you are paranoid. You think people are out to get you. 'Social engineering' and all. Good luck to you.
Government can be evil, it can be intrusive, it can be many things. In this particular instance, it is an opportunity for people to find catharsis in airing their deap-seated paranoias. It is prevelant in this thread.
Simple. Citizen asked to show ID. Citizen lied. Citizen refused. Ok. After accumulation of subsequent events Citizen arrested, charges subsequently dropped. What is the moral of the story? Certainly it has nothing to do with ID checks. It has nothing to do with terrorism or the size of one's shoe. It simply happened. The value in the whole thing is that we all can vent our opinions and berate those we disagree with. Some here offer constructive observations. We should pat ourselves on the back. In other places, none of this would have happened, because the bus-granny would have been hauled away and shot, all us with our precious opinions would have to offer them up in secret meetings or else end up in a hole with granny. Instead we have a free country, a free forum where people can suggest ludicrous things like I am for a police state, I am a bleating sheep subject to the whims of big brother, etc. So, which do you prefer? We have a problem with islamic fanaticism, the plan is to create a caliphate, destroy Israel, conquer the middle east/europe from Africa to Singapore, and then in 30-40 yrs, expand to conquest of the entire world, and here we all are whining like babies because someone asked to see someone else's ID, and it hurts. I think we would be better advised to worry about the larger picture, don't you???
No.
If in the process, we surrender our spirit, our independent streak, and our freedom / liberty, the terrorists will have won.