An Awakening?
Yes, the new invasive inspection procedures brought to us by our friends at the TSA seem relatively insignificant and hardly something over which to make a fuss compared to the long train of abuses and usurpations, the tortured, the unjustly imprisoned, the displaced and the dead that our “War on Terror” has delivered. Nevertheless, if it takes the routine examination and touching of our private parts to get the American public to care about civil liberties, I’m not going to complain just yet. Those of us who would rather hold dear to our civil liberties than to a cuddly, comforting teddy bear named Safety (made in China) have been given an opportunity with these recent infringements, a basis on which to build a case that civil liberties matter, and that while threats to our security are very real, we risk losing ourselves in our fights and defenses against them. What we’re doing to ourselves now might serve as an awakening to the incalculable harm we’ve inflicted on others. Personally, I’m much more comforted that Ann Coulter and I are on the same page of this TSA debate than that TSA agents are thoroughly examining passengers at our nation’s airports.
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seem relatively insignificant and hardly something over which to make a fuss
Except these things are being done against rich white people with status.
While I’m open to prudential arguments over the necessity of these measures, I’m pretty frustrated at those arguing there is an intrinsic violation. Planes are on the ground in their natural state. Significant technical barriers must be breached to make them airborne. Therefore, it doesn’t take much to cause natural disaster let alone a man made one. Even I, being the great humanist I am, am not willing to risk my life for the honor system or its equivalent.
Except these things are being done against rich white people with status.
I’m not quite that cynical.
If men are going to put explosives in their underwear, and women are going to put explosives in their bras to try to blow up planes, then it is irresponsible of airport security not to make sure — in some manner or another — that men don’t have explosive briefs and women don’t have explosive bras. The only people who are patted down — to the best of my knowledge — are those who refuse to go through scanners.
I saw a number of Republicans on the Sunday morning news shows criticizing the Obama administration over this issue. Now, if a plane gets blown up by someone smuggling explosives aboard in a way someone never imagine in their wildest dreams, Obama is going to get blamed for it. So if the rules are relaxed and a plane gets blown up by an underwear bomber or a bra bomber, the Republicans will turn right around and excoriate Obama for lax security. How could this happen twice? I am not saying all this fuss is a Republican plot, but I do see the Republicans and the Tea Party being more than happy to help whip up American anger at the government for their own purposes.
If men are going to put explosives in their underwear, and women are going to put explosives in their bras to try to blow up planes, then it is irresponsible of airport security not to make sure — in some manner or another — that men don’t have explosive briefs and women don’t have explosive bras.
I’m sure we can come up with something better than what we’re doing, but at what point do you draw the line? What if a terrorist finds a way to convincingly disguise a weapon or bomb as a private body part? Should TSA agents then carefully examine breasts and genitals to make sure they are real and not fake?
The dignity of the human person is intrinsic. It is not necessarily inviolable, but the presumption should be that any violation, is bad and potentially dangerous. however small, Hence, any violation, such as TSA’s new aggressive pat downs, must be justified, with the degree of scrutiny commensurate with the degree of the violation.
Previously, I had reservations about TSA pat-downs, but only marginally because they were an affront to my dignity. Rather, I disliked them because they were an meaningless bit of security theater. Having been frisked after being arrested and by very professional security guards in Europe after I accidentally tripped the metal detectors, I can say that all my previous frisks were jokes: I could have hidden any number of things on my person in the areas left unchecked without putting anything in my crotch.
The new searches, from everything I have read, are much more serious, more akin to what you get when arrested (sans the cavity search, which thankfully I have not been subject to). So they are more degrading: ask any African-American who has been stopped for “driving while black.”
The question remains whether they are necessary and proportionate to the threats we face. There have been two near successes in terrorist bombings of planes since 9/11: the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber, the latter being the proximate cause of the new security measures. But in the latter case it has been clearly documented that there were a number of security lapses before he ever got on the plane, so it is reasonable to ask if we would be better off attempting to fix these problems before subjecting the mass of travelers to invasive searches, either electronic or physical.
While I am on the same side, prima facie, with Ann Coulter and other conservative commentators, I think we diverge considerably in our reasoning. In his recent column Charles Krauthammer railed against intrusive searches of everyone. His solution: intrusive searches of muslims.
Every time we give away a bit of our dignity (or someone else’s dignity) in the quest for safety, we do great damage to ourselves. We need to find ways to keep ourselves safe with as few such give aways as possible.
Good points.
For me personally? I really don’t care. Would it stop me from booking a trip or going on vacation? Not at all. I would still travel and I would opt to go right through the scanners. I guess to some, it’s really a HUGE deal. I just don’t see it as such. However, I have traveled to many countries. I have been to Israel where they walk around with machine guns, as you watch people pray at the Western Wall. You could be on a tour bus there, and they stop and pick up a soldier and they are carrying loaded machine guns right onto the tour bus. It’s just what they do. I hear a lot of folks in the media asking that we be more like Israel. It’s a much smaller country, and I just wonder how easy it would be for us to interview people on every flight that goes out in this country of our’s. It would seem like a huge undertaking. Call me cynical, but I just really can’t fathom how that would work out so well. I also ponder on the future and wonder deep down, if another event like 9/11 were to happen, what would people be saying then? Is the American public really tough enough to endure, and forgo this security- if something terrible were to happen again? If so, then why were most not more outraged by the Patriot Act?
I suspect more people were not outraged or the least bit bothered by the Patriot Act because the infringements were less visible and were not felt as close to home as these TSA procedures are.
Think for an instance who would have the greatest opposition to these scans and enhanced pat downs- devout Muslims. This is simply a way to profile without the actual effort of profiling, a deterrent of the religious sort.
Interesting theory, but the new procedures strike me more as a response to recent threats than as a subtle means of religious profiling.
If men are going to put explosives in their underwear, and women are going to put explosives in their bras to try to blow up planes, then it is irresponsible of airport security not to make sure — in some manner or another — that men don’t have explosive briefs and women don’t have explosive bras. The only people who are patted down — to the best of my knowledge — are those who refuse to go through scanners.
And if they’re going to put explosives in trains, cars, boats, subways, on foot or any other form of transportation, well, then I suppose we should simply visually scan (or pat down) everyone in each of those? What’s strange about this is the asymmetry between the level of safety we accept in every other facet of our society and what is being imposed on us for reasons that aren’t clear with regard to air travel.
Kyle points out this asymmetry also applies to our treatment of the tortured and imprisoned; that’s true to some extent, but I think there are more differences between enemy combatants and people who decide to take a train instead of a plane between New York and Boston.
I have no problem with these enhanced security procedures.
Thinking back to last August, I realize that I went through the enhanced body scan in Boston before boarding a Swiss Int’l flight to Zurich.
Truth to tell?
I am absolutely in favor of “profiling” also!
Alrighty then.
I have no personal experience with the scanners, but I’ve heard dozens of anecdotes of the petty tyranny of the TSA. Intimidation seems to be the point.
I’m glad people seem to be resisting. Frankly, our behavior in the wake of 9/11 was mostly craven and hysterical. We were willing to put up with anything, as long as it kept us “safe from the terrorists.”
Don’t worry though, soon enough there will be a republican in the White House again, and the American people will once again be proud to do as they’re told.
Have there been any instances of the patriotism of TSA resisters being called into question?
Whatever your personal feelings about the enhanced security measures that TSA has recently implemented, I would ask that as you travel during this holiday season, you keep these few things in mind about the TSA workforce:
Frontline TSA Officers did not create the new policies. Enhanced security measures were put in place by TSA. TSA Officers are charged with carrying out those measures and keeping the traveling public safe.
Not only is being a TSA Officer a difficult job, these men and women lack most of the same workplace rights a great many Americans take for granted, such as the right to collectively bargain a fair workplace contract;
TSA Officers understand the potential conflict between passenger comfort and convenience and enhanced security measures, so they strive to perform their duties in the most professional manner possible.
Not their patriotism per se, but the pat down that comes as a result of refusing the scan strikes me as deliberately intimidating. Refusing the scan seems to create a presumption of criminality.
It seems to me that as soon as “they’re just doing their jobs” or “they’re just following orders” becomes the rationale, one is on slippery slope that begins, perhaps, with pat-downs and ends, perhaps, with camp guards.
I stand with those who characterize our national behavior since 9/11 as craven and hysterical. Bin Laden must be rolling on the floor laughing his ass off.