The obligatory post-airport Homeland Security rant
Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on January 29th, 2010 by Rachel Mills
I flew somewhere for Christmas. I had a super-keen eight-tool key fob stolen legally because it happened to include a three-quarter inch knife. I was sad. I was mad and sad. And feeling bad.
Several people along the way seemed wonderfully at ease with the tightened security, delighted even. “Well, I’m happy for them to (insert latest arbitrary P.I.A. security measure here) if that means we are all safer. Happy to comply.” They will thank the security officers on the way through the checkpoint. “Thanks for the anal cavity search, Officer. Glad you’re doing your job, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours.” This is all in the same tone used to thank the checkout girl for checking photo I.D.s when taking their credit card. Like it’s just exactly the same thing. For your protection.
It makes some people feel better to have a visual on the government doing something, Thank God. And to the people this comforts, the rest of us, with an uneasy feeling that we’ve merely been butt-probed, look like whining brats with no comprehension that our inconvenience is all for the greater good.
I feel it’s not merely pointless and damaging to the travel industry, it’s actually counterproductive to safety. I will elucidate.
I have a friend who is chronically allergic. To everything. Even her own dog. She gets shots twice a week, and still sneezes fitfully at the slightest hint of dust or pollen and begins to flow from all visible orifices upon being in the presence of a cat. When I met her parents in the house she grew up in, I developed a theory on why. Her mother greeted us at the door in a kerchief, busily cleaning everything in sight. And to my standards, it was already clean. She was an only child to older parents, overprotected in every way from everything, including from dust and filth. And the opportunity to develop any kind of proper immune response to real world dirt and dangers. She always wanted a dog growing up, and finally has one as an adult. But she is dependent on those shots to coexist with him, even though he’s the cleanest little dog you’ll ever meet.
I grew up with two older brothers, several pets, a reasonable amount of filth, and lengthy exposure to a third world country, including a bout with malaria. My immune system kicks serious tail compared to hers. My theory is it’s all in conditioning. My system is always on the lookout and deals with invaders quickly, quietly and efficiently. My immune system is a well-trained machine. Hers has no clue what the heck it’s doing. It is a debutante in a minefield.
Experts say an allergic reaction is an over-reaction to a foreign substance the body doesn’t know how to fight, so it attacks so violently that it attacks itself. It can even kill itself, as with anaphylactic shock, which is what people who die from bee stings die from - the body fatally attacking itself to protect itself from a relatively harmless foreign invader.
From an article on Life Network by Shandley McMurray:
“Cleanliness is next to… irritation. Monika Gibson, Ontario Coordinator for the Allergy/Asthma Information Association (AAIA) blames cleanliness for the increase in allergies. ‘We’re way too clean in the house,’ she says. We’re taking away bacteria and other exposures that we were meant to live with. Some experts have coined the term ‘hygiene hypothesis’ to describe this problem, claiming that our children are being overprotected from infections due to our compulsive cleaning habits-their immune systems haven’t been able to build up protection against common allergens.”
Maybe you see where I’m going with this.
The most heroic, and effective, foiling of terrorist plots have had little to do with airport security checks. Those are always two steps behind. Take the case of Richard Reid and the shoe bomb. The flight attendants and passengers, not uniformed employees answering to Tom Ridge, wrestled this man to the ground quickly, quietly and efficiently. They acted as America’s own strong and healthy white blood cells, fending off attacks from within, alert and ready to respond and protect.
Let’s take the analogy a little further. Antibiotics. My chronically allergic friend is also on tons of antibiotics all the time. Experts say this is a very bad idea. It messes with the yeast and stuff that is supposed to be in your intestinal tract to maintain a functional immune system. The point is - if you give you immune system too much outside “help” it can’t do its job because it loses the ability. Same with Homeland Security. Kinda like the “antibiotics” that took my keychain to prevent dangerous little 5′1 me from taking over the plane with a three-quarters inch blade, they have also further crippled me in the off-chance I need it for some form of self-defense, or maybe to cut a rope binding someone’s hands. If you overprotect the body, if you medicate it too much, it can’t protect itself. It loses the ability.
When you infuse the land with too much “security”, antibiotics, you slow everything down and you end up disabling the function of the REAL protection, which comes from 280 million white blood cells called citizens, many of whom are armed, many of whom are trained in self-defense, and many who would die to defend the lives of others, and I’m not just talking about the military. That bravado in our citizenry is our real strength, our real protection. Not the patronizing speeches of W, not the condescending reassurance of armed people in uniforms taking your gun, your pocket knife, and your autonomy saying “Don’t worry your pretty little heads. We’ll take care of everything from here.”
Likewise, if you isolate the body too much, it overreacts to foreign threats and is counter-productive. We forget to be on the lookout and have a healthy level of suspicion. We trust the government is taking care of everything and we relax. We forget what a threat looks like, and when we see it on the news, we overreact and kill ourselves economically by effectively boycotting everything. Like a terrorist allergic reaction. Once booming airlines go bust and entire industries wither in the wake of our anaphylactic fear, and we gratefully accept further hobbling of our economy and our lives in the name of security, so that we can maintain our “freedoms” - our way of life.
If we are so passionate about protecting our freedoms from outside threats, why do we attack them so?
We have to decide - do we want to live like the boy in the plastic bubble? Unable to defend ourselves against - ANYTHING? Or are we courageous enough to face the inherent risk that comes with freedom, and the free will of others? Yes, they could hurt us. But we can hurt them back and defend ourselves. We just have to be vigilant and realize that no amount of inconvenience and disregard of the Fourth Amendment can make this world a Safe Place. The Constitution was written during a time of war and outside threat, based on principles thousands of years old that survived countless wars. The principles of freedom, of Cato, Cicero, Plato, Socrates, Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Paine and Rand ARE relevant today. They are stronger than twin towers and cannot be knocked down with a jet, a bomb or an envelope with white powder. If you consider freedom to be that fragile, what do you consider to be strong? What endures, if not freedom? Go find a padded cell somewhere if you want safety above all. We have to re-embrace freedom if we really want to live.
I understand that my safety rests largely on my own shoulders, no matter what that Transportation Security Officer says. I take that very seriously, even when I board an airplane. I do what I can. I look around me. I watch other people. I am a white blood cell, mangled and partially neutralized though I may be. I may be without my three-quarters inch blade…
But, for the time being, they still let me fly in three-inch stilettos…
Originally published in Liberty For All December 28, 2003.
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