The above video is intended to be comical, of course, but I’m sure it’s not too far away from reality.
The incompetent Underwear Bomber of Christmas 2009 prompted the Transportation Security Administration to upgrade its security measures at airports. We now have two new hurdles to jump over when trying to travel by airplane: the full body X-ray scan, and the “enhanced pat-down”:
This issue has been coming up repeatedly in the news since the new security measures were implemented in November, so I won’t belabor my readers with the details of each measure. The point is that TSA staff are either ogling your genitalia or are touching them with rubber-gloved hands, all in the name of keeping us safe.
Oh, really? (O RLY?)
The aim of the new measures is to prevent another Underwear Bomber-type incident, which was not caught by the old security measures of metal detection. However, so far, the new measures seem to do two things: 1) they embarrass travelers, especially those travelers with medical conditions or past histories of abuse that are revealed to the public upon being scanned and/or “patted down”, and 2) they aren’t keeping us safe.
Various reports and articles on the new TSA security measures have shown glaring failures, with some airports failing to detect dangerous items a shocking 70% of the time. Just recently, a businessman named Farid Seif managed to board a plane in Houston, Texas with a .40 caliber handgun “accidentally” stowed in his carry-on bag. This is no small, Derringer-type weapon; it can put a good-sized hole in a person fairly accurately. You’d think the TSA would detect that. Another passenger got on a different plane with a six-inch hunting knife. Whether these weapons were accidentally or purposefully carried on the planes is a moot point, because the fact is that the über-invasive new security procedures did not work.
Let’s say that the new measures did work, though. Let’s say that the success rate was nearly 100%, or even 100% exactly. Is it worth it?
Many people would say “yes”, because it could indeed prevent a person from detonating a bomb contained on their person. Such an incident would kill hundreds of people, bring our air travel to a grinding halt, and have a very significant economic impact, along with frightening the public into not traveling at all, compounding these effects. However, the new measures probably couldn’t detect a bomb planted IN a person, either surgically, anally, orally, or otherwise. Think that’s far-fetched or ludicrous? Terrorists don’t think so.
Beyond that, terrorism can take place in more locations than 30,000 feet above the ground. Will the TSA measures protect against a Mumbai-style attack in which gunmen go into a densely-populated location with military-grade assault rifles and hand grenades, and kill people until they themselves are killed and captured? Such an attack could easily kill as many (or more!) people than a plane blowing up in mid-air, and yet there is almost no protection against an attack that the government can offer short of martial law.
So as the government expands its power and infringes upon your rights further and further in the name of protecting you and making you feel (key word: FEEL) safer, think about their track record. Think like a terrorist, even. If you couldn’t hit the air travel industry, are there other targets of opportunity? Of course there are.
The best way to protect you and your family from terrorism? Self-defense. Of course, on an airplane, everyone can’t be armed. A stray bullet could breach the wall of the plane and cause massive depressurization of the cabin, even bringing down the plane in its entirety. But pepper spray? Knives? Stun guns? These could be easily used by everyday passengers to subdue someone trying to blow up their shoes or their crotch, or someone trying to commandeer the plane, without endangering the entire flight. However, just like in schools, colleges, and other public places, laws preventing basic self-defense will not keep unlawful people from trying to hurt you. In addition, taking away nail files, nail clippers, and pens from lawful passengers (including old ladies and small children) is even more asinine. On top of that, tack on a healthy dose of humiliation and trauma for passengers subjected to the new full body scans and “enhanced pat-downs”, and we officially have stupid government by our elected leaders who feel the need to act on every poor nitwit’s cry for help and protection by Big Brother.
The TSA won’t save you from terrorism, no matter how invasive their procedures get. And by yielding to these new security procedures at the airport, we are surrendering our Fourth Amendment right to protection against unwarranted search and seizure without reasonable cause.
