"Of course, you always have to be concerned about hijacking. But with the measures that are in place right now, I'd say that probably the airways are as safe as they've been in a good number of years"
About this Quote
Safety here is being sold as a mood, not a metric. Hugh Shelton, speaking as a soldier-turned-statesman, wraps a live-wire fear ("hijacking") in a calm, managerial cadence: "Of course" acknowledges the anxiety without feeding it, then the sentence pivots to reassurance that sounds empirical while staying conveniently unfalsifiable. "Measures that are in place" is the key phrase - passive, institutional, and deliberately nonspecific. It signals competence without naming tradeoffs, failures, or the messy reality of security theater versus real deterrence.
The subtext is a public trust exercise. Coming from a military figure, the authority isn't just expertise; it's posture. Shelton is modeling steadiness, implying that the state has learned, adapted, and now has the situation under control. The hedge words ("I'd say", "probably", "as safe as they've been") do quiet work: they lower the bar from "safe" to "safest in years", a comparative claim that feels comforting while dodging absolute guarantees no honest security professional can make.
Context matters: late-20th/early-21st century aviation anxiety - and especially the post-terror era - demanded language that could stabilize everyday life without admitting how radically the threat landscape had shifted. Shelton's line aims to keep people flying, keep commerce moving, and keep confidence in institutions intact. It's reassurance with a uniform behind it: not triumphal, not panicked, just firm enough to make you believe that vigilance has been professionalized, and fear can go back in its box.
The subtext is a public trust exercise. Coming from a military figure, the authority isn't just expertise; it's posture. Shelton is modeling steadiness, implying that the state has learned, adapted, and now has the situation under control. The hedge words ("I'd say", "probably", "as safe as they've been") do quiet work: they lower the bar from "safe" to "safest in years", a comparative claim that feels comforting while dodging absolute guarantees no honest security professional can make.
Context matters: late-20th/early-21st century aviation anxiety - and especially the post-terror era - demanded language that could stabilize everyday life without admitting how radically the threat landscape had shifted. Shelton's line aims to keep people flying, keep commerce moving, and keep confidence in institutions intact. It's reassurance with a uniform behind it: not triumphal, not panicked, just firm enough to make you believe that vigilance has been professionalized, and fear can go back in its box.
Quote Details
| Topic | Travel |
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