Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we have finally arrived at the ultimate humiliation crossroad in the aviation and travel business. Ever since 9/11, there have been plenty of ideas to ensure our safety, and that started with stashing every airline with federal marshals. That lasted for a weekend, and then we figured out that it costs way too much to keep actual human beings on joy rides, technology took over. Metal detectors couldn’t tell belt buckles from bombs, and the TSA guy patting me down looked a little too happy on the job, so we had to find a better alternative. Enhanced scanning devise, fingerprinting, laser detection, blah blah blah, just about anything you can imagine.
The last time I was on a plane, half of the passengers showed up in flip-flops in anticipation of them having to take off their shoes. I did the same. All that, and we were still not safe?
The new gadget is the whole-body imaging machines at airports that performs a “virtual strip” search and produces “naked” pictures of passengers. Now that is what I call freaky. Apparently these high tech scanners have been in airports since 2007, and just the thought of some creepy dude sitting inside a small room watching images of women and children is nothing short of appalling. Of course I am not suggesting that airport officials are perverts but you cannot convince me that there is no pervert I the bunch. The counter argument is that the person who does the screening will not get to see the scanned image, so the fact that some potentially nasty dude is checking out my girlfriend’s butt shouldn’t be too annoying. Next time I’m at the airport, I’ll remember to strike a pose for Uncle Joe in the secret booth just in case he needs some excitement in his government authorized peep show.
Very soon all of us will have to show up at the airport completely naked, that way the TSA officials can guarantee that we are not in possession of any deadly weapons. I have no problem with a stranger digging through my neatly arranged luggage, and talking to me as if he paid my rent for the past year.
More than once in my travels, I have seen people pinching themselves to be sure they didn’t die and unsuspectingly come back as Osama Bin Laden. Airport security guards have the right to treat anyone like crap, no questions asked. We happily subject ourselves to the humiliation and discomfort, all in the name of security and safety, but how far is too far? Could it be that we have come to the end of pragmatic options and the seemingly remaining alternatives are nothing but an illusion of protection, and a useless intrusion of privacy? Now I see what the Republicans mean when they talk about wasteful government spending. When it comes to airline security, I think we crossed the line the moment names of two year old kids started showing up on the list of suspected terrorists. Something is seriously wrong with our system, and if you ask me, sci-fi scanners and quasi porn intrusive devices won’t make too much of a difference.
But this is just my random thought, what do I know?
13 comments:
while we are at it let people bring can soda or ice tea or water with them so we can bring our own drinks on or flights and waiting at the airport
If there is a faster, more secure, less expensive option than these things should be done away with. I’ve seen the images they produce and it doesn’t look like pornography to me. We even get naked for other processionals, like the health care variety.
eric you seem to be making more fun at the issue than really telling us where you stand. Clever. I thought the body images looked nothing at all like “real” people. As for showing all, isn’t that the point? To show if a person has some sort of weapon concealed on their person? Is it true that the scans are seen by workers in one location and the actual scan is taking place in another location, so that the scanner never actually sees the real person and so cannot put a face to the image?
I think it falls under our illegal search and seizure protections. They are assuming we are all potentially guilty. I find it un-American.
I can’t imagine why anyone is troubled by such vague impersonal outlines of a human body. This is obviously a highly effective way to find hidden weapons, and it is much less intrusive than being patted down. The fact that a member of congress would propose this law speaks both to their sexual hang ups and their indifference to terrorism.
It is an invasion of our privacy. I’m surprised they are allowed to use them at all.
sir i disaggree with you on some of your arguments but i know you represent other opeople who dont like this. One this i TOTALLY AGGREE with you is the priorities part. I don’t know how they can invest billions in this type of airport security when our ports and borders are still wide open. Priorities please! Correction: I do know how. Because there’s money to be made inventing fancy naked picture machines, and it ‘hurts’ businesses to have to screen their containers at ports.
Funny how the ACLU didn’t offer any better options. I have knee replacements and have to get a stoupid pat down every time I fly, which is often. If I had a faster, less annoying option like full body scan, I’d jump at it.
thats is BS. . i still willrather be frisked-over thoroughly by the cute TSA girl any day
lol
No, modify them so they can detect illness and other medical issues and then I won’t have to leave the country to go and get an affordable X-ray or health screening.
I don’t really care whether they scan me or not. At 63, I doubt they will be able to pay for the machine by selling the pictures of me.
They don’t need to scan at all. Since 9/11, the government has acted like a chicken with it’s head in the sand about security. They’re so afraid someone might slip by if not detected at the airport they’ve gone overboard on security. Meanwhile the ports and borders are wide open. Using a little common sense would go a long way.
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