AP
Dawkins made the angry tweet after he had honey confiscated by
Bin Laden has won, in airports of the world every day. I had a little jar of honey, now thrown away by rule-bound dundridges. STUPID waste.
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
Of course I know the airport security rules. My point is those rules are stupid advertising displays of dundridge zeal. Bin Laden has won.
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
(The word dundridges is a word coined by Dawkins to indicate a "petty, bossy, bureaucratic little rule-hound.")
The tweets from Dawkins soon went viral, with over 1,700 retweets at the time of writing. Not all the feedback was positive however ("I'm not sure that Bin Laden's number one target was your honey jar," one follower tweeted, while another compared Dawkins to Winnie-the-Pooh).
Do you idiots seriously think I give a damn about my stupid honey? It's the PRINCIPLE I care about. Get it? Principle, not honey, principle.
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
He went on to argue with the detractors:
@gdavies0 No. It's an example that stands for millions of similar wasteful idiocies. That was obviously my intention.
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
@mar10dg And how, precisely, does honey jeopardise safety? What is the chemistry of the danger?
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
@jcobyoung Do you know how much liquid you would need to blow up a plane?
- Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 3, 2013
Okay, so complaining to 846,505 people about having to throw away your honey may seem a little petty, but perhaps Dawkins does have a point. The blanket ban on liquids over 100ml was introduced in October 2006, two months after an alleged plot to down transatlantic airliners two months. Experts on "security theater" have argued that the 100ml limit is meaningless, as a 400ml explosive liquid can be transferred to four 100ml containers relatively easily.
While the technology to scan for flammable liquids has apparently been developed, it's roll-out has been held back due to testing delays.