Thread: Airport security flap is a weird pile of junk

Airport security flap is a weird pile of junk

By Logan Jenkins
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 2:38 p.m.

Sometime after 9/11, I must have misplaced my boarding pass to sky-high outrage over invasions of my physical privacy.

When I must fly commercial, I’m like anyone else. I grumble over long waits at the airport, annoying searches in stocking feet, delayed flights, lousy (or nonexistent) food, harried onboard service.

Nevertheless, the last thing I worry about is the sacredness of my “junk,â€

The Israelis don't bother with body scanners: they have their own method of questioning and screening people that works pretty well. Yes, they profile like heck.

I'm a woman of the 50's and I was raised that it is degrading and a violation for ones breasts and/or privates to be seen and touched in the circumstances that TSA represents. (i.e. strangers, public, no probable cause) That is a cultural value that not everyone has hung onto but a real one that I think we need to keep. We have already heard of TSA abusing their privileges.

If we accept this, aren't we questioning whether there really is any such thing as violation? Are we not undermining people's right to refuse unreasonable access to their bodies? The Nazis in their camps and elsewhere were constantly forcing nudity upon their victims. There was a reason for this. Yes, everybody has a body with certain parts and we all know this, but the issue of access to bodies and the ability to control access to yours vs. being helpless and forced to submit strikes some deep chords.

As someone once said, the body is the envelope of the soul.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

The Nazis in their camps and elsewhere were constantly forcing nudity upon their victims.

The Nazis also forced hospital patients to unwrap their bandages in case they were trying to smuggle gold.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

The Israelis don't bother with body scanners: they have their own method of questioning and screening people that works pretty well. Yes, they profile like heck. . . .

I saw something about that on TV. All of their screeners are college graduates with lots of training.
I'm sure they are paid accordingly. Very expensive but probably well worth it.

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