] The piece in question, "Terror in the Skies, Again?" is
] the work of Annie Jacobsen, a writer for
] WomensWallStreet.com. Jacobsen shares the account of the
] emotional meltdown she and her fellow passengers
] experienced when, aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from
] Detroit to Los Angeles, a group of Middle Eastern
] passengers proceeded to act "suspiciously." I'll invite
] you to experience "Terror" yourself, but be warned it's
] quite long. It needs to be, I suppose, since ultimately
] it's a story about nothing, puffed and aggrandized to
] appear important.
]
]
] The editors get the drama cooking with some foreboding
] music: "You are about to read an account of what
] happened," counsels a 70-word preamble. "The WWS
] Editorial Team debated long and hard about how to handle
] this information and ultimately we decided it was
] something that should be shared ... Here is Annie's
] story" [insert lower-octave piano chord here].
]
]
] What follows are six pages of the worst grade-school
] prose, spring-loaded with mindless hysterics and bigoted
] provocation.

[ A solid refutation of Ms. Jacobsen's, er, efforts. -k]

Salon.com Technology | The hysterical skies