Took my chances on a big jet plane
I’m writing this as I sit on an incredibly long flight (six hours) from New York to Las Vegas. It’s not the longest flight I’ve ever been on (twelve hours to Tokyo), but it’s dragging. But this isn’t really the purpose of this post. I probably should have planned my meals better.
The other day I read an article about the new fast track security measures being put in place at airports as well as this author’s thoughts on how airports not using the TSA could one be a competitive advantage. Both of these were present in my mind when I went through a fairly rigorous search going through security at JFK this morning.
Out of principle I refuse to go through the body scanners in the security line. These scanners are the very epitome of the security theatre the government has constructed around our nation’s airports. We are now spending billions of dollars a year maintaining a set of security procedures, which according to experts, do very little to actually make us safer. Instead they just create the illusion of safety, hence the term security theatre.
I refuse to go through the body scanners because experts can’t agree on how much radiation we are actually being exposed to by going through them. I also refuse as a form of protest against the lack of effectiveness by the machines themselves. They were developed in response to the underwear bomber, with the thought process being that if the TSA had a machine that could see through our clothes, they could detect explosives on our bodies. Never mind the fact that it has have shown that the puddy like explosive substance they are designed to detect can just be rolled flat and rendered invisible to the machine (or that agents are more interested in just seeing people naked). Just another example of security theatre (or nepotism because the former head of the TSA who signed the contract with the company who provides these machines is now their CEO).
But I digress. This morning when I was told to go through the body scanner I calmly replied that I would like to opt out. It’s interesting to see how this process has evolved. It used to be I’d get a quick, “ok” and someone would wave a wand around my body and let me go on. Now I get a TSA agent responding by yelling, “We’ve got someone opting out!” and then turning around and telling the rest of the passengers that the line will now move slower because of me. They then have me go to the side and have a TSA agent go through this ridiculous process of reading all these statements to me and, I kid you not, remove his gloves, put on new ones, and snap them several times. He then proceeds to basically feel me up. But through all this I can’t help but notice that he is clearly much more embarrassed by this whole thing than I am. He stuttered over his words and kept avoiding making eye contact with me. Afterwards he immediately rushed off to a different area in the checkpoint. Even though the entire process is clearly designed to dissuade people from following suit, it really isn’t all that effective.
This brings me back to the original two articles I mentioned. In my mind, having the choice between two airports, where all things the same, the only difference was the presence of the TSA or a private security company, I choose the one with the private company every time. Too bad the TSA must approve any request for an airport to stop using their services and they’ve denied every single request so far.
Considering my stand on the body scanners, I’m really conflicted about what I think about the fast track security plan. Essentially if you pre-register you can have some background checks done to assure the TSA that you’re not a threat and go through a special, faster line at the security checkpoints. On the whole, I don’t see how this concept makes anyone any safer. You’re telling me that when you require people to give their full names and dates of birth when buying airline tickets, you’re not doing these sorts of checks? Sounds like more security theatre. So the real question is, am I giving in by signing up for this and surrendering liberty for convenience? As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
My hunch is no, I’m not really submitting to anything new. The government already knows plenty about me. If anything, the widespread use of this type of fast track line would highlight the ridiculousness of the very idea. That’s just me though, what do you think?




