Alright, I have to come clean here. Perhaps I don't see what the big deal is because I haven't yet been inconvenienced at an airport by a stranger patting me down, but I'm not getting red in the face over the TSA searching for suspicious packages (badum bum). After all, one of the legitimate functions of Government is to protect its citizens. If security requires certain people to get pat down to make sure another 3,000 or so people don't die, then so be it. If the government were simply neutralizing a threat to its citizens in the most efficient way possible, then my response to those who say that "If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy" (Madison) is that "even the devil can cite scripture for his purpose" (The Merchant of Venice I:3).
Unfortunately, the Madison-quoting fear-mongerers are right this time around. Firstly, the new, invasive, mandatory security measures can hardly be viewed as incidental emergency steps taken to defend us when considered in light of the federal government's unbridled lust for our personal rights over the last century. Secondly, the TSA is trying very hard to be anything but efficient throughout this whole process in the name of political correctness. It's like they're trying to scratch their right ear with their left foot when a much easier way has clearly been demonstrated.
You know, if a man with rubber gloves stuck his hands down a 4 year old's pants in a crowded airport on any given day, he'd go to jail. Unless, of course, he worked for the Government. The TSA touches every single person going onto a plane because touching only the ones that may look like they have bombs would fall under "criminal profiling." They even screen the pilots. Last I checked, a pilot doesn't need a box cutter to bring down a plane if he really wants to kill someone.
The Israelis had the secure solution to terrorist hijackings long before 9/11, which is perhaps why they never had a 9/11. My solution to this rift between sanity and sexual harassment is just as simple: privatize security. I'll fly the airlines that use the Israeli system of highly trained personnel screening a criminal by the way he sweats, breathes, and twitches, and everyone who finds such profiling offensive can wait in line to get his 3-for-1 flight, dinner, and prostate exam special. We'll see how long those lines last.
Oh, I almost forgot. The American Muslim Council has proposed that Muslim women only get screened from the neck up because touching them is a violation of their religious rights. Let me know what you think about that in the comments.
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TT: Snapshot
13 hours ago
The biggest problem with the searches is not that they are overly intrusive (which they are). The biggest problem is that they are utterly useless -- and passengers being subjected to them understand this intuitively. That's why they are ticked. I for one would not mind being inconvenineced or groped in this matter if I had a reasonable belief that these searches are effective. But they are not. Something everyone seems to be forgetting is that the 9-11 hijackers were only armed with utility knives -- that is, they were barely armed at all. The point of security should not be to prevent razor blades (or swiss army knives, or tweezers, or God forbid some hair gel) from getting onto the plane, but rather to prevent people who would like to take the plane down from getting on the plane. This can only be done through behavioral profiling (not racial profiling). These pat-down/groaps are a farce. That's why people are pissed.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Israeli way of screening passengers is very thorough, terrorists (with enough planning) could find a way to appear innocent and remain calm and collected through this way of interrogation. This is why I believe that while it is an excellent method, it is not the solution to stopping terrorists in airports in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think privatizing security is not a smart idea, as the owner of a private security company could (G-d forbid) make deals with terrorists to let them through. With the government running it, you do not have to question that at the very least, their intention is to keep the American people safe.
Most importantly, I think people need to take a step back and grow up when it comes to these scanners. If a TSA worker sees a virtual image of my junk, so be it, as it is used to protect the safety of air travelers. While profiling can help detect suspicious people, we need to have a screening system in which every person is efficiently scanned and detected for any possible threat. These scanners can help achieve that goal. I really feel that so many Americans have gone soft on the issue of keeping us safe when it comes to air travel (at least, when it comes to making a personal sacrifice for its safety). I believe that if these scanners were introduced shortly after 9/11, the American public would support them almost unanimously. Sure, they may put people out of their comfort zone, but flying must be as safe as it possibly can be, and if you don't like following the safety standards, you don't have to fly.
Anon of 10:28, why would you trust a government more than a private company? Why on earth would you think you needn't question a government's intentions, or that a TSA worker is less vulnerable to treason than a private one?
ReplyDeleteAnd who exactly is it that's gone soft? Travelers who stand up for their God-given right to travel and maintain their human dignity, or those who insist on absolute safety and protection against "any possible threat"? If safety comes at the price of every passenger being sexually molested, then what good is it? The risk of dying in a plane crash is low enough as it is; far lower than that of dying in a car crash. The risk of dying of a terrorist attack on a plane is even lower. The billions that are being spent on a futile attempt to reduce that risk to zero are wasted; money down the drain. Try growing a pair, and keeping the TSA's hands off them. Unless you like that sort of thing, of course; nothing wrong with that.
The underlying problem is that the entire premise of airport security is wrong. Trying to keep dangerous objects off planes is not only futile, but wrong-headed. Terrorists are sooner or later going to be able to get what they need on board; all the security does is disarm the rest of the passengers. Out in the "real world" we know that when guns are outlawed only outlaws have guns, and that disarming honest people only increases the opportunity for criminals. Why do people think the same doesn't apply in the air?
ReplyDeleteConsider that every attempt in the last 9 years to attack a plane was foiled by alert passengers, not by the TSA or air marshals or anyone official. And that's while the passengers were without effective weapons, and had to make do with what they could lay hands on. As the "security" gets tighter, such opportunities diminish, and passengers become less safe.
Way back in 2001 I wrote that instead of screening us for weapons, the stewardesses should be handing out knives with the headphones. Nothing since then has changed my mind.
Flight 93 no more will fly
dead on the ground or dead in the sky
we may not survive but at least we can try
Stand up and bring the ship down!
— Leslie Fish
PS: You really need to read some of Bruce Schneier's writing on this subject.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't mention the groping that we can all look forward to on our way to visit family members this holiday season, but it is an interesting take on the effects of "racial profiling." Thoughts?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/208478.php
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteThis interesting article talks about how racial profiling does not work, and I completely agree. Racial profiling comes from people like Erroll Southers, Obama appointee to head the TSA, who said that the most dangerous homegrown terrorist groups are "anti-government, in most cases anti-abortion. They are usually survivalist type in nature, Identity oriented."
We all know that's ludicrous, because you clearly don't have to be on Southers' list of "Southern Baptist Supremacy groups" to commit an act of terror.
What the Israelis have done is behavior profiling, which is extraordinarily effective. They do the same thing at El-al terminals as they do at Palestinian checkpoints, and it's hardly degrading. They don't strip search you. Highly trained personnel have a conversation with you. It doesn't matter what race or religion you are, humans just can't hide the twitch that comes with nerves.
To "Milhouse"
ReplyDeleteTo suggest that we have to question our government's intentions when it comes to keeping us safe is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I wasn't a supporter of the Iraq war, but last time I checked, spending billions of dollars to remove Saddam Husein from power in Iraq shows that the government's intentions are to keep us safe from terrorists. For G-d's sake, try growing a brain, and start using it.
You say that "a private company" can be trusted to the same degree as the government. I've got news for you: not all private companies are created equal. I am sure there are terrorists living today who are the heads of "private companies." If we were to have the private sector running airport security, there would have to be thorough screenings of each and every worker at airports, and every person working behind the scenes for the security companies. A terrorist group could easily bribe a vulnerable security company owner into arranging for him to be let through security at the airport in exchange for a large sum of money. However, we both know (I hope) that the government's policy is to NEVER negotiate with terrorists.
Also, when has flying been a "G-d given right?" There are many ways of travel, and all should be rights...but only on the basis that one can afford to pay for it and follow the safety requirements. If a motorist decides that stopping at red lights infringes on his "G-d given right" to driving and decides to ignore all of them, his driver's license will be removed, as he is showing that he cannot comply with the rules to ensure safety for this way of transportation. This kind of system should apply for all kinds of travel, but in air travel, we have the luxury of being able to screen people before they do something wrong.
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ReplyDeleteThe illegal invasion of Iraq, was just one phase of the economic downfall of America. America's aggression in the middle east has created millions of terrorist. The middle east is a region of the world that will never embrace democracy. There will always be these type of people trying to blow up planes. And no security will ever stop these people. So be thankful for the efforts of the TSA. I feel strongly that America's total destruction of Iraq was planned by the Bush Administration. Our country and the middle east would be far safer if Saddam was in power. He hated Iran and Afgan. He hated terrorist. He was our ally in this region for years. Our efforts to bring him down only made matters worse . When we leave this area of the world. The tribes we revert back to the Mullahs . The religious leaders have to much power.
ReplyDelete