Another Freedom Lost, By Roger Behra

SHORT COMMUNICATION 218

Another Freedom Lost
By
Roger Behra

Yes, it just had to happen in America, and the excuse once again is the threat of terrorism, but it is a giant step in the wrong direction, and the general public in America is upset. The anger and disgust is strongly directed at the Transportation Security Association (TSA), and it is absolutely justified because their latest maneuver is one-hundred-percent an invasion of privacy. There is no doubt.

The full-body scanner that images a person’s nude body and the all-body pat-down are the sources of anger expressed by airline passengers. Many airports in the United States have begun using these gross invasions of privacy methods, all as an excuse against terrorism. In essence the ordinary American who travels by airline has become the target instead of the terrorist. This time you have gone too far, Big Brother.

The scanners in use are the same as taking off all one’s cloths. The agents get a complete view of the naked body that leaves nothing to the imagination. It is totally unjustified, and a person has very just rights to objet. No one has a right to gaze upon all God gave a person, not even as a guard against terrorism. There is also and added worry. And that is the danger that later the images will have a far wider audience than ever imagined. Can you visualize the delight on some faces as the naked images are being seen in the back room at one´s self gratification? Over 35,000 courthouse images have been saved by U.S. Marshals. There is no telling what has been done with those in private.

Another added worry is there because the right of refusal is a legal choice. If a passenger rejects the full-body scanner, here comes the “enhanced” pat-down. It is not the gentle frisking of the past. Instead, it is aggressive probing of intimate zones-breasts, buttocks, and genitals in through crotch examination. Both the scanner and the pat-down is a very demeaning experience. It is very humiliating to say the least. It is totally unneeded, and it makes the airplane passenger the humiliated and angry target. The TSA is following the political correctness agenda fostered by Washington politicians, and it is making Americans the target instead of the terrorist. Terrorists do not look like Americans. Americans do not hate America. Islamics hate America. They practice Islam which condones terrorism. And the Islamics are the terrorists, and they aim their terror at America. The TSA should figure that out. Everyone else has.

No one is going to come to the aid of the airline passenger except the airline passenger. They have to keep a large, strong, and constant outcry against scanning and the pat-down procedures of seeing and handling of one’s private parts. Unless the passengers rebel against a degrading procedure and the serious invasion of privacy, the scanners and pat-downs will remain in effect, the TSA wins the game and more warped and ridiculous counterculture thinking will remain in America’s culture. The airline passenger has the power to regain and protect a precious freedom lost: No one has any right to see or touch one’s private area.

R. B.
12-24-10