The Official Blog of the TSA
http://blog.tsa.gov/
My favorite film in the Alien series is the one set in the prison colony, Alien 3. The warden begins each day's address with the memorable phrase, "Rumor control, here are the facts." In our out-of-control, excessive, 24-hour news cycle any event can become blown entirely out of proportion. Spin rules the day.
I'm not defending the TSA's new technology or policies. Nonetheless, the blog is fairly interesting reading. They offer up lucid (though biased) explanations of some recent events, dispel rumors and offer statements in response all comers. Reading the blog, one gets a clear sense of how stories become sensationalized for dissemination; with controversy subsuming content. With all that being said, ultimately I also feel it shows the power that images can have over reason and fact. The scanned images are alien and a bit disturbing, and the now-viral video of uniformed adults searching a shirtless child may well be the undoing (or least revision) of this all. Never mind that the father was the one who apparently removed the boys shirt because he thought it would expedite the screening (such is the claim at least). A poor judgement call to be sure, and unintentionally the biggest documented embarrassment to TSA procedure thus far. That image is haunting and damning. Every parent in this country feels a surge of indignation when they see that, or least they should. I know my girls would be hysterical, and I doubt we could go through with the flight, -which, btw would mean we could be fined $10K. In any case, the airlines would lose at least two young customers for life out of phobia, and no one would be safer.
Isolated, and in the context of 9/11 this could all probably pass muster but for the fact that traveling by airline just sucks nowadays. There was a time when it was different than traveling by bus, but no longer. At least on the bus you can get up and walk around. You can text, surf the net to your heart's content, eat whatever snacks you brought with you and ride shoulder-to-shoulder with very colorful fellow citizens. The airlines have seemingly exploited security concerns to justify cutting services and increasing profits. No meals. You have pay for a blanket and your baggage. You must endure the surly flight attendant or risk a smack-down by a US Marshall. On top of this, unless you're traveling more than 4 or 5 hundred miles, you don't really save much time by flying. To add insult to injury, the airlines exist in the new elitist business category, "too big to fail."
What about all this yammering on about the "free market?" Doesn't true free-market capitalism ensure that a service-oriented business has to, -you know, provide quality customer service or else risk failure? But hang on, if they are not allowed to fail, where is the impetus to care about consumers? The four-letter word bank comes to mind.
I say let the airlines fail. They are not all bad; some of the smaller, more nimble companies are still fairly tolerable. But isn't the purported magic of our economic system that, should the behemoth companies get eliminated new companies will inevitably take their places? The service will still be offered, they will simply evolve. The other thing is that we should really begin to ask ourselves difficult questions about civil liberty and so-called security. Right now, we are paying for the illusion of control, and the visage of security. If someone wants to hijack a plane, they are damn well going to do it. Meanwhile, ground transport is disproportionately un-patrolled. You're far and away more likely to get killed by your fellow American motorist than by a terrorist. How are we really safer?
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