Opting Out of Cancer and Into Molestation

If you don't fly, then great. Your protest options are simple. You can just continue not flying as a form of dissent with the new airport security screening procedures. Easy peasy.

If you have to fly, and if you can possibly stomach it, please consider requesting a pat down when you go through security vs. being scanned by the machine. The official word is that they are supposed to pat your legs up to your crotch, or as they say, "Until they meet resistance." (By "resistance," I don't think they mean the traveler's loud objections.) And for women this will include touching the breasts. (This does little more than remind me of my visits to Madison Square Garden for performances, something I quickly stopped doing because of the obnoxious security screening, but that's another gripe for another day.) You are allowed to request that the screening be done in private, but personally I feel much safer having my fellow travelers there as witnesses. I'm sure there are and will continue to be some jerk TSA people out there who handle this in a less-than-professional manner, which worries me, but I still consider this the safer alternative to radiation. Yes, they say the amount of radiation is tiny, but the thing for me is that scientists still aren't sure if the effects of radiation are cumulative. And no reasonable doctor I've heard of believes there is a truly "safe" amount of radiation. They recommend against pregnant women being scanned, so how can I possibly be expected to send my children through that machine? Anyway, I'm hoping the presence of adorable twins at least gains me some sympathy in the pat-down line. Although I wonder how the TSA feels about cloth diapers?

Moving on, the reason the pat down is being considered a means of protest is that TSA is not very well equipped to handle large numbers of people requesting pat downs. One official openly expressed concern about the planned November 24th Opt Out protest. You can also call or write your senators. There will be a Senate hearing on this topic tomorrow.

If you are able to rearrange your life accordingly, then you can definitely protest by not flying at all. Or if you have some extra money to spend on the problem, you can show up for a flight and then make a scene at the airport security checkpoint, although due to regulations I consider to be pretty fucking stupid, you can be fined for entering the security zone and then failing to complete the security check. Given that the TSA has not been particularly forthcoming with the details of the various screening options, I find this rule to be pretty sleazy. Hell, I find the whole thing to be sleazy.

For me, while I'm annoyed about this and plan to express my displeasure about these procedures, I do find the whole airport security frenzy to be a joke. I'm not convinced these increased measures do much to deter terrorists. Maybe they'll keep future shoe bombers and the like off planes, but the serious fellows will always find a way, won't they? I get so tired of being treated like a criminal every time I want to fly or cross a border. But even this is not as bad as the triple-screening we got in Dubai or this one time in France. And it's certainly not as scary as some of the border crossings we've done, when you know you can be snatched out of the world in a second just for wearing the wrong expression on your face. But perhaps I should reserve judgment until I've had my first pat down.