Saturday, November 20, 2010

SOME SPARE THOUGHTS

Why, suddenly, are some of our menfolk in the US, embarrassed to be searched before getting aboard a plane?  The man who said, "Don't touch my junk" must really have a problem with his body image.  Is he afraid he will get an erection and embarrass himself?  Is he homophobic?  Is he just a prude?  Should a whole plane load of people be sacrificed for any, or other, of those reasons should scanning be discontinued?


One of my favorite cartoons shows a herd of cattle talking to each other while cowboys circle into a group.  On cow is saying to another, "{I wish they would stop treating us like airline passengers."  Indeed, the comparison bears merit.  However, ultimately we all have a choice as to whether to fly or not...even if it means changing jobs.  That is surely not easy but everything in life is a choice.  You can choose to keep your traveling job and follow governmental procedures.  If you truly wish to change them, it should not ber at the expense of holding up all the rest of the passengers.

Profiling seems to be another 'bone of contention' for some.  Don't people realize that there is no one who escapes the great database of the 'databankers.'  Every time we go online our key strokes may we watched, sites we go to monitor, there are massive resources on almost every registered American.  Why dod people worry about their anonymity, then?  Do they blissfully assume the world is as it was forty years ago?  !984 may have come and gone but so much of 'Big Brother' (concept from the book 1984 by George Orwell) suggests he now is, indeed, watching us. seem to be truly current.  We just can't be careful enough, some people think.

It leaves me wondering whether the people, who complain the most, vote. They are also the same people, often, who pay no attention to candidates but complain later that the people in office are doing nothing.  I too would like to see some more competent politicians in office.  Now I just mope around wondering if our government will ever right itself while I'm still alive.....

1 comment:

Frank J. Lhota said...

There are plenty of reasons to object to pat downs besides prudishness or homophobia. Here is a Canadian perspective on the new airline security measures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwsVi9ULwLI