The TSA has been given new electronic and procedural tools to search for possible bombs and weapons carried by airline passengers before they board any planes at U.S. airports. If a person objects to a highly-revealing body scan (TSA employees can see every roll of fat now) then the person will have to submit to a complete body search by hand (which could be devastating for those who are particularly ticklish).
Recently, one passenger threatened a TSA employee with a lawsuit if he happened to touch his “junk.” The media and general public have concluded that “junk” in this context means genitals. This gives rise to many conflicting thoughts about American society that today is a strange mix of hedonism, ignorance, narcissism and Puritanism – and only heightened by our country’s extreme polarization about every damn issue imaginable.
It seems particularly strange to refer to any part of one’s anatomy as “junk” – particularly one’s genitals. It evinces a strong distaste for them as rather disposable and not being fully equal and essential parts of the human anatomy. The passenger who spoke these words got his 15 minutes and more of fame. However he may be subconsciously revealing his shame over a part of his anatomy for which there is no rational basis. For most people, their genitals are not disposable junk but their most favorite parts.
Unfortunately too many Americans have an obsession with or are embarrassed of their genitals and other body parts as a result of not having a healthy and active relationship with them – physically or mentally. Some may angrily claim they have a right of privacy there and for other parts of their bodies, but that is a debatable legal fiction. (They are not mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.) Even from a psychological and medical standpoint, a person who is hyper-sensitive about being touched and needs a large personal space apart from others, may really be the sick one at most any gathering.
When more than half of adult Americans and a third of children are obese, most Americans are no longer the physical “beauties” long touted by our shallow Media over the past half century. Another half of Americans have also been perpetually unattractive from any objective physical perspective. (People will not willingly touch you unless they are paid.) To think that one is an object of sexual desire for the majority of other people is simply a delusion or a form of extreme narcissism.
The Media has also reported that new polls of Americans indicate that the majority actually supports this type of heightened security measures. (Go ahead, touch me everywhere – make my day wonderful.) The vocal minority objects to these procedures as they are always on the lookout for any opportunity for moral outrage and media attention. (“Hey everyone look! Someone’s touching me….a little to the left please.”) However, if the majority is able to live with it, it is highly likely that all airline passengers are just going to have to get used to it. Sometimes the general public is more reasonable and sensible than it appears to be on FOX or MSNBC – or it long ago abandoned the notion we have any privacy rights left as we voluntarily reliqunished them to stamp out our fears of everything.
When we visit a physician we willingly submit to far more probing, touching, and physical examination while half or fully naked. These medical visits are not in any way considered invasions of privacy or sexual abuse sessions. The normal human mind is capable of telling the difference between an objective search and an invasive sexual groping – even if it is conducted by a member of the opposite sex.
We generally only see our physicians a few times a year (if that frequently) and they have shared practically nothing of their professional or personal lives with us for many years – talk about mere acquaintances or practical strangers. In most medical situations, there are other people present at the time of examination. The whole exam is rather brief because there are many other people waiting to be seen. So how is this materially different from what is being performed by TSA employees? Would it be better if TSA uniforms resembled those of healthcare workers? Do we need more group hugs at airports among strangers to break down our silly inhibitions?
Perhaps we should take the perspective of a TSA employee instead. It probably is no joy to physically come in contact with most people while having to check for weapons and bombs. Patting down some people is not unlike hugging various large farm animals. Most members of the flying public are not beautiful Hollywood celebrities – not even at the LAX airport. Thus these security measures are far from the TSA pleasurable groping orgy that the critics envision. Some passengers have serious hygiene issues or enjoy passing gas – not positive job attributes for TSA employees or most members of the working public.
In order to be noticed by our 24/7 info-entertainment Media circus, one must say and do the most outlandish things in order to be featured on our silly news shows, You Tube, and other forms of entertainment that so many people seem to desire. As we have degenerated into a society of ignorant, angry, scared, narcissistic, ADHD, shallow and entertainment-obsessed people, even these fabricated outrages over TSA security measures will be completely forgotten in a few months. They will be buried under many different tsunamis of future real and fabricated issues and events – many of which will be far more important – or at least titillating.
The next ugly choice will arise when we catch a would-be terrorist who failed to detonate a bomb that he ingested or shoved up his sphincter into his large intestine. Even if such a bomb is impossible to detonate, will we then require the TSA to extend its security measures to full body cavity searches on all airline passengers?
Perhaps Osama Ben Laden is just toying with us knowing that we have perpetually over-reacted to anything he has said or done. He and his friends will be laughing on the floor knowing that the U.S. flying public will be subject to a whole army of amateur proctologists before boarding any planes. At least being distracted by our iPhones, Notebooks, Kindles, cell phones and other electronic playthings (all made overseas) will make the procedure more tolerable and also count as “multitasking” – something that many people find as a desirable bragging point.
Imagine being able to get a free colonoscopy before boarding a plane while simultaneously updating your Facebook pages? We could also have the new body scanners check for all sorts of conditions and diseases as well. The results would be examined over the Internet by physicians in Mumbai, India due to the severe shortage of affordable doctors in the U.S. Dr. Patel could tell you on an airport HDTV that everything looks fine and to have a nice trip. Dr. Singh will probably see you on your return trip to go over your cholesterol levels. This could be a major step towards controlling our nation’s healthcare costs – or at least shifting many of them to the TSA.
Another rant happily submitted from Phoenix, AZ by Marc Pascal.