How do you really know if someone is a good actor unless you know them when they are not acting. For this reason I have to assume that Angelina Joilie is not normally a moody, pouting bird that seems to be using those big eyes and child bearing lips to say naughty things to me. If I am to believe she is a good actor I have to believe that she is in fact a a rather timid, giggly sort of a girl who is more interested in her gardening than my trousers. But I will probably never know.
The point is, if you are smart you can exploit the unknown and pray on peoples ignorance to portray a set of circumstances that will encourage them to believe you and pay you for your services. To an extent we all do it. For example; Engineers will tell you that you need a 'new one' because of what may happen if the 'old one' fails with the boss on board which of course is your worst case scenario. Of course in most cases the engineer would believe what he or she is saying to be absolutely true but you get the point. This sort of fear tactic is countered in most cases, by the fact that most of us have experience and knowledge that allows us to make an independent decision.
Security is slightly different however. I am slightly concerned by the number of people telling us that yachting is a dangerous risk and crew need to be trained in some sort of weapons use to defend against it. Not because they have a great deal of yachting experience and know where owner's like to go or how yachts operate but because they were trained in security. Yachties are exposed to quite a few security risks as recent events in the Caribbean have highlighted. But the truth is, training them to leave their Rolex behind and travel in numbers is far more important security advice than teaching them how to defend against an armed attack.
Lets be honest the ISPS convention is about as useful as a chocolate condom. It is a politically motivated convention which is aimed at a small sector of the maritime industry and yachts are just caught up in it. ISPS actually tells you how to search for a bomb. Well that is totally against conventional wisdom which clearly says if you think there is a bomb anywhere near, go somewhere else. When someone calls in a bomb threat do the police ask for help to find it? NO they evacuate. Security is a bit like religion; It is very difficult to say anything against it as it can be seen almost as blasphemy. Guns and crew do not go. Train crew how to say "don't touch that" in Russian. Now that is smart and may save a guest's fingers but teaching them how to employ military evasion tactics is scaremongering. Piracy is a problem and if a yacht needs to go to an areas where pirates are, then they should take protection. Yachts use painters to paint and AV people to install the AV system, so then, what's wrong with using security experts to protect against insecurity.
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