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Originally posted by
Chilipepper
From what I understand, you are first asked to walk through the body scanner. If you refuse the body scanner, then you're patted down. (I can't afford to fly, so I won't be doing this any time soon.)
So, you have the option for
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From what I understand, you are first asked to walk through the body scanner. If you refuse the body scanner, then you're patted down. (I can't afford to fly, so I won't be doing this any time soon.)
So, you have the option for your kids - having adults looking at your nude child or your children being touched by strangers (they say they won't do it to 12 and under, but last I checked 12-18 is still considered minor, too - sticky).
The director of the TSA is 'politely' advising people not to boycott the scanners, as TSA's hope was that the pat-downs would encourage people to use the scanners instead. Considering a courthouse's scanned images were released online just days ago (TSA says they don't store images like the courthouse did, but how do we know?), this is going to be an ugly holiday season at the airports.
One of my friends (who was sexually abused as a child) is so terrified of flying now because of this new policy that she's taking the train from now on.
What I don't understand is that the detection equipment was very sensitive to begin with before these body scanners - why bother to go this extra step? I do remember reading about this new scanner back in 2005 in one of the science magazines, so it has been in development for a while. My only guess is that the contract and money overrode any sense of decency and dignity. Latest polls also show that Americans don't feel any more safer than they did before.
In the end it's passengers and flight crew that end up discovering any bomb plots in flight, and everyone is ready to pummel the would-be terrorist at the drop of a hat (like the Shoe Bomber - had to go to the ER first before jail because everyone on the plane beat the shit out of him). The bloated bureaucracy of the TSA has made it impossible for the public to retain any dignity, and we are essentially told by it's director to "put up or shut up".
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Well, the director is claiming that they don't pat down children but the reports and even a video are suggesting otherwise. There might be other videos but they apparently arrested a man for taking video so people might be a bit afraid of taking them and posting them.
I think that we're opting out of the scanners. I'm not sure which is worse but knowing my son he might just yell about it. Perhaps the right person will hear and if enough incidents like that happen then maybe something will change. And yeah, scanned images potentially being saved is disturbing to say the least. They're also claiming that the high levels of radiation emitted from the machines is safe but the director even said their scientists determined this, meaning the very people that they are paying.
That was another thing that I had wondered about too, how many people are boycotting planes so that they don't have to relive something very traumatic? There aren't many ways to travel overseas so that seems rather unfair to them.
Exactly, that's what I've said about future attempts. Very few people out there will allow something as catastrophic as September 11th to happen again. We saw what happened and no one is going to stand for it. They can take all of these potential weapons away but human strength coupled with adrenaline can be pretty powerful, especially when it's a pure fight or die response. And, honestly, if someone wants to get through badly enough and they're smart enough to cause severe destruction they will find another way. Nothing can ever fully protect us.
I'm more concerned about the multiple mid-flight mechanical problems that have been in the news recently. All of this money is getting spent on these scanners but we aren't replacing the horribly out of date planes that should have been retired years ago. Sure, they're landing safely in the end but what a scary experience!
