News Opinion Spencer on March 29, 2006 05:29 pm
Airport (in)Security
Greetings!
I just came back from my first business trip in over three years and want to talk about airport (illusion of) security. Both airports I had to go through security at upset me and made me really wonder, even more so than ever, are they doing ANY good at all?
First, at the Las Vegas airport they still make you take off your shoes. Airports are not supposed to do that any more, and LAS is the only one that I know of that does. I also say “make” because they don’t leave it as an option. Sure they may say it’s a suggestion, but everyone damn well knows that if you don’t take your shoes off, you’ll be hand wanded and harrassed even further.
At JAX, they don’t ask you to take your shoes off, in fact one person in front of me started to and they told her to leave them on. A little consistency would be nice, but that would be too much to ask. The item that upset me here is the use in a couple of lines (not all of them) of some new ion chamber. I had to go through one today. You step in, place your feet on the yellow mark, and then air gets blown at you from head to toe in little bursts. What the hell does this do??!?!? After being in this machine for about 15 seconds you get to then go through the metal detector. Now going through one machine isn’t enough, you have to go through two? I have no idea what happens in the ion chamber or what it is checking for if anything, but it is very disturbing.
Of course this brings up the entire subject of airport security to begin with. Our rights are being trampled on for the name of security and the airports are the most blatent evidence of this. I have to submit my personal belongings and myself to possibly extensive searching, yet I don’t complain. I’m told to take my shoes off and dance like a monkey (well, not really about the monkey part) and I do it without question. The TSA has complete control and they know it. Why? What if I say something? Complain? Yeah, straight to even more searching and probing and a visit to that back room for questioning. So I say and do nothing but what they ask. And you know what? So do you!
When are Americans going to say enough is enough? Profile!!! Is an 80 year old grandfather and his wife really a threat? Should they have to go through this hassle. Should the rest of us? It’s all an illusion of security; an attempt to make you feel safer. But at what cost? First, we’re not any more secure and second we lose our personal liberty during that time. Large cost, no reward, no thank you.
“But they are trying to make things safer?” I understand that, and they have good intentions despite trampling our rights. But remember, when 9/11 happened, the terrorists used legal items in their attack. The appropriate solution was taken, make more items illegal on planes, that’s a little inconvenient possibly, but not a huge impact on our liberty. But the rest is all for show. I am not safer by taking my shoes off or going through some ion chamber. I’m not safer when they randomly pick me to rifle through my bags to see my underwear and clothes for the next day. I’m not safer when I see them do the same thing to a little old lady. Should they profile? That’s a much bigger issue that is hard to answer, but if I have to, in a word, yes.
Well, I’m pretty tired from a three day trip to spend 6 hours with a client and fly coast to coast twice. Keep on keeping on and have a great day. Stay safe; you are your number one security protection!
