8 ms·
If certain people are exempt from pat-downs then pat-downs are useless.
by viro101 14y ago
If certain people are exempt from pat-downs then pat-downs are useless.
- gwright 14y agoThis presupposes that there is no mechanism for assessing the relative threat of a passenger. Basically every passenger is an equal threat and so everyone needs to be processed identically. Of course that is a non-sensical assumption but 'profiling' is considered a worse evil and so the TSA terrifies little children in order to avoid the evils of profiling.
- viro101 14y agono profiling is illegal in America. That whole equal protection under the law thing.
- sanderjd 14y ago> Of course that is a non-sensical assumption Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but there is no "of course" about it! While I think the moral indignation about profiling is justified, the real fear is that a system that relies heavily on profiling is very weak to attack by learning the profile and planning accordingly.
- josephcooney 14y agoPat downs ARE useless.
- gscott 14y agoEspecially when airline airplanes are also used for shipping. No need to even show up. "With over 3,400 flights a day to Southwest destinations coast to coast, Southwest Airlines® Cargo has the flight you need, when you need it." http://www.swacargo.com/swacargo/home.htm http://www.swacargo.com/swacargo/home.htm http://www.delta.com/business_programs_services/delta_cargo/index.jsp http://www.delta.com/business_programs_services/delta_cargo/...
- munin 14y agookay. if the terrorists stuff a 4yr old child full of explosives and blow me up, they win. I give up. not being groped in public is worth being blown up.
- tkahn6 14y agoI don't know if you're being facetious but attaching bombs to children is nothing new. It happened in Vietnam and it happens in Iraq.
- waqf 14y agoAnd when "intelligence" suggests that it might happen in the US, will they start banning children from planes?
- sanderjd 14y agoWhat a different and more wonderful world this would be if President Bush's speech-writers had put together a more pithy variant of your attitude for his speech after 9/11! But I think a policy of courage would have been wildly less popular than that of fear proved to be.
- rhizome 14y agoI don't agree that bush's policy of fear was popular.
- wpietri 14y agoI don't think people who weren't afraid liked it. But people who were afraid (or could be made afraid) seemed to be pretty fond of it. Because the policy wasn't one of pure fear; it was one of security through fear.
- rhizome 14y agoI don't agree that "popular" is an appropriate word to describe that state of affairs, since popularity implies choice.
- lonnyk 14y agoThe problem isn't just the pat-downs. The problem is that TSA security is more of an illusion that is easily circumvented and highly inconvenient.
- viro101 14y agoA illusion? how so? It is impossible for a security system to be 100% effective especially when people are involved.