{"id":150,"date":"2010-11-19T18:24:05","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T22:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=150"},"modified":"2010-11-19T18:24:05","modified_gmt":"2010-11-19T22:24:05","slug":"touch-my-junk-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/11\/19\/touch-my-junk-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Touch My Junk, Please!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A lot of commentary has appeared in recent days over the new TSA regulations that call for full-body-scanner nakedness or state-sponsored sexual molestation.\u00a0 On the one hand, I am inclined to think we\u2019re all getting a little carried away here.\u00a0 Do we not want to be safe on our plane flights?\u00a0 Do we not understand that this requires certain sacrifices, certain inconveniences, and that it is the job of the Homeland Security Department and the Transportation Security Administration (otherwise known as TNA) to respond to and anticipate the most cutting-edge ways terrorists devise to blow us to bits (in their tender mercy)?<\/p>\n

Neither am I convinced by the argument that there is some abridgment of constitutional rights taking place here.\u00a0 Flying is more or less a voluntary activity, and one can at least make the argument that these are reasonable measures in light of a compelling national interest.\u00a0 However\u2026<\/p>\n

There are three legitimate issues here:<\/p>\n

(1) This is yet another example of government encroachment into the lives and liberties of ordinary Americans<\/em>.\u00a0 While I don\u2019t view this as an abridgment of rights, there is no doubt that this is a further interference into the exercise of our liberties.\u00a0 The sentiment is widespread: a wildly expanding government reached into the mortgage industry (and contributed to the mess we\u2019re in), reached into the auto industry (with more dubious results), reached so far into the health care industry that the government hand is down doctors\u2019 and patients\u2019 throats \u2014 and now the government is reaching into my pants as well.\u00a0 When do we stand athwart the tendency to solve everything with government solutions and shout stop?<\/p>\n

This is why the TSA issue has roused its own folk hero: John \u201cDon\u2019t Touch My Junk\u201d Tyner.\u00a0 He is the latest in a long line of common-man heroes like Joe the Plumber, Rodney \u201cCan\u2019t We All Just Get Along?\u201d King, and Sarah \u201cYou Betcha\u201d Palin.\u00a0 Well, okay, those probably aren\u2019t the best examples.\u00a0 But folk heroes do not arise because of their own great talents.\u00a0 They are, by definition, Everyman.\u00a0 Folk heroes arise because they represent the zeitgeist, the spirit of the moment.\u00a0 J-Junk Tyner and his act of minor rebellion made him a hero to thousands, if not millions, of frustrated travelers.<\/p>\n

(2) What adds to the frustration, at least for many conservatives, is that there are better options available<\/em> \u2013 but they are options we will not pursue because of political correctness.\u00a0 I speak of course of profiling.\u00a0 Is profiling racist or bigoted?\u00a0 Or is it, as conservatives allege, simply rational thinking?\u00a0 All people are not equally dangerous.\u00a0 While no individual can be judged guilty <\/em>according to the group to the national or ethnic group to which he belongs, one might argue that individuals can be considered more deserving of scrutiny because of the nations or ethnic groups to which they belong.\u00a0 And if they get upset about it, then they should take out their anger on the people who belongs to their national and ethnic groups who are bringing scrutiny and irritation upon them all \u2014 they should not be angry at a security apparatus that simply recognizes that some people are more likely to be a threat to other travelers than others.<\/p>\n

Charles Krauthammer<\/a> points this out\u00a0 in an excellent column today.\u00a0 For how long will we keep up the charade that 3-year-old American girls and 95-year-old British old ladies are just as dangerous, or just as deserving of scrutiny, as young men from Saudi Arabia?\u00a0 Is it fair that everyone should be subjected to these procedures in order to spare the sensibilities of some?\u00a0 The Israeli airline system takes note of individuals who are more suspicious, and subjects them to more probing questioning.\u00a0 Could we do such a thing in America?<\/p>\n

So the issue is not: the government is doing something unconstitutional.\u00a0 It is that the government is invading our lives more and more, and we are avoiding a far simpler solution for the sake of political correctness.\u00a0 (Of course, the liberal response would be that it\u2019s not merely political correctness, but a matter of doing what\u2019s right.\u00a0 I tend to lean to the conservative position here, though, and I\u2019m trying to plumb why people are upset.)<\/p>\n

(3) Finally, it\u2019s easy to crack jokes about all this, but it\u2019s a very unpleasant experience for some folks<\/em>.\u00a0 I personally wouldn\u2019t mind a pat-down from, say, a Victoria\u2019s Secret supermodel.\u00a0 If we were able to choose from a gallery of attractive persons of both sexes, I imagine fewer individual travelers would object.\u00a0 (Thus the title of this blog post.)\u00a0 And hey, most men have had more\u2026well, intimate interactions with their doctors \u2014 but then, I guess we don\u2019t want to make trips to the airport like a visit to the proctologist.\u00a0 And although I don\u2019t particularly care whether some beer-bellied TSA agent pats me down, I don\u2019t really like the idea of the same being done to my wife and daughter.<\/p>\n

And again, while I don\u2019t particularly care if some screener sees an image that runs underneath my clothes, American culture is extraordinarily cruel in some ways to women, and many find the prospect of their naked bodies being imaged terrifying.\u00a0 So either you let everyone see what you look like naked, a thought which will drive some women mad, or you let someone feel you up, after which some women (in particular) will feel violated.\u00a0 Surely this is not the right solution?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of commentary has appeared in recent days over the new TSA regulations that call for full-body-scanner nakedness or state-sponsored sexual molestation.\u00a0 On the one hand, I am inclined to think we\u2019re all getting a little carried away here.\u00a0 Do we not want to be safe on our plane flights?\u00a0 Do we not understand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTouch My Junk, Please! - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A lot of commentary has appeared in recent days over the new TSA regulations that call for full-body-scanner nakedness or state-sponsored sexual\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/11\/19\/touch-my-junk-please\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Touch My Junk, Please! 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