Dec. 18th, 2012 14:26
End Airport Security Theater
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosWith time off from work or school, chances are many of you are going to fly somewhere in the next month.
You'll probably have to take off your shoes, likely go through a full body scanner, will be forced to leave all your liquids at home or take a checked bag (and pay for it), and either way won't have your drink when you get to the gates. You may wait a long time in line for security, possibly longer than you expected, worrying about being late for your flight, and then reach the end and have to rapidly take off and unpack a number of things. Some of you will accidentally leave something in your carry-on bag and then be forced to choose between missing your flight or discarding the item - possibly something useful, or with sentimental meaning, or that cost some money.
All for nothing.
None of these practices contribute in any way whatsoever to anyone's safety. All they do is increase stress, delay, cost, and the risk of theft (when your expensive stuff is waiting in a tray at the end and you're still going through the scanners). We are literally spending large amounts of money just to make our lives worse, with no benefit to balance it. Just to waste our time and destroy some of our possessions and make travel stressful and less pleasant.
Why? Because our political leaders are afraid of us. They fear that not only do we demand this stuff, but that if anything bad happens, they might be blamed for not having done enough. Many of them know this security theater at airports is harmful, but they're afraid that we don't know it, and they'll be punished if they try to change it.
Show them that may not be true. When it's still fresh in your mind, after you've just flown somewhere or returned home. Call them and ask them to end it.
You can look up your US Senators and Representative's phone numbers on lots of sites, such as this directory.
You'll probably have to take off your shoes, likely go through a full body scanner, will be forced to leave all your liquids at home or take a checked bag (and pay for it), and either way won't have your drink when you get to the gates. You may wait a long time in line for security, possibly longer than you expected, worrying about being late for your flight, and then reach the end and have to rapidly take off and unpack a number of things. Some of you will accidentally leave something in your carry-on bag and then be forced to choose between missing your flight or discarding the item - possibly something useful, or with sentimental meaning, or that cost some money.
All for nothing.
None of these practices contribute in any way whatsoever to anyone's safety. All they do is increase stress, delay, cost, and the risk of theft (when your expensive stuff is waiting in a tray at the end and you're still going through the scanners). We are literally spending large amounts of money just to make our lives worse, with no benefit to balance it. Just to waste our time and destroy some of our possessions and make travel stressful and less pleasant.
Why? Because our political leaders are afraid of us. They fear that not only do we demand this stuff, but that if anything bad happens, they might be blamed for not having done enough. Many of them know this security theater at airports is harmful, but they're afraid that we don't know it, and they'll be punished if they try to change it.
Show them that may not be true. When it's still fresh in your mind, after you've just flown somewhere or returned home. Call them and ask them to end it.
You can look up your US Senators and Representative's phone numbers on lots of sites, such as this directory.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Another contributing factor to the horrors of security theatre is that airline baggage fees encourage people to carry on far more than they need to. My last few flights (Europe, India, South Africa) all had half-full overhead bins, even on full flights, and almost nothing on the floor. (South African Airlines also collected all the blankets at the end of the trip, saying they were a tripping hazard in the aisles in an emergency). More carry-ons = more time in line.
I know how to get my scissors on a plane if I've forgotten them in my carry-on, or if I'm only taking carry-on and I need them.
I once, for the sake of curiosity, "forgot" to take out my liquids bag for six weeks one summer. I went through 8 US airports, 3 European and 2 Asian--the only people who caught it were London Heathrow. I did, however, miss a flight one year in Detroit while the security searched for my MASCARA that I had forgotten to take out of a makeup bag.
And I, too, refuse to go through a backscatter machine.
no subject
I had the opposite experience in Italy: It seemed the US had demanded a whole separate terminal for flights departing Rome to the US, because the US didn't trust the Italians' security.
More recently when I flew to Germany and Majorca via England, I don't recall a re-screening. Although when I flew El Al in the 90s, they always did their own screening regardless of what the airport did, and if you had a stopover they'd re-screen you if you left the immediate gate lounge, even if you only went to shops and such on the same concourse, within the airport's own passengers-only security boundary. Of course the passengers-only security boundary airports have is tremendously porous, since it allows lots of shops to hire whoever they want, and deliveries come in by unscreened people, and etc. - but like I said above, this is all pointless theater. What El Al did, I think, was real security.