If you do not want to be scanned or patted down by TSA employees at airports you should not fly commercial. You should save money enough to charter a plane, bypassing a stranger’s hands and that “porno” screening machine. Perhaps you should strip and walk naked through the line. Of course you run the risk of getting arrested for indecent exposure.
Susan Estrich (Creators.com) asked in a recent editorial: “Are people’s memories so short that they have forgotten that it was just last Christmas when a person with a bomb hidden in his underwear was caught on a flight to Detroit?”
My response is yes. And the media, once again, have created a scenario in which travelers and nontravelers can display false outrage. The same “outrage” was shown under George Bush’s administration, when they tried collecting information on travelers. Supposedly, it was dropped due to complaints from travelers and civil liberties groups.
I say false rage for a reason. If any of these travelers have visited their doctor regarding an unexplained illness in which an ordinary exam could not determine the cause, their doctor probably schedule an MRI, ex-ray, mammogram, EEG, CAT Scan, colonoscopy.
Your doctor touches every part of your body when you visit his or her office. The ex-rays, hands on exams and MRI’s are just as exposing as airport scanners and pat downs. Pap smears, colonoscopies, mammograms are even more invasive. You also get doses of radiation from the these machines.
As for the complaining public, you better hurry and realize that this is a brand new day in travel. Not even a president of the United States can keep you safe from danger. Realistically, you cannot protect yourself and your own family from danger. Preparing, planning and using precaution just is no protective shield from danger.
No one knows how or when America will be hit again by terrorists agan. For now Homeland Security is trying to thwart threats wherever possible, wherever they find them. Getting scanned, patted down or both at airports is far more pleasant than having a family member identify your remains at a makeshift morgue.
If there were no safety rules in play the outrage and outcry then will be: “Why didn’t the president and Homeland Security protect us from terrorists?” Good question. You cannot have it both ways. The continuing threats to America’s security are serious and real.
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