Backscatter

[Martina]

i don't have a problem with it. i hate to fly, but i do twice a year or more. Whatever it takes to be safe and to get the job done quickly works for me.

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by Brock

The prices we pay in this world in which we live.

When I fly, I follow the rules. No way around it. Follow rules or stay on the ground.

Someone mentioned it is optional. I say needs to be mandatory that everyone must have the scan or no one gets scanned.

Perhaps I am missing something here but what purpose does "optional" serve?

It's only optional because there was initially enough concern that the TSA acquiesced and allowed pat-downs. The pat downs are quite invasive and frankly border on assault. In addition TSA agents are hassling individuals who respectfully opt-for pat downs.

The bottom line is there is zero validity for the need for these machines. They were put into play because someone stood to make a great deal of money.

They do not detect anything in bodily cavities.

To date TSA has stopped zero terrorists at TSA checkpoints.

It's theatre, pure and simple.

Originally Posted by DomnNC

I too get the lil visit to the glass room and the pat downs because I set the scanners off everytime I go thru. It matters not that you carry a card from your surgeon stating you are a medical implant patient, lol. However, I'm all for anything that will guarantee the safety of the passengers aboard a plane to make sure there are safe arrivals and departures. Like someone said, it's a privlige to fly and there's always going to be some necessary evil to go along with privilige. I also found out during said scan that the foil inside a cigarette pack will set the damn thing off, sensitive persnickery lil machines they are.

It cannot guarantee yours, or anyone else's, safety. And to think that it does is just silly. I'm glad it makes you feel better to walk through them, but please don't fool yourself that it's solving anything.

Originally Posted by Kobi

What I heard was a choice between an invasive xray or a patdown including between thighs and between buttocks.

If someone, someday, is found smuggling some potential device stuck up their behind, are we all supposed to bend over and take one for the country?

We have become slaves to terrorism. We are allowing terrorists to rule our lives. We are allowing the threats of terrorist to strip us of our rights and freedoms.

When is enough, enough?

We are allowing defense and security contractors to lobby the government to put million dollar machines in place in lieu of doing that actual hard work of fixing the issues which make us targets for terrorists. In lieu of doing the challenging, yet more beneficial work, of analyzing potential threats.

Originally Posted by weatherboi

the frustrating thing about all of this xray machine stuff is it is not necessary.
they have dogs to do the sniffing so i dont understand why they deem this a necessary avenue. it is a ridiculous solution and to boot they want to be able to also pat our bodies down in ways that make me cringe!!!

It should make you cringe. The reason it's been done, aside from the fact that it made someone a lot of money is theatre. Making people feel like the government was doing something. The more important factors, such as changing the way airline crews are trained to deal with hijackers, reinforcing cockpit doors and requiring additional baggage screening weren't things that the public could see as actions. These continued infringements on our privacy, our movement and our persons are actions the public can see and say "well, it's for our own good." But it's not. It just costs us money. In taxes, in time that we have to pay a babysitter, in time when we could be working, in time in general. It just costs.

Originally Posted by Martina

i don't have a problem with it. i hate to fly, but i do twice a year or more. Whatever it takes to be safe and to get the job done quickly works for me.

See above. Please follow the money. Who really stands to gain by this?


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I'm sorry folks, In the first ten days of this month I had three horrific flying experiences and I've heard of dozens more from people I know and trust.

I am, by and large, a respectful, courteous flyer. But I've reached my limits. I'll continue to treat others with respect when I fly, but I will not submit to the humiliating and invasive scanners. I did it once, because I wanted to know what I was dealing with. It was, in a word, demoralizing.

To walk between two monolithic structures and be told to stand perfectly still, raise your hands above your head and wait made me feel as those I was waiting to be arrested, or worse, executed.

When I exited the machine I was told to wait and the agent radioed that there was a "female anomaly" and they were trying to determine if I would need a pat down. After five minutes I was allowed to go without a pat down.

I've since opted out and been subjected to very aggressive pat-downs. When you realize that you've been intimate with individuals who haven't touched you in places a government agent is now touching you it's too much.

Think about that for a minute before you say "doesn't bother me". How will it bother you when it's your lover or your mother or your child?