TSA Scanners, etc.
I don't like the new policy. I didn't like the old policies and I made my views on the Department of Homeland Security clear awhile ago.
But
elusis has a post HERE that covers points I hadn't considered and is essentially far more eloquent on the subject than I can manage.
But
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The Europeans, when things are on tight lockdown, have everyone re-identify their baggage as it goes on the plane. It's far more effective than the body scans or pat downs, but we don't do it here.
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Don't like the risk of being bombed? Then don't fly. Flying in an airplane isn't a right. It's a privilege.
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I'm also sorry to say that the policies of the TSA are not unique to the states. At Heathrow before my last flight I was stunned into (almost) laughing in incredulity at how inappropriate the screener was. In full view of the security line, she made about seven big grabs of my breast tissue, testing them all over with apparent curiosity in her palms and between her fingers as if they were melons she was trying to test the ripeness of before buying. She also ran her hand all the way up my leg. I dearly wish I'd seen this cartoon - I would have said more. As it was, in vain I just tried saying, trying to be polite and cheerful, 'it's the wire in my bra' but she totally ignored that I'd spoken at all, giving credence to the cartoon's point. I'm angry I didn't say more now - I *knew* she was doing it wrong and it wasn't that I was afraid but rather the sheer scale of how wrong she was being kind of stunned me into inaction. But the fact that manyu others might feel violated by her approach makes me feel mad I didn't speak up when I felt strong enough to do so. I am appalled that now her way will be the preferred policy for millions.
Mind you, I still preferred this to the woman at Dulles about 5 yars ago who left me wanting to cry whilst doing a similarly inappropriate fingers and palms of hands pat down. But she conveyed so much anger and contempt in her dealings that every touch seemed an utter violation. I can only speak for my own experiences but I was struck by how much more upsetting one was than the other and yet the eternal degree of difference that an onlooker would have witnessed would be minor.
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*hugs*
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I realize that might sound like a good reason for doing x-ray scans, but I think it points out the general lack of competence of the TSA- thanks to the insistence of keeping those jobs poorly paid, you end up with people who've clearly had poor levels of training, and trying to fix security by increasing tech rather than training your workers is pretty much always backwards.
As your linked article suggested, a pat down is not actually going to seriously prevent anyone from smuggling things on board unless it's of the full-on prison level cavity search level. I think most of what the TSA does is theater to make people feel safe, rather than addressing the actual issues of safety.
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