One Traveler's Opinion
Democracy depends on National Opt Out Day: Why you must skip the scanners
Shelia Jackson Lee took to the airport to berate ... or urge ... passengers togo through the full-body scans.Photo by James Blair
Does just going through the scan solve anything?Photo by Marcel Antonisse
Public opinion is divided over the new Backscatter advanced imaging technology being employed at many national airports, including at our own IAH. (You can see divergent views even amongst CultureMap's own editorial team here and here.)
But I, as one of the "it's grossly invasive on top of being unnecessary and unhealthy" set, urge you not to be discouraged from opting out of going through the full-body scanners on National Opt Out Day Wednesday. Although the Transportation Security Administration would have us believe that a little American activism will all but ruin the nation's collective Thanksgiving plans, we have a couple of reasons to risk the frisk:
- It'll piss off Sheila Jackson Lee. The congresswoman was at IAH this week to scold passengers into submission, telling whichever camera was first available that "We ask the American public to accept your role as a patriot." Funny, I thought standing up to big government to defend our basic rights was as American as, say, grassroots activism.
- Subjecting yourself to a public holiday groping might help convince the TSA administration that they're going a touch overboard. This has been hard for front-line TSA officers too, you know.
- If you fly Delta, your ticket can be refunded.
To clarify, it's the scanners that I take issue with; I just don't think we should be subjected to radiation outside of a medical setting. But the ultra-intrusive friskings are getting out of control, too, and the thinking goes that if everyone demands to be felt up, the TSA might change their practices.
Remember, it's not their business to touch ours:
