By now almost everyone has heard of the new, extremely invasive "pat down" searches offered to the American flying public if they choose to opt out of passing through the scanner. The scanner is bad enough—no one needs additional radiation, and the machine image, of course, penetrates through outer clothing, through underwear, to a person’s body. There are numerous reasons why this is humiliating, and none have anything to do with concealing weapons in bodily cavities.
However, the new so-called "pat down" is far more than just a pat-down. It’s an actual invasion of bodily privacy, involving physical contact with private parts by the hands of nonmedical personnel in a nonmedical environment. Does this cause distress on the part of the violated passenger? You bet! One pilot described the "pat down" as "sexual molestation." It traumatized him to the point where he was unfit to fly:
http://abcnews.go.com/...
These violations of passenger rights are supposed to "improve" security. There are far more effective techniques for ensuring security, such as those employed by El Al Israel Airlines, named by Global Traveler magazine in 2008 as the world’s most secure airline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Security).
But here’s the kicker. Imagine my rage when I went to the American Civil Liberties Web site and learned the reason for the "invasive" pat-downs: the TSA wants to repulse passengers so much they’ll opt for the scanner instead!
http://www.aclu.org/...
So we’ve got a choice, folks. Go through the virtual strip search and subject your mind to humiliation and your body to radiation, or endure a public "pat down" that amounts to sexual molestation.
To these two choices, I’d add a third: Refuse to fly.