Has the TSA Gone Too Far?

Image from Passport Magazine

I have to fly to Ohio in a few weeks, and so I likely will have the option of either the naked body scan or the full-on groping by the TSA.  I likely will just go through the scanner--though the radiation worries me a bit--but the groping wouldn't bother me. I'm old enough now to have had a doctor staring up my butt, so I don't embarrass easily anymore. But I am a little offended that we must subject ourselves by law to these indignities for the privilege of flying.

It's easy to refer to people who object to these measures as whiners. But are they? I for one loathe being treated as a potential criminal or terrorist. Take for example the practice of many stores that insist upon seeing your receipt before you exit a store. At a Sam's Club or Costco, I get it. It's a club, you're a member, and you play by their rules. But at a Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Fry's? Why do they need to see my receipt, I'm not a thief. I resent being treated as though I might be.

And while I may have no issues being photographed naked, or being fondled by a TSA agent, it is easy to think of scenarios where a person could be traumatized by such a thing. How about a rape victim? An incest survivor? How about a person who has a phobia about being touched? And let's not forget that the cut-off age for the search is twelve years old. That means pre- and current pubescent children are being handled this way. I don't know about you, but I know that I was extremely self-conscious about my body at thirteen years old.

On top of all of this, the procedures themselves aren't even known to be effective. How many potential terrorists have been stopped by the TSA anyway? Wouldn't it be front page news? I know that the dozens of times I've had to remove my belt, shoes, ring, watch and pocket contents have always made me grumble, because it's a pain in the ass, and because I always suspected that it was all theater. Just there to make us feel safe.  Still, some people will insist that it is necessary, and if we want to be safe in flight, we must submit to such indignities.

Hmm. Funny. I live in Las Vegas, tourism capital of the world. We have innumerable targets for destruction here on the ground. If I want to go play the penny slots, should I have to go through a similar procedure at the MGM Grand? How about at Hoover Dam? Disneyland maybe? Are airplanes the terrorists' only targets?

Now that we've acquiesced to this massive change to the security procedures, are we going to stop here? I mean--and I know I'm not the first to posit this--what if a terrorist decides to pack his bomb making materials into his nether regions?  This new procedure was enacted due to the underpants bomber, so I suppose if we get a suppository bomber, we're going to have to bend over and spread 'em? Tell me why that notion would not come to pass, based on what has come before.

The excerpted story below indicates just one horrifying encounter with the new TSA procedures. Another involved a cancer survivor who was forced to present her prosthetic breast to the agent. This procedure is new, and those two examples are likely only the tip of the iceberg.

[Excerpt]

TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine



A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers recently at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. . .
 
Read more at: MSNBC