I’m going to commit to you this longish piece by Jason Harrington, “Dear America: I Saw You Naked“, from Politico. It chronicles his time as a grad student marooned as a TSA screener at O’Hare.
Of course, if you’re reading this blog, it’s likely as not you aren’t a huge TSA fan. And for all that, there are probably things in Harrington’s piece that’ll still get you mad.
But I am linking to this because it’d seem Mr. Harrington and I must have met.
Because this person:
Every now and then, a passenger would throw up two middle fingers during his or her scan, as though somehow aware of the transgressions going on.
That’s me.
Every time I fly.
I typically “opt out” from the scanner, even though it means a pat-down instead. If they ask me why I always say, “I can’t stop my government from treating my like a criminal, but I can stop it from treating me like a guinea pig.”
I always opt out. New scanners are millimeter wave, which means your cells are just cooked slower.
I haven’t flown in a while, but part of me would love to say “you know, the Israelis do a great job of airport security without this kind of nonsense” in that line.