Quote:
Originally Posted by Nat
I've been contemplating this post for a few hours. I think I will make a list.
1. Flying is optional if a. you never travel ever or b. you have all the time in the world to get where you are going. I'm not sure what the logic is here, but if they start implementing these at bus stations and train stations and bus stops - I'm just not sure where transportation becomes "optional."
2. You say that other options are available and it's just a matter of "convenience." Money and time are the two prohibitive factors for most people standing in line at the Southwest counter. It's not a matter of "convenience" to those of us who have very little money or time off work... The idea that i could get on a boat and cross the ocean is amazingly impossible unless I were working for whatever ship was crossing the ocean (since I have a job and precious few days off from it).
3. I do think the men in this community have every reason to be concerned about this process as do the rest of us. I'm not sure what you were saying about white men, but I'm pretty sure forcing people to take nude photos or be groped is pretty anti-Muslim. If flying means being subjected to humiliation and/or violating one's religious practice, then yes, many people will choose not to fly. And they will be more isolated and imprisoned in this "free" country of ours.
4. I refuse to embrace hopelessness when it comes to whether protesting this will "matter" and I haven't given up my right to protest one iota. Though you have a right to say I don't have a right to protest, I do not think you are right. I have the right to protest as long as I draw breath, and I'm lucky enough to live in a country with a bill of rights that supports my doing so.
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Everyone has the right to demonstrate. And I deeply believe in the Bill of Rights as well as civil disobedience. Yet, disrupting other people that have chosen to fly, some of which have no problem with these security measures is also infringing upon their individual freedoms.
I personally don't like how far these measures go, yet, I know that if the TSA did not continue to develop techniques and utilize the technology available, and something happens again like 9/11, people will be pointing to them for not making a full and concerted effort to keep flying as safe as possible in the midsts of continued threats. The "under wear bomber"
from last Christmas is the reason for these new techniques.
We can't have it both ways. I do think that complaints need to be addressed by the congressional leaders that are the ones that put these things into effect. it seems to me that sending emails or letters, making calls, sending faxes to our representatives is the way to demonstrate about this. Not making it worse for people trying to fly in the middle of the most busy travel time of the year. Most likely, that will only end up having airports closed.
Read your airline tickets- there is an agreement to the security measures including all the ones now on the news and upsetting us.
I honestly don't see how airport security measures can be taken without some kind of invasion of privacy. We either have to accept this, settle for less than state of the art techniques, or stop it entirely and accept the risks. Only questioning or scanning or doing pat-downs of POC, those in non-western cultural clothing, etc. is racial profiling and our Constitution cover this, too.
I'd rather we built better relations with countries and people worldwide so that we are not targeted at all.
My comments and link are not because I don't understand why people would be upset by the body scans and pat-downs. They are about the alternatives.