TSA scanners, terrorism and John Wayne's genitals

One of my favorite columnists is Chris Kelly from The Scranton Times. Chris is smart, funny, irreverent and he and I often seem to share the same common-sense liberal world-view. So I was shocked when he ran a piece on the TSA scanners that basically said "just deal with it".

So I began to write a comment on the site. It grew longer. And longer. And I thought that it belonged here. So read Chris' piece, and then continue on....

The question isn't 'how effective are the scanners?'. The question is 'how effective are the scanners given the time, money and human cost of the scanners?'. Meaning, millions of people have been inconvenienced, embarrassed, delayed and harassed by the scanners, but what have they prevented? How many attempts have been stopped because of this civil-liberties-devouring monster we call the TSA? And more importantly, is it worth the cost?

Like it or not, the threat of terrorism is something we're going to have to live with. The goal of terrorism isn't death, it's fear. And it's the change in our lives that the fear brings. That being the metric, the terrorists have already won. We're a nation living in fear and willing to surrender our basic rights to politicians often-impotent claims to 'make us safe'. Remember what Benjamin Franklin - one of the all-time badasses of history - had to say "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither".

We've come a long way from the Founders. They had the huevos to go toe-to-toe with the greatest military and sea power the world had ever known. We're willing to debase ourselves in the hopes of cutting the already millions-to-one chance of a terrorist striking. Is that rugged Americana? Is that what John Wayne would do when confronted with danger? Ask youself... WWTDD? What would The Duke do? I sincerely doubt that it would involve showing his genitals. Unless it's to Angie Dickinson later in the picture.

The media helps to flog this cultural acceptance that "you're gonna die if you don't let Uncle Sam rub your wee-wee or hoo-hoo". This blind acceptance of TSA procedures - let me see you naked or you have to let me get to third base - sounds like Humbert Humbert, not a governmental agency. Future people will laugh at us, at how simple and stupid we've become, living in constant fear of incredibly long odds. Why don't hand out noise-makers to passengers and have them all blow them at take-off to ward off any geese that might bring down the plane? It's happened.

In reality, the odds of dying at the hands of a terrorist are long. As tragic and terrible as 9/11 was, more people died of preventable cancer that day - and every day since - then died in the attacks.

I can say this as a semi-regular air traveler. I'd rather take the chance that figurative lightning will strike rather than debase myself to someone else's ideological goals. Which brings me to those polls. Are those polls of frequent air travelers or is it a generic poll that gets less frequent travelers and more scared moms, holding junior tight to her bosom, who haven't been on a plane ever? I'm guessing its the later.

Is terrorism a threat? Yes. Is it a real threat? Yes. Is it worth changing your life over? Is it worth giving up some of the things that make us Americans over? I'll answer very strongly: NO!