yesterday a federal 747 flew around lower manhattan with a couple of military fighter jets in tow. needless to say we new yorkers were, uh, PANICKED.
is that how you spell ‘panicked’? well, we were panicked, as the last time a big plane flew wildly around lower manhattan was on september 11, 2001. needless to say it brought back some really. really. really bad memories for just about everyone living or working in lower manhattan.
it turns out it was the defense department trying to arrange a photo shoot for air force one with the statue of liberty in the background. the defense department official who arranged the photo shoot, louis caldera, made a huge mistake in thinking that a gigantic plane flying wildly over lower manhattan wouldn’t lead to a million people panicking and reaching for industrial strength xanax. he has, apparently, apologized.
it does raise 2 questions:
1-did they really think that a gigantic plane flying around lower manhattan in the middle of the day wouldn’t perhaps remind a few million new yorkers of september 11th? and
2-haven’t they heard of photoshop? it’s a little worrisome to think that the department of defense, who control about a trillion dollars a year, don’t know that you can use a computer to make it LOOK like a plane is flying with the statue of liberty in the background without actually having to HAVE a plane flying with the statue of liberty in the background.
moby