I have no doubt these same people will be UP IN ARMS when there is a terrorist attack on a commercial train in America and they will be calling for SECURITY and pointing fingers.
At least some people are upset because the TSA is not actually doing much to improve security; they're just annoying people (like airline pilots) to no purpose. Many have noted that if you want to kill a bunch of people, a long, snaking line at a security checkpoint makes a pretty good target. I think a big part of the problem is our belief that assembly lines are the best way to do EVERYTHING.
I posted this in Bitches the other day:
How airport security is done in Israel:
[link]
In Israel, they consider long lines at airports to be a Very Bad Thing, for the reason Strega noted.
I know I've posted here before about the time my luggage was hand-searched (in Boston!) and they didn't find the big Swiss Army knife I had forgotten about in the bottom of the bag. So strangers touched my underwear and I still had an actual weapon on the plane. Good times.
It's pretty much theater, and I resent the intrusion upon my person for something that is basically bullshit.
Mmm. Underwear-touching-strangers.
This, right here, is the difference between real security and security theatre:
"First, it's fast — there's almost no line. That's because they're not looking for liquids, they're not looking at your shoes. They're not looking for everything they look for in North America. They just look at you," said Sela. "Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."
Mmm. Underwear-touching-strangers.
This was the Bad Touch, ita.
This was the Bad Touch, ita.
Right. Bad touch. Bad touch. Yes. Hmm. Okay.
Clean underwear?
I wonder how often that Israeli procedure ends up stopping people on the autism spectrum or with other disabilities that make them behave "oddly."
