Molecularist

Idiotic. Idiotic. Idiotic.

Ten bucks to whomever can give me a common sense reason why we need to take off our shoes at airport security check points.

I can understand (sort of) the use of x-ray machines and metal detectors (when was the last time you had to go through one to get on a Greyhound or Amtrak or Carnival Cruise?). I can understand (sort of) the security questions at check-in (though they are getting less frequent). I can understand (sort of) the scooping up of baggage that’s lying around.

But, some loony puts plastique in his shoes and millions of travelers now need to remove their shoes to board a plane (figure out the cost-benefit for that). Then, some paranoid reporter freaks out watching muslim men chat on a plane and we no longer can wait in line for the bathroom on the plane or stand up for a neighborly chat because that’s congregating (so out of the books of every totalitarian government). And then, some suicide bomber (in some backwater place in Russia, no less!) hides explosives in her bra and the TSA starts feeling up women.

When will we have to strip totally? When will security procedures do more for the government image than for actual safety (I think they already do)? When will airports and travellers begin demanding some common sense (almost there, but we are all good citizens and the procedures haven’t gotten so out of hand for the majority, just for whiners like me)? When will we formalize racial profiling of airline passengers? When will armed guards be placed on all flights?

And while I’m whining, why is plastic silverware any safer than metal silverware? When will they ban black belt karate folks from flying because they could be considered weapons? And so on.

The airline industry is already so messed up that the TSA paranoid policies are finishing it off. At the airlines’ cost, too.

How idiotic.