2014 and as a result, crossing all those borders was a delight.\u00a0 (Yes, even Cuba.)<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s not just some general hate-on I have for authority figures.\u00a0 Nor is it eye contact (Europeans don\u2019t seem threatened by the sight of human pupils).\u00a0 In my case there are two obvious correlates to a smooth border crossing:\u00a0 either the existence of a criminal record, or the non-involvement of Americans. \u00a0\u00a0(I suppose I should say North <\/em>Americans; I haven\u2019t experienced anywhere near the same level of grief from Canadian Customs, but I\u2019ve encountered so many horror stories from others \u2014 non-Canadians, mainly \u2014\u00a0that I\u2019m perfectly willing to expand my condemnation to include border guards throughout the continent.)\u00a0\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take a neuroscientist to figure out which of those correlations is most likely to be causal \u2014 although I suppose you could argue that border guards might be more polite to criminals such as myself because they\u2019re more afraid of getting beat up.<\/p>\n

Nor are we talking only about my<\/em> experiences, judging by a recent survey of travelers<\/a> that rated the US border \u201cthe world\u2019s worst\u201d by a 2-to-1 margin.\u00a0 The same survey reported that \u201cmore than half of visitors found American border officials rude and unpleasant\u201d.\u00a0 That\u2019s a majority, folks, and it\u2019s entirely consistent with my own experience.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0So in light of these data, what are we to make of \u201cLoss Prevention\u201d\u2019s apologetics?\u00a0 It cites no data to support the claim that most border guards are well-intentioned and diligent;\u00a0 no data to support the claim that the job is especially dangerous.\u00a0 The numbers I\u2019ve been able to unearth would suggest exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize now that my experience and Peter\u2019s are the exception to the rule.\u201d \u00a0The \u201cnow\u201d implies that Madeline Ashby has changed her mind, that she began the exercise subscribing to the notion that the system was systemically flawed but has since learned that it consists of mainly decent folks who do their dangerous, difficult jobs pretty well.\u00a0\u00a0 What inspired the change in perspective?\u00a0 What new data countered the old?\u00a0 Maybe she conducted some kind of systematic survey.\u00a0 Maybe someone pressured her to toe some party line, and she caved.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe she simply hopped down to the border for the equivalent of one of those \u201cride-alongs\u201d so commonly recommended by advocates of law enforcement\u2014 you know, the ones who urge you to see the real story for yourself<\/em>, for all the world as though the presence of a civilian riding in the back seat won\u2019t have any impact at all on whether cops choose to beat the crap out of this homeless man<\/a>, or send that drunken injun on a \u201cstarlight tour<\/a>\u201d, no sirree\u2026<\/p>\n

The point is, she doesn\u2019t say.\u00a0 The back-peddle exists in a vacuum, with no explicit context to give it weight.\u00a0 And in light of that lack, I have to ask myself a question about my friend and colleague Madeline Ashby.<\/p>\n

I have to wonder if she\u2019s simply drunk the Kool-Aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madeline Ashby and I have a history.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve known each other for years, attended the same writing workshop, stood by each other in times of personal distress.\u00a0 We bonded over that time, not least over the fact that each of us has experienced misfortune at the hands of border officials:\u00a0 Madeline, a US citizen, at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","category-squidgate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2535"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2563,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rifters.com\/crawl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}