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When I consider the things I am most afraid of, death is among the top-ranked items. I think it is safe to say it ranks high for many of us. We don’t want to die too young, we don’t want to die too violently and we most definitely don’t want to die in an unjust or easily preventable manner.
Because of this fear of death, and the precious nature of life itself, I am confused by the recent backlash against the Transportation Security Administration. As mentioned above, death is among the most common of American fears; however, in a recent online polling, one of the fears that Americans sporadically rate higher than death is flying.
It is for good reason. We have been attacked and threatened numerous times via our airways. In my opinion, we need to use whatever means necessary to make sure the American people feel confident about flying again.
The TSA is a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It develops guidelines, regulations and tactics designed to increase security in American transportation.
Since 2007, the TSA has been using Advanced Imaging Technology, commonly referred to as “body-scanners” to survey flyers as they pass through security checkpoints in airports. These scanners work like mild X-ray machines but in a more anonymous manner.
Those selected for additional security screening in airports stand in these AIT machines. The outlined body of the person being scanned is then presented to a TSA official, who can then verify if there are concealed weapons or forbidden items on the person. At any time, a person can refuse a body-scan and choose to be escorted into a private room for one-on-one screening conducted by a TSA official of the same sex.
A wide range of concerns have been raised by American travelers about these body-scans. Some feel the scans are violating their privacy while also saying the one-on-one screenings are too invasive. Others are scared the machines (that are in accordance with national health standards) are not healthy.
Most of these concerns seem trivial to me. How does letting a TSA security official see the outline of your body compare to another 9/11? We need to come together as Americans and take one for the team. The bottom line is, whether they are uncomfortable or not, the body-scanners are working. They are making air travel safer and more efficient. According to the TSA website, within the last week alone, two “artfully concealed prohibited items” and 12 firearms were uncovered thanks to AIT. It only takes one passenger with a prohibited item, a firearm or bad intentions to devastate thousands of Americans.
There is one legitimate concern about TSA procedures in my eyes, and that is the fact that it may violate the rights given to us by our founding fathers in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. But, I also believe there is justification to this concern. The Constitution was written to grow and adapt with the times. I’m not sure Thomas Jefferson ever imagined the United States as having such hateful enemies as al-Qaida.
So, the question in my mind remains: Is two minutes of feeling uncomfortable really worth the lives of innocent Americans? We have spent way too much time trying to be politically correct and not enough time protecting our country and its citizens.
A version of this article appeared in the Dec 3 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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No offense but you have an inadequate understanding of the Founding Fathers. "Those who give up liberty for safety deserve neither and lose both." - Ben Franklin
Jefferson was well aware of these types of enemies. He studied the Quaran so that he could better understand the Islamic Barbary Pirates who were kidnapping and enslaving Americans.
Basically the Founders had balls and current Americans don't. The Founders, in the words of Patrick Henry, said "give me liberty or give me death." Current Americans like you say "molest me, look at my wife naked, just don't let me die.
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And our rights were not "given to us by the Founders and the Fourth Amendment." Our rights are inalienable-- God gave them to us. And what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. The Constitution SECURES rights that we ALREADY have. Since man and the government does not give them to us, man and the government can't violate and take them away from us.
Stevie, I'm sure that your heart is in the right spot but your head is not. Instead of watching Oreilly and Beck on Fox, turn on Fox Business and watch Judge Napolitano. NEVER give up liberty for security.
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Clearly current Americans DO have balls. You can see them on your full body scan at the airport. Maybe the TSA is just checking.
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Maybe Americans rate the fear of flying higher than the fear of death because they are afraid of having to go through the humiliation of dealing with the TSA. I know I would feel more confident about flying if we didn't have to go through the security theater that the TSA puts us through every time we fly.
Multiple studies indicate that the new body scanners would not have stopped the attempted underwear bombing attempt. So why should we put up with something that doesn't really make us any safer?
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Let's just stop playing games and just profile. It's faster with a lot less junk feeling
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Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.
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I agree with Stevie. Let's also do body scans when people walk into malls and sports stadiums. Let's scan all 66,000 people who go into Lane Stadium for every single game. If a terrorist blew up Lane Stadium during a Tech vs. Georgia Tech game, it would be like 20x worse than 9/11, if my math is right.
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you mean 18220 that's crazy
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you mean 18220 that's crazy
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"The Constitution was written to grow and adapt with the times."
Why do some people keep saying this? Which of our founding fathers said anything to suggest that the document they fought long and hard over would be changed at the whim of future generations? They put provisions in place to allow the document to adapt, called amendments, but made it rather difficult to do so ON PURPOSE.
And where is the proof that these machines make us safer? You said there were 12 firearms uncovered due to these machines. I would like to see the article that explains how these fire arms got past the metal detectors and were only then discovered by the Full Body Scanner.
Even if a firearm is brought onto a gun, the most damage it can do now is the people in on the plane. The best and ONLY provision that has come out of the attacks on 9/11 is the lock on the cockpit. No more hijacking with that lock. No amount of guns with the passengers will change that lock. So it wouldn't be thousands like you claim.
I will not give up my rights as a human being because YOU and others like you are scared.
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It does not affect Stevie and tons of other Americans, but to those of us who are Christians the new procedures are highly offensive. As a Christian I'm commanded to cover my naked body and be modest(so that rules out AIT scanner) and to touch only my spouse (which rules out the pat-down, especially because they touch your genitals). Because I'm born-again I am going to Heaven. I do not fear death. My home is in Heaven. What I do fear, however, is man (like Stevie) trying to make me sin against my God. There is no way that I will ever go through naked scanners and there is no way anybody other than my spouse is touching me. I would rather die. If I loved the world as much as Stevie, then maybe I'd do anything and give up anything to stay alive. But I don't. My faith is more important to me than this world.
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With all due respect, I would not consider going through a mandatory pat-down or body scan committing a sin on your part. There are some times when you just have to fly. Not everyone will encounter those situation but a lot of people do and you can't say that those people who were randomly selected out of the line to go through these security procedures are committing a sin. If you were in America and your dying father/mother/sibling/spouse was on another continent and you had two days to get there....i'm pretty sure you would still fly.
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and I do consider myself a Christian by the way.
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It's not mandatory-- I do not have to fly. No, I would not fly to see dying family. I will NEVER go through naked scanners or these sexual molestation pat-downs. If I had a job that required me to fly, I would quit my job. I'd rather work 80 hours a week at fast food places than work one decent paying job that required me to sin against God. I have family overseas (missionaries) who I can maybe never see again. They refuse to go through our airport security and so do I.
If you are a Christian, turn off Fox News and talk radio and read your Bible. When we are boxed in, we are supposed to please God rather than man. Christians are commanded to be modest. You can't use the Bible to justify going through this kind of security. If you willing go through it, you are willingly showing your nakedness. If you are forced to go through it, then you are being MOLESTED. Either one is wrong.
Staying alive is not the number one priority. Following the Bible and pleasing God is.
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Man, fundies say the darndest things.
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So do compromising sheeple who excuse corrupt government officials while they molest the populace.
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Yeah, I agree. But fundies still say the darndest things.
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So if going through a pat down is, to you, being molested, and, to you, being molested is a sin, then what does that make rape to you? A sin? Don't try to argue yourself out of it your logic already proved that, according to you, this is a true statement. theres nothing wrong with being a christian. but there is something wrong with being a stupid christian.
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No there is a significant difference between the two. I applaud your use of disproving logic by taking logic to it's extreme, not enough students take philosophy courses these days. However, by going to airports that use these measures you are giving consent to the way they conduct their security measures. It's a sin because you know in advance that you will be molested and you choose to go anyway. A simple Bing search tells you which airports use these horrid security methods.
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I usually favor high security to prevent terrorism and other crimes but in this case I think they are over doing it. I think there are better more efficient ways they can do this than just randomly searching. Randomly is not efficient at all since a person with a bomb can STILL get by.
I favor the Israeli method instead, for some reason they have the most secure airport in the world in a highly volatile region despite having no body scanners.
I won't be flying anywhere until this nonsense stops and they do it a better way. I'd rather drive.
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Stevie, I couldn't have said it better myself. This uproar is ludicrous. And really, you people arguing about the government and constitution...imagine yourself sitting on a plane and the person sitting in front of you gets up and starts making threats about having a bomb. Don't try to tell me that you would rather defend that person's "right" to not be searched or scanned than be blown up by them. You can talk and talk but its only showing you stupidity. You are not thinking of the situation on a broad scale. You're thinking about yourself having to go through the security process and the extra time and minimal discomfort that it will cause YOU. You are not however thinking about the lives it could save. Man up and stop being selfish.
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Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you eat fast food? Do you drive a car? Do you forget to wash your hands sometimes before eating? If so, you are a hypocrite. The chances that you'll die from any of those things so high (relatively speaking) that the chance of dying from any type of airplane related death is trivial. You remind me of this person I met once, who told me (while drinking a gin and tonic) that they don't eat processed sugar, the problem of course being that alcohol is exactly that, sugar that has been processed. If you're so irrationally afraid of dying, then it seems you have a long list of things that you should stop doing before you even worry about not flying. It seems that if you could, you should be happy live in a sterilized bunker in an Arizona desert for the rest of your life.
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The person above me is correct. We could have a 9/11 happen EVERY YEAR and you are still more likely to die from driving your car!! 400,000 people die every year on the highways. Should we ban driving? More people die from drowning in swimming pools than terrorism. The only reason you are so scared of terrorism is because instead of being rational and thinking for yourself, you watch TV and the ridiculous news media.
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actually you still have it all wrong. I am not as afraid of dying myself as you make it sound. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of lives are much more valuable than just mine or just 100 people on a plane. These scanners and pat-downs are not just for people who want to blow up a single plane, theyre for people who want to take that plane and fly it into something like they did on 9/11. It is for the good of everyone that this is being done. I dont think it will last long, just until this uproar of crap going on settles down. But still, when something huge happens again because someone slipped through security onto a plane you will all be stuck with your foot in your mouth. Theres not much else to say. Youre just wrong.
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silly n00bs. 9/11 was an inside job. Government is making a fool of you.
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Man up? You, like most Americans, are afraid of your own shadow. Because you are scared of some terrorist you are trying to force me and everyone else to get molested at the airport. Man up and stand up for what is right.
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9/11 was conducted by Israeli commandos in order to draw us into Middle Eastern affairs. Wake up America the Jews run this country.
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I resent that comment, I don't know what the hell you are reading but you sound like a conspiracy theorist
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Stevie, do not fear death.. The Lord Jesus came to take the sting out of Death. Give your heart completely to Him and he will deliver you from the fear of death. I will not walk through a scanner not enough information on the health effects. They possibley could cause young people to be sterile. I could careless about the pat down.. I went through one they did not touch me inappropriately. Put our trust in the Lord the only thing to fear is "We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Don't just think we are saved KNOW we are saved SEEK the LORD study HIS word and do not be distracted by the world issues. Trust the Lord and Lean not on your own understanding.Love your tenacity!!!
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The terrorist have won if we allow ourselves to be terrorized. Part of terrorism is not just the violent attacks, but forcing a populace to live in fear. If we're so scared we take away our own rights (4th Amendment) then the terrorist don't have to do it. When a terrorist plot has made it to the airport TSA is not going to stop them. The shoe and underwear bombers were stopped by ordinary citizens. TSA is not keeping us safe and is a reactive not proactive agent in fighting terrorism.
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Stevie, God is in controll. Just stay close and you won't have to worry.
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The body scans are invasive and ridiculous. Empirically speaking, the TSA could "save" more people by checking for lumps.
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I'll not talk about your competence, the post just disgusting Natalina http://expressnewss.com/2013/02/printed-dress-with-fashion-baroque/dolce-gabbana1%2
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