Airport Security
Would you rather be the victim of a bombing or a hijacking? If you do, fine. However, I think it fair to say that most of the rest of us, say 99.99999% would rather not.Is there a better system? Does anybody have a functional aleternative? Yes, the Israelis, or more specifically, the Israeli airline, El Al, do conduct interviews with every passenger getting on a flight. I don't have the stats (most of you can't be bothered by them anyway), but I can say, without risk of contradiction, that El Al sees a very small percentage of passengers when compared to air travel in the US. It's signicantly easier for Israeli security to perform their jobs.
How many TSA (Thousands Standing Around) agents would the US need in order for them to personally interview every passenger and still manage air traffic in the oh, so efficient form that it enjoys today? More to the point, how many Americans would whine about being interviewed as a violation of, well, whatever?
Remember the immediate, post-9/11 response to increased airport security? Tim Robbins (a security expert par excelance) gave a news conference about "a cold wind that has descended upon America." The clown from "Mouse Hunt" and "La Caux a Folles" video taping CaARNG personnel at San Francisco's airport trying to provoke a confrontation. He called the Guardsmen "Nazis", thus reconfirming that most people who use the term have no idea what it really means.
Anyway, all that was 9 years ago. Al Qaida has changed tactics, haven't they? You do know why you take your shoes off before going through security, right? You do know why there are restrictions on bottles of liquid, right?
Do you know what happens to a human when an aircraft suffers explosive decompression?
Do you know what happens when that body impacts the ground from 30,000 feet (give or take) at >600 MPH?
Do you know what happens to a human body when the aircraft that they are in strikes the ground (or a tall building) at +/- 500 knots?
What the hell are we complaining about then? That it is intrusive? It is. Were it not intrusive then it likely wouldn't be very effective, now would it? But, autopsies are much more intrusive, aren't they?
True enough, even without any security measures, the odds of being on a targeted flight are really kinda small. But, who among us wants to be on the exception to the rule flight? It's fine if you do, but I bet that the other folks on the plane feel otherwise.
There comes a point where going on about lost rights and such sounds more like selfishness. I believe that we are at that point.
ibf
- Well, I personally, am sort of looking forward to my next business trips and airport security. Think I might do the scan then get in line again for the patdown. But I am a bit of an odd gal.....if I get a goodlooking security man I may even go for a third patdown! I have nothing to hide, and always open for a cheap thrill ever so often, might make traveling a bit more fun.
- Personally, I don't give a flyin' fuck what hoops you have to jump through to get on a plane. Wanna fly? Toe the fucking line bitch. Show us you aren't a danger. Simple, eh?
- "Would you rather be the victim of a bombing or a hijacking? If you do, fine. However, I think it fair to say that most of the rest of us, say 99.99999% would rather not. " Only cowards live in fear of over blown threats. Even if they took out 10 planes at once in a day, and you were flying, your odds are astronomically low of being on that flight. Over 87,000 flights happen a day in the USA, so you would have 86,990 flights you might be on as opposed to 1 of the 10. Yes they attacked us this way, but only a fool gives up his dignity and rights for an ounce of safety. Remember how 30 years ago the Soviets were gonna kill us all? 15 years ago Africanized Killer bees were gonna kill us all? 10 years ago Al Qaeda was gonna kill us all? 7 years ago SARS was gonna kill us all? Now we're on swine/ape/snake/bird/plant/etc flu, but coming back around to having the mean ol' Muslims kill us. The ONLY threat to this nation other than economic warfare (China) or an OPEC ban on US sales is from Russia selling off a couple of nukes. They wont have those on a plane, it will be in the back of a truck or a fishing boat. Planes are ineffective as ballistic weapons, they're really only useful in the 'terror' tactic. And you fell for it, giving up freedom to hide from terror.